Explore World War II and Other Wars discussion

This topic will discuss sea battles.

Who is everyone's favorite admiral or admirals? Mine are Nelson, Lockwood, Nimitz, Doenitz, Spruance, Mitschner, and Tanaka to name a few.

From what I know, I like Admiral Nimitz. Have you ever watched Battle 360 on the History Channel? It followed the USS Enterprise through the Pacific War.

I have it on DVD and it is fabulous. Nimitz was an amazing leader and knew how to get the most out of his people.

I enjoyed the series. Was there a second season?

There is a show on DVD that follows the same format aclled Hero Ships

Oh there was a Patton 360

Awesome I'll have to look for it.

What was the significance of the battle between the American force Taffy 3 versus the Japanes Navy in the Philippines?

It saved the troop transports at the beachead. It also destroyed any hope the Japanese had for interrupting the Leyte invasion. Finally it broke the back of the Japanese Navy. After Leyte Gulf ships were sent on missions where the Combined Fleet knew they weren't coming back from. Some historians believe the Japanese were thinking Nishimura and Kurita were sent on a "kamikaze" mission. I don't buy it. I think they were hoping and betting on they could win but by that time without air cover those ships were sitting ducks. I suggest you look at H.P. Wilmott's excellent study or for an overview of the battle. I like that Taffy 3 story and its explained best in John Wukovits Devotion to DutyDevotion to Duty: A Biography of Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague. I would avoid like the plague Anthony Tully's Battle of Surigao Strait it has been proclaimed as a great scholarly piece but it isn't. Battle of Surigao Strait. If you want more information on Surigao Strait read Howard Sauer's excellent first person accountThe Last Big-Gun Naval Battle: The Battle of Surigao Strait. To see an excellent critique on Halsey's actions in Leyte Gulf read Clark Reynolds The Fast Carriers The Fast Carriers: The Forging of an Air Navy

Wasn't Taffy 3 fighting against a more superior force?

Yes Taffy 3 was a group of escort carriers (carriers built on a merchant hull the designator was CVE or as they were called Combustabile Vulnerable Expendable. My uncle served on one and on an Essex class and often called the CVE a Kaiser Coffin (kaiser was the man manufactor). CVE's served a valuable job detailed by Willam T. Y'Blood in Little Giants . The escort force was made up of Fletcher Class destroyers and some destroyer escorts or DE's. They charged the Japanese battleships, crusiers and destroyers confusing them in conjunction with the composite aircraft groups on the CVE's. The admiral in charge was Clifton Sprague and a good biography was done on him detailing how the battle was fought by him that is well worth the read. The best books detailing the charge of the escorts are Edward Stafford's Little Ship Big War (Stafford was assigned to a DE in Taffy 2) , Henry Droscher's and James Hornfischer's excellent popular history The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors . There are other excellent books which look at the three separate and quite different sea battles that are often lumped into the generic title Battle of Leyte Gulf. By far the Battle off Samar in which Taffy 3 takes place is one of the more controversial ones as well the most heroic with a destroyer escort taking on heavy cruisers and battleships. It was a desparate battle that the Americans had no hope of winning but the Japanese Admiral Kurita somehow was unnerved enough to back off. But the only reason he could have gotten that far as he did was because of American complacency and miscommunication.

I'm reading Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 by Max Hastings. When did Japan lose its naval power in the Pacific campaign?

For the best work on naval battles of WWII you must read Samuel Eliot Morison

It is unsurpassed. I devoured the whole set in high school and in the 40 years since have yet to come across anything better.

How many books in the series?

Martin wrote: "How many books in the series?"

15 volumes

Wow! I'll have to see where I can check out some of them. Thanks.

Martin wrote: "From what I know, I like Admiral Nimitz. Have you ever watched Battle 360 on the History Channel? It followed the USS Enterprise through the Pacific War."

Battle 360 is one of the best documentaries on TV ever! All books on the Pacific naval war should really have graphics of movements that are easy to understand just like when we watch the multimedia version on TV ;p

Anyway, the Pacific war is also interesting since it's the first time ever that battleships did not have to see each other when doing attacks and just relied on their fighter planes.

Yes Battle 360 was an awesome series. I love the recreation of the battles with digital imagery. It would be interesting if they taught history like that. A lot more people at my school would like that.

The battle in the pacific gave rise to the carriers. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor they mainly wanted the battleships. The fact that no carrier was at port meant nothing to the Japanese.