The War for the Seas: A Maritime History of World War II

by Evan Mawdsley

A bold and authoritative maritime history of World War II which takes a fully international perspective and challenges our existing understanding

Command of the oceans was crucial to winning World War II. By the start of 1942 Nazi Germany had conquered mainland Europe, and Imperial Japan had overrun Southeast Asia and much of the Pacific. How could Britain and distant America prevail in what had become a “war of continents”?

In this definitive account, Evan Mawdsley traces events at sea from the first U-boat operations in 1939 to the surrender of Japan. He argues that the Allied counterattack involved not just decisive sea battles, but a long struggle to control shipping arteries and move armies across the sea. Covering all the major actions in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as those in the narrow seas, this book interweaves for the first time the endeavors of the maritime forces of the British Empire, the United States, Germany, and Japan, as well as those of France, Italy, and Russia.

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

600 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2019

About the author

Evan Mawdsley is Professor of International History at Glasgow University. He has written numerous books and articles on Russian history and is the co-author of The Soviet Elite from Lenin to Gorbachev. He lives in Glasgow.

Reviews

[Dimitri · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's all about the naval air power & it totally works! Brief as 400 pages are to cover all oceans, it's a page-turner:

To be shelled by massed artillery and mortars is absolutely terrifying but to be shelled in the open is terror compounded beyond the belief of anyone who hasn't experienced it. The attack across Peleliu's airfield was the worst combat experience I had during the entire war. It surpassed, by the intensity of the blast and shock of the bursting shells, all the subsequent horrifying ordeals on Peleliu and Okinawa.

Half chronological, half by theatre of war and fully divided into four distinct periods of ascending to Allied suppremacy. It's as clear-organized as possible.

Evan knows he is not a naval historian, so he largely refrains from contesting the seadogs' conclusions & instead focuses on sprinkling as many general wisdoms as possible onto a rather constrained operational narrative.

"In addition, the overall geographical situation was different for the two biggest maritime theatres. The strategic tasks of the German and Japanese navies were not the same. The Allied North Atlantic shipping route was vital to maintaining the population of Britain, one of the three main alliance partners. From 1942 is was important too for concentrating armies and air forces for an eventual invasion of the European continent. Essentially, Germany was attempting to block that route." (By contrast, Japan was not sitting on America's lifeline).


I'm suspectible to the little throwbacks to the Dreadnought era.

"Jellicoe was the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon. In some respects this would actually happen to another admiral a quarter of a century after Jutland. The Pacific War was lost in 10 minutes by admiral Yamamoto Isoroku in ten minutes on 4 June.

[Pauly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book, covering campaigns well known and unknown. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the Soviet naval war, a war that is very rarely covered.

[Perato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check the contents of endnotes before you start reading. If there's one thing this book taught me it is this. Also a bunch of other stuff about naval warfare in World war 2.

I'm not a beginner what comes to naval war in WW2, but this still managed to teach me a lot of stuff I wished I knew a long time ago. The book is mainly chronological although the chapters are usually geographically oriented. The book is fairly short for a subject so vast, only 516 pages(body+endnotes), although the font in my book was quite small so maybe not quite comparable to other books of same size.

This book's focus is mostly in the strategic and global view but manages to go through all major naval engagements in the war. Also he covers all the major navies(Russian and French included) in the world back then. Mawdsley doesn't use too many personal anecdotes and the whole perspective stays quite high. Even the admirals stay as distant personalities apart from maybe King and Dönitz. Yet when he covers about a battle he manages to tie it to bigger picture. Mawdsley really tries to keep focus on the causes and consequences even when describing the smaller but more famous engagements.

He uses endnotes to talk about controversies and details that doesn't fit in the body text. It's really shame that they are at the end of the book instead as footnotes at the bottom of the page, most likely a publisher's choice. Maps are numerous but are there to show the location of events rather than fleet movements or anything like that.

What the book lack is the sailors view. As there are very few anecdotes, there are only very few glimpses of what the sailors(civillian or military) experienced. Also Mawdsley doesn't really cover the human cost the warfare. He goes on about lost in tonnage, ships, planes etc. but he doesn't talk about experienced personnel being lost(apart in terms of aviation personnel). It's easy to say that Allied had the ships to fight the war, but how long did they have the manpower to man those ships stays unresolved in this book.

Still I would say this is a 5 star book to anyone interested in naval part of WW2. I'd take half star away for not having the average sailor in there(even one chapter what the average sailor went through) and for the quality of the edition I have(small font in body text and endnotes instead of footnotes). It's not the only book you need if you want to go deeper, but it's the one book you probably should read first before diving into more detailed accounts. Just read the end notes while you're reading the book, they really offer a lot to the contents.

[Simon Mee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The War for the Seas inhabits a world where we can cheaply consume minute details about World War II. You can watch for free a video discussing the underwater performance of warship shells.

In going general, The War for the Seas needs to offer something a bit extra to be a truly great book.

This is certainly a good book. It is a smooth-running summary of six years of naval warfare covering multiple theatres. It is British friendly in idiosyncratic ways, such as telling us Oahu has the area of Greater London, gallantly trying to convince us that the British Fleet was better prepared for war than commonly perceived, that those 6 inch guns of Achilles and Ajax really did batter the Graf Spee, and the British contribution deserves more credit than it is often accorded today.

And I should not be too harsh. Mawdsley points out that the Royal Navy sank or crippled several Axis (and, um… French) capital ships up to April 1942. The Mediterranean campaign is a highlight, and I would be interested to see Mawdsley take a proper shot at that aspect. Otherwise, he threads the concept of sea/air battle through his book, which adds a spine, with a clear sense of progression up to the Third Fleet’s dominance of the air above Formosa in late 1944.

The problem, as evidenced in his repetition of the view that the (crucial) Battle of the Atlantic was never such a 'near-run thing' as it is often depicted gives away the weakness of the book. At best, Mawdsley can say sea power enabled the war to be won. Pre-war, the Western Allies operated the two largest fleets in the world. While there were some hairy moments, pivotal battles, and clear development of doctrine and resources that ensured victory, realistically the naval war was going to have one result. This is particularly true considering that the Americans enacted the gigantic “Two Ocean Navy” law before it had even mobilized for war.

This leads to the related issue, ironically encapsulated in a statement suggesting a paucity of naval resources:

A month after a few dozen planes tried to defend Ceylon, the RAF would send 1,000 heavy and medium bombers against Cologne.

Despite the massive outpouring of resources, the Western Allies did operate under constraints. Manpower was the most notable one. Skilled manpower was the most most notable one. While their navies and air-forces showed increasing levels of overwhelming force, the record of British and American armies appears to have been more mixed, particularly against top tier German opponents.

I am not suggesting an all-out criticism as per Hasting’s Armageddon. There are plenty of examples in attack and defence where British and American soldiers did well. However, what I feel The War for the Seas (subdued) triumphantism does not quite convey is that there were opportunity costs between how the Western Allies chose to fight, getting to the stage where Britain was disbanding divisions due to lack of manpower. The War for Seas makes it appear a bit simpler for them than it actually was.

I would be willing to accept that the United States and Britain made the right call to emphasise their respective navies and airforces. However, a general history published in 2019 needs to make that judgement. Or do something interesting.

I am not saying this a bad book. It is a good book. But we are not lacking in good World War Two books. It’s an interesting summation of more detailed books. But I’m going to need more to wax lyrical.

[Grouchy Historian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book surprised me by exceeding my expectations. Having just read Craig Symonds maritime history of WW2 I wasn’t sure what this book could add.
I am pleased to say I was wrong. Well written and organized it covered neglected aspects of the war, mainly the French, Italian, and Soviet naval contributions very well. It had a great balance of strategic and operational details and combined technology, doctrine and most of all, naval culture into examine the course of the war.
A great book.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

As needs must for a single volume history of naval warfare of WWII, this volume is generally an overview rather than a detailed history. I'm well read on the activities of the US Navy in War 2 (and hence the Japanese Navy) but I learned a lot about the significant contribution of the Royal Navy.
In addition to doing virtually all the Allied fighting at sea in the Mediterranean, it was British and Canadian sailors that won the battle of the Atlantic. Granted, the bulk of the ships and planes and technology was supplied by the US, but it was Brits and Canadians that did the fighting.

Mawdsley made some errors in his description of the Battle of the Philippine Sea which I'd planned to bash him for when I read them, but they're hardly worth the effort. His analysis is generally good, although his rationalizations for Halsey in that battle are weak and incorrect. Halsey's career was saved by the courage of a handful of Tin Can Sailors (see James Hornfischer's excellent account) against the largest battle fleet ever assembled by the Japanese, with a lot of help from sub-par generalship by the previously impeccable Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa.

This world be a good first book for the reader interested in WWII.

Rrecommended.

[Brigitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers the naval war during World War II in all areas the Atlantic, the Pacific, and even smaller places like the Mediterranean encounters. It is therefore a comprehensive history. It is well written, easy to understand and with some humour. What made this book interesting for me is that the author puts the naval war in a larger context . For each country the navy is described not only in what ships etc they had but also how the command structure was, how the navy fitted in with the overall strategy of the leaders and why thus success or failure was often pre- programmed. The author also demonstrates how the character of the war at sea changed due to technological advances. It also becomes clear that the naval war was part of total war and hence the party which could come up with more materiel would eventually win. I found the 600 pages fascinating and easy to read and would strongly recommend this book.

[Joseph Ficklen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the naval aspect of the 2nd World War that made it a global war, and this book does a good job in demonstrating that fact. From the River Plate to the North Cape to the Indian Ocean to the Aleutian Islands, the navies of the various powers attempted to project their power all over the globe. These efforts had a significant impact on the outcome of the land war. The small German navy was able to invade Norway, but its surface components were unable to stand toe to toe with the Royal Navy and was largely crippled for the rest of 1940. The U-boats, although very effective during certain phases of the war, were not enough to interdict the Atlantic shipping routes, and therefore unable to exert a decisive influence on the war. The larger Italian navy was more of a match for the British Mediterranean fleet, but Italian unpreparedness for war and reluctance to use their ships led to their failure to capture Malta and embarrassing defeats at Cape Matapan and Taranto. The Japanese navy was the largest of the Axis powers and extremely effective from December 1941 to June 1942, but the defeat at Midway and the attritional battles around Guadalcanal wore them down. Seeking to preserve their main strength in 1943, by the time they were able to deploy another large carrier force, the Americans had already commissioned some 10 of the Essex class fleet carriers, along with countless light and escort carriers. The Battle of the Philippine Sea was an embarrassing defeat for the IJN, only matched by the complete failure of their operations around Leyte Gulf four months later. In the last 18 months of World War 2, the Axis navies were hunted into extinction.

I greatly enjoyed this book, it does not go into very much depth into any particular battles, but it is very good for getting a big picture of the naval aspect of WW2. You will likely learn things you never knew, such as about the French navy after Mers El Kebir, and the embattled Soviet navy.

[John Purvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The War for the Seas: A Maritime History of World War II" eBook was published in 2019 and was written by Evan Hawdsley. Mr. Hawdsley had published more than ten books. 

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘G’. The book covers World War II at sea around the world. All the major players in WWII maritime warfare are covered. This book gives the reader a very comprehensive look at the naval action of WWII. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the 25+ hours I spent reading this 568-page comprehensive history of WWII at sea. While this book is full of details, it read well. I think that better cover art could have been selected. I give this novel a 5 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/. 

[Jeff Dow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was more of a logistics and administrative history of the war at sea...absolutely fascinating. 3.5 out of 5 for one main reason. He moved geographically and chronologically...sometime going back in the timeline in different parts. I found it a bit jarring. Also, his editor should have headed Twain's advice regarding "very". That said highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in WWII history.

[Erik Empson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The challenge faced by military historians is writing about stuff where everyone knows the ending. Spoiler alert: the Allies won WWII, though with significant losses. That means much more lies in the telling. I feel Mawdsley got the balance mostly right, considering this book probably is probably aimed at the enthusiast rather than the casual reader. Still, I like my big battles with big boats with big guns, and at times it was a bit frustrating to read about the shipyard where certain ships had been laid down, just before getting into a firefight.
The breadth of the book is considerable and the detail and research extensive. I think it will be one of those go-to books for reference and does sometimes have a text book feel. But it does open one's eyes again to the scale of the conflict and how much happened in those six years. I felt the commentary was balanced, and addresses to some degree the tendency to overstate the role of the US in the conflict. Sure, the outcome would have been very different if they hadn't come into the war, but at the same time they largely pursued their own interests and supporting the Atlantic convoys, for example, was never an act of charity. Britain could certainly have done with some of their hardware in the Mediterranean, whilst the US was pissing about with islands in the middle of nowhere, and although Britain was also defending its own interests there, this wouldn't have gone against the "Germany first" strategy.
I think there were some elements missing, the role of the Japanese navy in the Asian conquests for instance - I was interested in the logistics of that - whereas the Pacific side of the book kind of began with on Pearl Harbour.
But this is some nitpicking. Overall, a tour-de-force. Excellent maps too.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years ago I read Graig Symond's World War II at Sea: a Global History. Like this work by Evan Mawdsley, Symonds also provided - as hinted by its title - a global history of the maritime dimension of the Second World War. I was afraid Mawdsley's work would be all too similar, but I was pleasantly surprised that I found a good mix between descriptive battle or campaign descriptions and intertwining it with his general point about the importance of the 'Command of the Sea' and contrasting this with the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters of War.

There is much overlap between both works and in fact many of the campaigns or battles provided are handled in much greater detail in individual works, but it's the narrative overview that is of interest to the reader who doesn't want - like me- to be overwhelmed with what unfolded every minute during the battle of Leyte Gulf. It's overall importance and how the battle relates to the operations on land are what matters. The only downside is that I feel some more importance to the wider economic and industrial aspects of the naval war. In that regard The War for the Seas is really a work of military history.

And as a final note, what I really liked in this work is the fact that the major capital ships - initially the battleships and later the large fleet carriers - are characters in this work just as much as the admirals and policymakers on both sides. It is interesting to note how these ships pop up after repairs or refitting at home ports in different theaters and see their overall symbolic importance and in the wider conduct of the global war for the seas.

[Kristinn Valdimarsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um ekkert sögulegt tímabil hefur verið jafn mikið ritað og síðari heimsstyrjöldina. Til að nefna bara einn miðil þá hafa verið skrifaðar mörg hundruð bækur um átökin sem stóðu frá 1939 - 1945. Því er það svo að flestir söguáhugamenn hafa heyrt af Stalíngrad, orustunni um El-Alamain og innrásinni í Normadí. Fleiri fræga atburði væri auðvelt að telja upp. Það sem flestir þeirra eiga sameiginlegt er að um er að ræða orustur á landi. Vissulega voru landbardagar stór hluti af styrjöldinni en þar með er hins vegar aðeins hálf sagan sögð. Átökin sem áttu sér stað á hafinu skiptu ekki síður máli. Færa má mörg rök fyrir því. Hér verður minnst á þrjú. Kyrrahafsstyrjöidin var að stórum hluta háð á hafi úti, Bandaríkin þurftu skip til að koma sínum volduga heraafla á átakasvæði og hefði Orustan um Atlantshafið tapast hefðu Bretar ekki getað haldið áfram að verjast Öxulveldunum. Áhugamenn um seinni heimsstyrjöldina verða því að lesa sér til um þetta sögusvið vilji þeir átta sig á gangi mála á hinum miklu átakatímum. The War For the Seas veitir slíka yfirsýn enda er í henni farið yfir þróun sjóhernaðar frá því í september 1939 og þar til Japan gafst upp í ágúst 1945. Bókin er vel skrifuð og skýr og því er auðvelt fyrir lesandanna að fylgjast með framvindu mála. Að því sögðu þá er á einstaka stað of ítarleg upptalning á skipum og flugvélum nokkuð sem spillir aðeins fyrir lestrinum. Það sem bókin er vel upp sett mætti nota hana sem handbók en undirritaður mælir þó með því að hún sé lesinn í heild sinni enda er í henni "hafsjór" upplýsinga.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled into this book, scrolling through the e-book offerings on my local library's borrowing app. I feel a bit of a nostalgia for the topic because I was deeply, deeply obsessed with World War II naval history since I encountered Grenfall's book on the Hunt for the Bismark back when I was in Grade 5 or something. So, suffice it to say, I've read a few books on the subject. But, as things do, I had rather lost touch with the subject, so this book made me want to see what was current these days in WWII naval history. And I'm glad i did.

Mawdsley's book is a really good history of the full scope of the war. And I mean full. He doesn't just focus on Britain vs Germany and the US vs Japan, as most writers do, but he also discusses what happened to the French and Italians and, even more rarely, the Russians. He writes both using interesting anecdotes, but also in carefully considered analysis. The result is a book whose breadth satisfies the desire for the big picture, with all the drama of the actions fought. He considers the great controversies, giving the fresh looks that have now available as archives open up and more and more ships are re-discovered where they sank. The result is a comprehensive and thoughtful volume which is very much worth reading.

This book really is a good starting point for someone considering the subject for the first time or for someone who wants to see where we are in the study of the war. It manages that elusive goal of all historians- to be readable and accurate. And that makes it worth looking up.

[Gregg Shoemaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soooo. I see I am a bit lower than most in my thoughts on this. I think I know why....in part....I listened to this book on audible so it is possible that the narrator was at least partly a reason. However, while this book was well written and extremely thorough and complete I found it to be dry enough to not hold my interest completely from start to finish. (I did finish) The information was great and I am a huge history buff, but I found this somewhat dull in its entirety. Parts of this were fantastic and captivating and kept my interest completely and other (to many) found me drifting and ‘wondering off’. I enjoyed the book otherwise I would not have finished it. I just found it a bit taxing and dry at points.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable and comprehensive one-volume history of the naval war in WWII. "Maritime" is an apt part of the subtitle, because the merchant marine, logistics, and amphibious invasion/assault aspects of the war are given their fair share of space. The various command structures and strategic priorities of the combatants are well-described. Many lesser-known campaigns are covered. I'm no scholar, but I have read a good deal about Midway, the Battle of the Atlantic, the Bismarck, Pearl Harbor, Liberty ships, etc. There is plenty here for the specialist and the interested amateur. The narrative doesn't spend much time on gritty accounts of the seaman's and pilot's time at sea, which is not surprising in a general history.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete look at all of the naval action of WW II, it bounced between the war in the Atlantic and the one in the Pacific, providing information on all naval activities and included lessor known battles that were all part of the overall strategies of the combatants.

While the book really didn't get into the politics of the times, it was very well documented and showed the progression of Allied forces as they slowly "caught up" to the Axis powers, and then surpassed them using the American economy as the engine.

For anyone that's interested in a complete viewpoint of Maritime activities in WW II, this is the book for you.

[Michael Samerdyke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book that made me realize how diverse the naval aspect of the Second World War was.

Some people seem to dislike how Mawdsley organized the book, but by breaking his vast subject up the way he did, he brought interesting points to light.

The important thing is that Mawdsley makes it clear that "sea power" in World War II was always tied up with "air power."

I gave this four instead of five stars because Mawdsley gave way more information about the types of ships than I was able to handle. Still, this is worth a look for anyone interested in the history of World War II.

[Michael Bond · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author actually achieved the aim of providing a global account of the war by even tying the decisions in one theater to events that had recently happened in another theater, thereby providing a proper contacts for strategic and tactical decisions. One example is the commentary about Hitler's reticence to risk his heavy ships to the threat of aircraft carriers in the northern seas near Norway because of the lessons of the Battle of Midway only days before. There are a number of such examples in the book, which highlights decisions in a way that is not apparent when only studying one particular battle.

It was a balanced and complete history of the naval side if World War II.

[Érsek Máté · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book gives a good overview of campaigns and major sea battles across all theatres during the war. Written from a mildly patriotic British point of view, it argues convincingly that contol of the seas, while not being the solely important mode of warfare, certainly played a central part in enabling Allied victory. There are misspellings and small grammatical mistakes throughout, but they do not interrupt or deduct much from the overall reading experience. I would have given it 3.5 stars as I had expected more of a novel-like approach rather than a decidedly dry, academic account, but for that the author is not at fault. A worthwile read all the same.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mawdsley details naval combat in World War II and how the battles on the ocean affected the global land war.

Why I started this book: I was ready for a long book about World War II.

Why I finished it: Interesting to see WWII from the sea and from a British perspective. This truly was a global war with sea battles around the globe between various combatants. Mawdsley places an emphasis on how the British jump started and guided the American sea roll and docks to get the might of production started. And he ends his book with a reminder than America couldn't have won without the British holding the line at the beginning.

Best line (paraphrased): The most incredible thing of the whole Phillippine invasion was the survival of Gen. MacArthur's reputation.

[Keith Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an ex-Merchant Mariner, I read a lot of maritime history. I think this is probably the best of overview of WWII's naval actions, worldwide, that I have ever read. Lively writing and plenty of detail, but at every stage it tries to connect local events to the overarching strategy, and the big picture of the war, on land, sea and in the air. I have a Kindle version, and I was impressed with the effort that was made to make tables expandable and thus readable. In most ebooks, tables and illustrations are an afterthought, and you would need a microscope to read them.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I knew a lot about the subjects covered in this book. I was just plain wrong. Who knew about the role played by Ulithi in the Philippine Sea?

The author provided an authoritative account of the organizational mess afflicting all the belligerent navies. The chapters on the Soviet front, including the Far West, were especially eye opening Last, I had my preconceptions about the Pacific War overturned. What were the Japanese thinking?

[Artie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable comprehensive history of the naval conflict in WWII. Obviously plenty is left out but he does a good job of covering the really important things.

The major contribution is pointing out how important the British navy was to winning the war.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow what a great book for any fans of the naval engagements of WW2. You can pick and choose your zones of interest, or work through the whole book piece by piece, which is more my style. I had the audio book and it was best listened to on car rides and while doing yard work! I highly recommend.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

B: This book was a long term project. 478 pages that isn’t a page turner because there is so much information on each page, but don’t skip the end notes. Very UK centric, but does not forget the Soviet Navy or any of the other participants.

[Richard Marney · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a military historian, especially with a focus on WWII, this is likely a 5 star read. For a neophyte in the subject area (like me), the book is often too detailed and I repeatedly found myself drowning (no pun intended 😄😄) in technical facts and losing track of the bigger picture.

[John Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief but it leaves nothing out for the armchair WWII history lover in your life. The Two Ocean War and Ian W. Toll's Pacific trilogy both have their places in the pantheon of WWII naval history, but if you're looking for an overview this is a great place to start.

[Shea Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the most challenging academic books I’ve read. One campaign after another. Well written, solid overviews, but hard to read. I really appreciated the intro, conclusion, and objectivity throughout.

[Jimmy Budge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book but better placement of the maps would make it easier to cross reference places