Clark G. ReynoldsBesprekingen

This book is a disappointment. By 1982, there was much known about the evolution of the first new type of warship in thousands of years. Time-Life books are usually much more enlightening but this one fails on many points.

I'm a nut about aircraft carriers and the war in the South Pacific, and I think this is the best book I've ever read on the subject. The author starts with the development of fast carriers in the 20's and 30's, then talks about the early days of World War II when both the Japanese and American navies knew they had a powerful offensive weapon, didn't quite know how to use it. He finishes with America's success in developing carrier task forces and Air Admirals. If you are interested in this subject, you can't do better than this in one volume.

Good overview, excellent pictures with sufficient narrative to be a good overview or first book on this critical ship type that changed naval warfare. A rare mention of the minor but useful role of British Carriers late in the war. Would have benefited from a section on ship differences; armored vs non decks, good fire and damage control vs little or none. This latter being a critical difference between US and Japan successes in saving even seriously damaged ships.½

Probably the best overall treatment of the development and use of U.S. Navy carriers in World War II.

The gold standard of naval history as regards aircraft carrier warfare in the Pacific theatre. There is a useful level of technical uses of the ships, and good biographical sketches of the principal commanders on the USN side. If one couples this book with the excellent H.T. Lenton handbook "American Battleships , Carriers, and Cruisers', a great deal of operational detail confusion is open to analysis. Into the bargain, the author has a high level of writing skill. If anyone had done so well for the IJN I'd be a very happy reader.

A well illustrated description of the birth of the aircraft carrier,through Japan's use against China, then the US, and finally to the end.An excellent addition to any naval history library.

Good insightful bio of the admiral that built the aviation arm of the US Navy in WW2. When you read this, you realize why Carl Vinson has an aircraft carrier named for hi and wonder why there is a destroyer rather than a carrier named for Tower.½

Excellent book about the evolution of the fast carriers, the air navy and the men in command. For a 1968 edition, it is incitful about the flaws of 2 of the "heroes", Slew McCain and Bull Halsey. Vignettes at the beginning and summaries at the end pinpoint the skills, ineptitudes,"gun room" prejudices, failures and successes of the major actors in this fast evolving aspect of WW2. Balanced and generally supportive review re: the role of the Royal Navy in the Pacific. I look forward to the 2008 edition to see what changes 40 yrs of documentation and analysis bring to the then 28 year old author.½

For what it is (a Time-Life series volume), surprisingly good. I learned splendidly interesting things about Japanese naval strategy and tactics, the causes of Japanese belligerence in the 1930s, and how the war in Europe inspired the expansion of war in the Pacific. The illustrations are all fine; if I had a complaint, it would be that they are too few, but that's not really fair to a T-L series volume. A couple of things I noticed (or thought I did) that I wish had been developed even a little: as far as I can tell, the US went into 1942 with 6 fleet carriers, and by November was down to 2, which must have had some effect on morale and strategic planning; moreover, the book was vague on when the next classes of carriers started joining the fleet. The other thing is that the book leaves the impression that 1943 was a slow year for Pacific fleet operations. Whether that's true or not, a summary of 1943 would have been useful. In fact, thinking back, there were no summaries of any year or any stage of the war. Basically (as one would expect) just a narrative of Pacific War naval events, with the odd bit of (very interesting, to be sure) contextual information thrown in. (Except for the first chapter, which is about the development & evolution of aircraft carriers.)