On Seas Contested: The Seven Great Navies of the Second World War

by Vincent P. O'Hara, W. David Dickson, Richard Worth

An international team of naval historians and scholars, including John Jordan (France), Peter Schenk with Karsten Klein, Dr. Axel Niestle, Dieter Thomaier and Berndt R. Wenzel (Germany), David Wragg (Great Britain), Enrico Cernuschi and Vincent O'Hara (Italy) Mark Peattie (Japan), Trent Hone (United States) and Stephen McLaughliln (USSR) has pooled their expertise for this definitive reference on how the great navies of World War II were organized and how they trained, operated, and fought. They provide a point-by-point evaluation on the inner workings of the navies of the United States, the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, and the Soviet Union. Each navy has its own chapter, which covers such key features as weaponry, training, logistics, and doctrine. In bringing together data buried in specialized works in various languages, the authors deliver a fresh, multinational view of the naval war.

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

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2010

About the author

Vincent P. O'Hara is a noted naval historian and the author, co-author, or editor of eight books and many articles that have appeared in publications like Naval War College Review, Warship, Seaforth Naval Review, and Military History Quarterly. O'Hara was a winner of the Shrout Short Contest awarded by the University of California, Berkeley. Ossa is his first published work of fiction.

Reviews

[Dimitri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first effort of a well-oiled team that would go on to crown the waves with a similar book on the Great War*. Each contributor is a recognized expert on his navy, where necessary assisted by native historians with better mastery of primary sources. Each chapter evaluates the weaponry, training, doctrine and ultimate performance according to a standard set of subtitles. This allows for a greater deal of easy comparison; it is the main strength of the book. It cannot stand on its own, but it will broaden your understanding of events in traditional battle narratives.

The assessments challenge orthodoxy where needed; for example, the Regia Marina is shown to have acquitted itself better in some respects than classics such as Morison's two-ocean war allow**.

The re-assassment that struck home the hardest for me had to do with the American "Orange" war planning for the Pacific; a popular view of Pearl Harbor is that it forced the U.S. Navy into learning to use carriers as the core of its force. In actuality, they had been given a more central role in the 1930s scenarios. Rather, it was the Japanese that couldn't shake off the "big gun" obsession over the years, resulting in tactically outdated strongmen like the Yamoto. Here, the structural uniformity of the book allows us to trace the impact of Jutland on all post-war navies: most of them began the 1920's with an inheritance of Dreadnoughts that increasingly became cumbersomely outdated. The limits imposed by the naval treaties of Washington (1922) and London (1930) forced them into evolving towards a more carrier-based fleet or creative forms of cruiser construction (such as the Japanese hull alloys).

Given the dominance of the U-boat as the German naval forces' most effective weapon in both world wars, it might surprise you to learn Hitler was a traditionalist (or not, in terms of land warfare he pretty much never got his head out of the trenches once the Blitzkrieg went on the defensive) : l like big guns and I cannot lie. In this respect, he had something in common with Stalin. Just like he reversed the shift to deep-penetration offensive warfare back to linear defensive warfare, he reversed an interest in combined operations and cruisers to a traditional navy built around battleships.

The USA comes out on top in terms of preparedness: clear deals with the industry ensured steady replacement of ship losses, just as a comprehensive training program prevented the shortage of experienced cadres such as plagued Japanese naval aviation once the Pearl Harbor veterans were decimated.

The French Navy, like its Soviet counterpart, didn't see much action, ironically more for political reasons than anything else. As an active ally, it could've simply acted according to its interwar focus on Italy and interdicted Axis shipping to the African theater ; as things stood, the Italians did a fine job despite the best efforts of the Royal Navy, whose story is sung to the sad tune of imperial overstretch.

* byVincent P. O'Hara (no photo)
** by Samuel Eliot Morison

[Steven Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book declares its scope of effort regarding World War II at the outset (Page xiii): "Seven great navies dominated the war: the German Kriegsmarine, the Italian Regia Marina and the Japanese Teikoku Kaigun squared off against the United State Navy, Great Britain's Royal Navy, and the Soviet Voennomorski Flot. Occupying a unique position was France's Marina Nationale--first an allied force, then an independent one, and finally Allied once again."

Each chapter covers one of the navies above mentioned. For each, a number of subjects is covered, to allow comparison. Among the components of comparison: History and mission, Organization, Materiel (ships, aviation, weapon systems), Infrastructure, and evolution during the war.

There are a number of appendices that are quite helpful, such as comparison of guns and torpedoes and ranks of officers.

A little specialized as a work, but for those interested in a comparison of naval forces in World War II, this will prove an interesting resource.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent basis of comparison between the 7 most important navies which participated to WW2. Strategies, tactics, technology,armaments, are reviewed ; doctrine, assumptions, organizational culture culture are also covered. For instance the authors point out that the big battle concept which drove the Imperial Japanese Navy strategic thinking became a dogma which hampered the ability to adapt to changing sets of circumstances.

[Nishant Pappireddi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed look at the navies of the US, UK, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, and the USSR during WW2.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For any non-history buff, this volume would be dry reading. It was, however, a terrific compendium of information about the seven major navies of the Second World War. Each chapter is set out in the same format. They outline the development, equipment and related details on each navy and give a brief overview of their experiences during the war. Its a good resource for anyone interested in naval developments before and during the war.

[Nikky Southerland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Containing 7 essays on the major battlefleets of World War II (including the rather interesting navies of Italy and France), this book isn't for a casual reader. But if you're into this sort of thing and the idea of reading about fleet strategies, logistics, and fleet analysis, you'll like this book.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book for those of us interested in the detail from WW II. A very narrow focus with a lot of information but not for everyone