[Fellow Traveler]

I use the battle of Midway as a reference to how historical events can be interpreted differently over time. I usually have people read "Miracle at Midway" by Prange, then "Midway" by Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya, and end with "Shattered Sword". The interesting thing is how the story changes based on each author biases.

If you are interested in another good book I am currently reading "The Fast Carriers - The Forging of an Air Navy" by Clark Reynolds. It goes into the history of the leaders on the American side. It also details the struggles to change the orientation of the Navy's strategic thought from being dominated by battleship to the carrier. And how the change in thought once fully realized changed the way the war was fought.

[FreedomPoster]

That change in thought was helped along by the fact that a big chunk of the battleship fleet was sunk at Pearl Harbor, while the carriers weren’t there. Thus the carriers were what we had to fight with at the beginning of the war. That combined with the obvious effectiveness of the Japanese carrier attack made it pretty clear where the emphasis needed to be. Remember the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse happened just a few days after Pearl Harbor, so it was pretty easy to see the writing on the wall. Thinking about it, the Battle of Taranto had occurred a year before, and saw capital ships bested by *Fairey Swordfish*, for crying out loud!

[lowbuck]

Hello Fellow Traveler,

Thanks for the suggestion on “The Fast Carriers”. I have it on order with Amazon and it should slide into my mailbox on Wednesday.

If you read my profile you will see that I used to fly for Uncle Sam’s non-profit Naval airline.

Best to you.

Lowbuck

[sparklite2]

I am in the middle of Fleet at Flood Tide, from the author of Neptune’s Inferno. He’s an excellent writer.