War is a great amplifier of human folly. All wars start out in a tentative, amateurish fashion. The amazing thing about the naval campaign in the Pacific was how long it took both sides to adapt to what the other side was doing - it took Nimitz over a year, with a lot of help from Admiral Yamamoto and Charles Darwin to get rid of the peace time careerists who just couldn't bring to understand that they were in a war and if they wanted to survive they had to fight. It took longer still for the Navy to figure out that the best use for destroyers was not as sacrificial lambs in the van and on the tale of a nice straight, easily targeted, column of cruisers. The Japanese, and the Germans too, never came to grips with the capabilities of allied technology and ability to use intelligence.
In early August it'll be interesting to see if The NY Times takes note of the fact that the son of the former ambassador to the UK has his PT boat run over by a Japanese destroyer while taking a nap in Blackett Straight.
thanks ...
Neptune’s Inferno is a good book, although it does not discuss the naval battles in the Central Solomons in the 1943. So far I haven’t found any really good books about Kula Gulf, Kolombangara or Empress Augusta Bay. They are the “unknown” naval battles of WW2.