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Enterprise: America's Fightingest Ship and the Men Who Helped Win World War II
Pearl Harbor . . . Midway . . . Guadalcanal . . . The Marianas . . . Leyte Gulf . . . Iwo Jima . . . Okinawa. These are just seven of the twenty battles that the USS Enterprise took part in during World War II. No other American ship came close to matching her record. Enterprise is the epic, heroic story of this legendary aircraft carrier—nicknamed “the fightingest ship” i...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
February 14th 2012
by Simon & Schuster
(first published February 1st 2012)
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A good read for those who love history. A story that covers the time from the years preceeding World War II when they first laid the keel of the USS Enterprise, through her shakedown, her delivering aircraft to Wake Island that had the Enterprise away from Pearl Harbor at the attack on the Hawaiian Island in 1941, and the ship's entire involvement of the war. The ship was finally seriously damaged in a kamikazee attack off Iwo Jima. The Enterprise fought in the majority of the great sea battles...more
Because of my interest in WWII I got this book through Amazon’s Vine program for reviewing. This book tells the tale of the USS Enterprise, CV-6, from its beginning to its scrapping. In telling the tale of CV-6 Mr. Tillman follows her service life and provides little snippets about the crew.
While Mr. Tillman offers some good background information on the USS Enterprise I really wasn’t won over; I kept looking for the meat but kept finding filler. While Mr. Tillman gives us the different battles...more
While Mr. Tillman offers some good background information on the USS Enterprise I really wasn’t won over; I kept looking for the meat but kept finding filler. While Mr. Tillman gives us the different battles...more
Barrett Tillman has written over forty non-fiction books about World War II, with his main focus being the aerial war and the War in the Pacific.
His new volume, "Enterprise, America's Fightingest Ship and the Men Who Helped Win World War II," recreates the role of the carrier Enterprise from her construction through her many battles, her repairs, and her eventual decomissioning. A new Enterprise is now at sea, bearing the name of the most-decorated ship of World War II.
My father served aboard th...more
His new volume, "Enterprise, America's Fightingest Ship and the Men Who Helped Win World War II," recreates the role of the carrier Enterprise from her construction through her many battles, her repairs, and her eventual decomissioning. A new Enterprise is now at sea, bearing the name of the most-decorated ship of World War II.
My father served aboard th...more
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One of my favorite childhood World War II histories -- yes, I was and am that kind of kid -- was Edward Stafford's The Big E. There haven't been many histories of the USS Enterprise in the fifty years since that book first appeared, and there are so few Enterprise crewmen left that Barrett Tillman is likely to be the last historian with the opportunity to interview them. He does a fine job with this responsibility, putting together a book that covers the same ship and the same events from a very...more
I wasn't sure I was going to like this book, even right up to the end. Unit histories (which this is, if you can conceptualize a ship as a unit)are rather hit or miss. They can be engaging and make you feel a connection to the people, or they can put you off (either through uncomfortable adoration or cold detachment). This book floated (heh) between the positive result and the "uncomfortable adoration" part of the negative, but ended up being an all-around enjoyable unit history. It did start to...more
To begin...I'm a big student of the Pacific War...my Dad was a radioman on a dive bomber. I usually eat these types of book up. Not this one. This reads like the alumni yearbook of the Big E. It does tell the story of her keel laying, deployment to both the Atlantic and Pacific and all, of her battles. In mindnumbing, minute detail. No music, no flow, just a dry recitation of facts. Every single pilot, radioman, copilot, commander, chief, mess steward is named. The stories of her battles are pre...more
In Enterprise, Barrett Tillman has written a highly readable tribute to the men who served on CV-6 from her commissioning through her decomissioning. Tillman focuses on the highlights of the ship's active service and doesn't get bogged down in the details. His writing style is evocative, not academic, and is designed to engage and entertain as much as it is to inform. It was the final chapters that I found most enlightening as a lifelong history reader, wherein he describes Enterprise's postwar...more
A fairly interesting read, but at times hard to follow because of the literally hundreds of names of the various sailors, pilots and others running through the narrative. About halfway through, I started filtering so I could 'hear' the stories rather than try to retain each personality.
A great historical study on the great aircraft carrier. The men who served on the great metal beast are heroes who deserved to be glorified for their service to freedom.
Not very exciting but well researched story of the men and battles of this famous US aircraft carrier.
Decent history book. I didn't realize the extent of the action that the Big E saw.
Interesting perspective of history
Very good account of the life of this top fighting ship and those who served on her. Many personal accounts and, as they say, stories behind the headlines.
Loved this book!i am a huge history buff, so this book was fantastic. The USS Enterprise is a fantastic, awesome, and amazing; its history is sooo rich! Just awesome!
A nice little history of our fightingest ship and the war in the Pacific.
May 09, 2013
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Born a fourth-generation Oregonian, descended from American pioneers, Revolutionary War Patriots, Pilgrims (e.g. Priscilla Alden) and Pocahontas, Tillman was raised on the family wheat and cattle ranch. His younger brothers include a breeder of exotic animals and a Rhodes Scholar. In high school he was an Eagle Scout[citation needed], won two state titles as a rudimental drummer, and was a champio...more
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Jan 18, 2012 01:35pm