Craig L. Symonds > Quotes

“Alas, all that sound and fury disguised the fact that on Omaha Beach at least, the bombs fell too long, the rockets fell too short, and the naval gunfire was too brief.”
― Craig L. Symonds, Neptune: Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings

“On one occasion when an artillery shell whistled overhead, some sailors from LST-75 who had been sent ashore to help unload a nearby LCT took shelter against the cliff. They were standing there when the beach master came over to ask them what they were supposed to be doing. They explained about unloading the LCT, and the beach master told them: “Well then, get the hell over there and unload it, or pick up one of these rifles and get up the hill and start shooting them damn Germans.” Given that choice, they decided the stevedore work was preferable.”
― Craig L. Symonds, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings

“In the whole of the war, though the Germans sank nearly twenty-eight hundred Allied ships, not one troopship escorted by U.S. Navy ships was ever lost.*”
― Craig L. Symonds, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings

“The ship’s head was directly behind these bunks, and one veteran recalled that the LSTs “stank of diesel oil, backed-up toilets, and vomit.”
― Craig L. Symonds, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings

“Before the war was over, American submarines would take a terrible toll on the Japanese Navy and on her merchant fleet, and play an important role in several major surface actions as well, including Midway. But in the first year of the war, their impact was compromised by the fact that their torpedoes didn’t work.”
― Craig L. Symonds, The Battle of Midway

“damaged as to be of no further use. These losses were due”
― Craig L. Symonds, The Battle of Midway

“The war in China proved both a blessing and a curse for Japanese aircraft design. It gave Japanese designers and engineers a vital testing ground for their combat aircraft. However, the experience also led the Japanese to underestimate the importance of armor protection and to place undue emphasis on range and maneuverability.”
― Craig L. Symonds, The Battle of Midway

“the battlecruiser HMS Hood, which at 860 feet was the pride of the fleet. While her eight 15-inch guns were the largest then afloat, her Achilles’ heel was her relatively thin armor, which made her more vulnerable than any battleship.”
― Craig L. Symonds, World War II at Sea: A Global History

“Here was the conundrum: they could fight elsewhere in 1942, or they could fight in Europe in 1943, but they could probably not do both. They must choose.”
― Craig L. Symonds, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings

“The American view was quite different. To them, the invasion was not to ratify a victory already won; it was to seize that victory by brute force. To the British, it was to be a victory lap; to the Americans it was a death grapple. In the long history of the alliance, this gap in perceptions was never bridged.”
― Craig L. Symonds, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings

“As it pulled away from the wreckage, he stood up to look back at the sinking plane. The coxswain shouted at him: “Sit down, you!” Then, realizing who it was, he tried to apologize, but Nimitz told the coxswain that he was absolutely correct, and obediently sat.”
― Craig L. Symonds, Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay

“torpedo, too, either missed the target or failed to explode. Undaunted, Prien then headed southward, away from the Royal Oak, to reload his bow tubes. An hour later, just past 1:00 a.m., with the crew of the battleship still no wiser about his presence, he returned to fire three more torpedoes.”
― Craig L. Symonds, World War II at Sea: A Global History

“The leader who awaits perfection of plans, material, or training, will wait in vain,” he wrote, “and in the end will yield the victory to him who employs the tools at hand with the greatest vigor.” In the last week of May 1942,”
― Craig L. Symonds, Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay

“You have never ridden a ship until you have ridden an LST in the North Atlantic in the month of February.”
― Craig L. Symonds, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings

“Throughout that period, to all outward appearances, Nimitz maintained a cool, confident demeanor that lifted the spirits of those about him. It was an act, for he was beset by unrelenting anxiety.”
― Craig L. Symonds, The Battle of Midway

“In the two weeks after D-Day, the Allies landed a total of 618,855 men, 93,986 vehicles, and 245,133 tons of supplies over the five Normandy beaches, even though most of the unloading at Sword Beach had to be halted due to continuing German artillery”
― Craig L. Symonds, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings

“The Allies’ ability to launch two major seaborne offensives on opposite sides of the globe less than two weeks apart was testimony to the remarkable productivity of American industry,”
― Craig L. Symonds, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings

“patience and flexibility were at least as important as firmness and determination in resolving difficulties.”
― Craig L. Symonds, Lincoln and His Admirals: Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy, and the Civil War

“handled a twin-barreled .30-caliber machine”
― Craig L. Symonds, Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History

“furled”
― Craig L. Symonds, The Battle of Gettysburg

“was the product of fate, or chance, or luck, or even divine will.”
― Craig L. Symonds, The Battle of Midway

“Throughout the war—in both theaters—one difference between Allied and Axis forces was the ability of the Americans to extemporize and jury-rig repairs.”
― Craig L. Symonds, Annapolis Goes to War: The Naval Academy Class of 1940 and its Trial by Fire in World War II

“Still,”
― Craig L. Symonds, The Battle of Midway