History of US Naval Operations in WWII 1: Battle of the Atlantic 9/39-5/43

History of United States Naval Operations in World War II #1

by Samuel Eliot Morison

This is the first volume chronologically, but the second in order of publication, of Captain Morison's "shooting history." The first to be published was Volume II, Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, of which Fletcher Pratt wrote in the New York Sun, "If the remaining volumes are up to the level of this one, it will stand not only as the most complete, but also the most readable work of its kind ever published."

The present book deals with the defense of our own shores and ships. It describes the gradual emergence of the Navy from the neutrality patrol and Western Hemisphere defense, through the "short-of-war" phases to full-fledged war with Germany and Italy. Much of it is devoted to the history of transatlantic, coastal, Russian, Caribbean and Brazilian convoys, and to the war on the U-boats. There are chapters on the fearful ordeal of the North Russian run, on the experiences of lonely merchantmen with Naval Armed Guards, on operations off the coast of Brazil, and on auxiliary efforts such as the Coastal Picket Patrol by sailing yachts (the "Hooligans"), the Mystery Ships, and the Civil Air Patrol.

Genres: History, Military History, World War II, Nonfiction, War, Military Fiction

434 pages, cloth

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Samuel Eliot Morison, son of John H. and Emily Marshall (Eliot) Morison, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 9 July 1887. He attended Noble’s School at Boston, and St. Paul’s at Concord, New Hampshire, before entering Harvard University, from which he was graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1908. He studied at the Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques, Paris, France, in 1908-1909, and returned to Harvard for postgraduate work, receiving the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1912. Thereafter he became Instructor, first at the University of California in Berkeley, and in 1915 at Harvard. Except for three years (1922-1925) when he was Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford, England, and his periods of active duty during both World Wars, he remained continuously at Harvard University as lecturer and professor until his retirement in 1955.

He had World War I service as a private in the US Army, but not overseas. As he had done some preliminary studies on Finland for Colonel House’s Inquiry, he was detailed from the Army in January 1919 and attached to the Russian Division of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, at Paris, his specialty being Finland and the Baltic States. He served as the American Delegate on the Baltic Commission of the Peace Conference until 17 June 1919, and shortly after returned to the United States. He became a full Professor at Harvard in 1925, and was appointed to the Jonathan Trumbull Chair in 1940. He also taught American History at Johns Hopkins University in 1941-1942.

Living up to his sea-going background – he has sailed in small boats and coastal craft all his life. In 1939-1940, he organized and commanded the Harvard Columbus Expedition which retraced the voyages of Columbus in sailing ships, barkentine Capitana and ketch Mary Otis. After crossing the Atlantic under sail to Spain and back, and examining all the shores visited by Columbus in the Caribbean, he wrote Admiral of the Ocean Sea, an outstanding biography of Columbus, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1943. He also wrote a shorter biography, Christopher Columbus, Mariner. With Maurico Obregon of Bogota, he surveyed and photographed the shores of the Caribbean by air and published an illustrated book The Caribbean as Columbus Saw It (1964).

Shortly after the United States entered World War II, Dr. Morison proposed to his friend President Roosevelt, to write the operational history of the US Navy from the inside, by taking part in operations and writing them up afterwards. The idea appealed to the President and Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and on 5 May 1942, Dr. Morison was commissioned Lieutenant Commander, US Naval Reserve, and was called at once to active duty. He subsequently advanced to the rank of Captain on 15 December 1945. His transfer to the Honorary Retired List of the Naval Reserve became effective on 1 August 1951, when he was promoted to Rear Admiral on the basis of combat awards.

In July-August 1942 he sailed with Commander Destroyer Squadron Thirteen (Captain John B. Heffernan, USN), on USS Buck, flagship, on convoy duty in the Atlantic. In October of that year, on USS Brooklyn with Captain Francis D. Denebrink, he participated in Operation TORCH (Allied landings in North and Northwestern Africa - 8 November 1942). In March 1943, while attached to Pacific Fleet Forces, he visited Noumea, Guadalcanal, Australia, and on Washington made a cruise with Vice Admiral W. A. Lee, Jr., USN. He also patrolled around Papua in motor torpedo boats, made three trips up “the Slot” on Honolulu, flagship of Commander Cruisers, Pacific Fleet (Rear Admiral W.W. Ainsworth, USN), and took part in the Battle of Kolombangara before returning to the mainland. Again in the Pacific War Area in September 1943, he participated in the Gilbert Islands operation on board USS Baltimore, under command of Captain Walter C. Calhoun, USN. For the remainder of the Winter he worked at Pearl Harbor, and in the Spring

Reviews

[Jfarley]

The drudgery of convoy duty drags this one down a little, but Morison is excellent as always.

[Billy Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. A little lean on suspense and excitement, but then the war against the U-boat was often devoid of that anyway. Boredom and drudgery seemed to be the order of the day broken up by occasional sonar contacts and torpedo hits. An added bonus was the occasional successful U-boat hunt. Morison tells a story here of nation's forced by circumstances to attempt a near repeat of the first war fought in the Atlantic. Germany, unprepared to fight such a war at the outbreak with ony 57 U-boats commissioned realized that she did not possess a surface navy that could challenge the might of the Royal Navy on the high seas. The U-boat seemed to be the only available asset to prey on merchant shipping, the basic lifeblood of Great Britain. Later this same asset would be called upon to attempt to stop the flow of war material shipping from US ports across the Atlantic.
Morison describes in great detail the problems confronting the US Navy in executing this type of warfare and protecting the shoreline off the Atlantic seaboard, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and our interests in the Carribean as well. Insufficient inventories of aircraft, ships, and trained personnel had to be overcome. Strategies and procedures put in place to effectively combat an unseen enemy, as well as occasional forays into the Atlantic by German surface raiders and raiding aircraft. It is well-written, informative, and gives the reader a good understanding of what the men both above and below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean dealt with on a day-to day basis from 1939-1943. A good addition to the collection of any serious World War II library.

[Blake Hiatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the Battle of the Atlantic, during the first few desperate years.

The author does cover the fact that Doenitz and the German U-Boat fleet was in dire straights by the end of 1943, which was unknown at the time.

However, I find it puzzling the author doesn't really delve into the loss of experienced crews and how much that may have impacted Germany's U-Boat fleet performance.

Very much worth the read, and, there are a couple of anecdotes about armed merchantmen fighting it out with German raiders and giving good account of themselves, even though the armed merchantman inevitably lost in such an unequal battle.

Excellent read and the author doesn't hesitate to point out where the Navy got things wrong.

[Jwt Jan50 · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the spring of 1980 I decided to drop my PhD aspirations and return to active duty. 6 years from regular instrument flying and 4 since any flying. Scared the poor instructors at Little Rock AFB. At the squadron, our average mission was 11.3 hours and we'd be gone regularly for a couple of weeks. Lots of reading time, so I decided to read all the volumes of this series. Morison can carry a narrative. And bring the tissues. Sailors die hard. While Lee's Lieutenants has reached a certain level of notoriety, we should be more aware of King's Admirals - quite a gathering.

[Blake Hiatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oops, already reviewed. Excellent book and worth reading.

[John Albers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated, but somewhat still one of the best naval histories of the second world war.

[Cropredy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final review of my bout of submarine warfare book reading. I read this sandwiched between Gannon's "Operation Drumbeat" which covered the devastating U-Boat attacks on unprotected merchant shipping of the US Coast in H1 1942 and his "Black May" that covered an epic convoy battle in May 1943 that broke the back of the U-Boat campaign.

Morison wrote the official history of US Naval Operations during World War II - and he wrote parts of this book while it happened, taking various as we would now call it 'embed' roles in the Navy to get a first hand account and to meet the major players.

Morison obviously knew nothing about Enigma but was fully conversant on the other technologies that won the campaign - HF/DF, Operations Research, air cover, and so on. He also had access to the German U-Boat command war diaries captured at the end of the war.

Why is this book interesting?

1. Morison goes into detail over the effectiveness of various desperate counter measures that the US Navy threw into the fight - including private yachts, blimps, Q-Ships, and more.
2 - The maps and tables are superb
3 - You get to understand what happened in the Caribbean and in the Brazil-to-United States convoys
4 - Because a lot of the book was written in 1943, the reader gets a good feel for being back in that time and place.

A good complement to Gannon due to its overview and comprehensiveness but obviously not as an exciting of a read because of its broader focus.

[Norm · Rating 3 out of 5]

this had some interesting parts, but was an odd mix of technical navy stuff (light on explanations of various acronyms, i thought) and anecdotal history. the organization also made it hard to follow as history, as it was divided into chapters that described different theaters (the US coastal regions, Brazil's entry into the war and their naval experience, etc) and tactical issues (training, technology development in anti-sub warfare, how the coast guard was used, how 'amateur forces' (yachts, fishing boats) were used, and so on.

that said the book does give a strong impression of the immense complexity, difficulty and danger of the U-boat war, and how diligently and selflessly our forces worked to overcome the threat.

I plan to read the other volume (of the 12 about the naval war in general) that covers the second phase of the U-boat war, when the Allies prevailed on the seas.

[Charles McCain · Rating 3 out of 5]

the author was a commissioned officer in the US Navy in World War Two and was commissioned because he was a prominent historian and he went all over the place because his job was to write the unofficially "offical" history of the US Navy in World War Two.

All of these books were written long before we knew how deeply the Allies had penetrated the German enciphering machine known as Enigma.

These can be good references for statistics et al but all of these volumes---I think there are 30---in the series are dated and as well as lacking objective criticism of the US navy.

If you want to read about the Battle of the Atlantic in one volume I would recommend "The Atlantic War" by Dan van der vatt

[Gregory Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The battle of the Atlantic is a in-depth description of US naval operations during the first half of WWII. This book and the others in the series offer great insight and description for history buffs or anyone doing a report on the topic. Samuel Eliot Morison was officially commissioned to write this series by the United States Navy, making them a reliable source of information. However because of the plethora of information in them they are very dry and dense.I would personally recommend having a tall glass of water next to you if you intend to read them. I would recommend this book to a hard core historian or history buff because of its very literal style; but this book is a must have for the shelf of anyone who calls themselves a war aficionado.

[Nikky · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're into the gritty details and arcane facts of US Naval Convoys in the Atlantic in World War II, look no further.

[Andrew Chmyr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent review to follow.