The Battle of Midway: The Naval Institute Guide to the U.S. Navy's Greatest Victory

by Thomas C. Hone (Editor)

The best way for today‘s sailors to learn about a battle is from those who fought it. The Battle of Midway, commemorated annually in the U.S. Navy, warrants close attention. This Naval Institute guide includes some of the most vibrant and informed accounts by individuals who fought on both sides of the June 1942 battle. The anthology pulls together memoirs, articles, excerpts from other Naval Institute books, and relevant government documents to help readers understand what happened and explain why the battle was so significant to the naval service. The core of the book focuses on events leading up to the battle and the battle itself, with a separate section examining how others have interpreted the battle‘s often desperate engagements. When the U.S. Navy stopped the Japanese steamroller off Midway Island, it not only turned the progress of the war but set the Navy's foundation for future counter offensives. The Navy's comeback spread to the Solomon Islands and on to the other key strategic areas in the Pacific. While many know that Midway was a crucial American victory, they often do not know the details of the battle. This book tells how, for example, the American PT boats contributed to the victory, how the carrier planes formed up for their attacks, and what role radar played in the battle. In addition to excerpts from books and articles, the guide includes selections from several important Naval Institute oral histories. From the enlisted man‘s perspective all the way to the admiral‘s, for both Americans and Japanese, readers see the U.S. Navy's greatest victory as the participants saw it.

Genres: History, Military History, American History

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Thomas C. Hone, an executive in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, is an award-winning author of many papers and books on naval subjects, including American and British Aircraft Carrier Development, 1911-1941. He has taught at the Naval War College and the National Defense University among other institutions.

Credit: U.S. Naval Institute

Reviews

[Kevin Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb and wide-ranging

This superb anthology of Midway, the timeline, the details, the mysteries and legacy, is a valuable asset for any student of the battle. BZ.

[Mhorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit too fragmented for me. The Battle of Midway is the one battle of WW2 in the Pacific that I have read more books on than any other. Any book that comes out about it, I try and track down and read. This book, which is snippets of reports and first hand stories about this battle, that basically wrecked the air arm of the Japanese Navy and gave America the breathing room it needed to start dropping new ships down the ways, is simply just OK.

[Bill V · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a fan of collected essays or writings. They tend to repeat many of the same events over and over again. Having said that, this is the best such book I've read. While there were elements that were repeated constantly the book covered all of the essential elements of the leadup to the battle, the battle itself and the aftermath. I learned a few things about the battle that I hadn't read before. I plan on reading some of the titles mentioned here in the hope of gleaning more information.

[Frank Cavanaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book. It was like a lecture series with excerpts from various sources arranged and quoted. It is a chronicle of the battle including the timing, weapons, leaders, events and importance. You can’t avoid learning facts you probably did not know. Although long, and occasionally redundant, It was surprisingly easy to listen to.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is too eclectic and too spasmodic for me. The author has a spread of authors, who were authors on the subject of Midway over a long period of time. That makes for an insight into the problems of analysis but the extracts are too short.