History of US Naval Operations in WWII 2: Operations in North African Waters 10/42-6/43

History of United States Naval Operations in World War II #2

by Samuel Eliot Morison

One of America's most distinguished historians, Samuel Eliot Morison, was commissioned in the Naval Reserve early in 1942 with the sole duty of preparing the history of which this book is the second volume chronologically. The work, as a whole, is a "shooting history," written from the inside out, in effect simultaneously with the events it records. Captain Morison spent more than half his time at sea during the war, seeing active duty on eleven different ships and emerging with seven battle stars on his service ribbons. Either he or one of three officers on his staff covered personally every major operation after 1942. His is the story of naval combat, surface actions, submarine and anti-submarine warfare as conducted from carriers and naval bases ashore, and amphibious warfare.

This second volume, actually the first to be published, covers naval aspects of Operation "Torch," the North African campaign, which carried out the plan favored by President Roosevelt for opening a second front to relieve the Russians. Told with the accuracy of a historian, the pace of an experienced narrator, the detail of firsthand observation and participation, it is a full record of what was, at the time it occurred, the largest overseas expedition ever undertaken.

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

440 pages, cloth

First published March 23, 2001

About the author

Samuel Eliot Morison, son of John H. and Emily Marshall (Eliot) Morison, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 9 July 1887. He attended Noble’s School at Boston, and St. Paul’s at Concord, New Hampshire, before entering Harvard University, from which he was graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1908. He studied at the Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques, Paris, France, in 1908-1909, and returned to Harvard for postgraduate work, receiving the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1912. Thereafter he became Instructor, first at the University of California in Berkeley, and in 1915 at Harvard. Except for three years (1922-1925) when he was Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford, England, and his periods of active duty during both World Wars, he remained continuously at Harvard University as lecturer and professor until his retirement in 1955.

He had World War I service as a private in the US Army, but not overseas. As he had done some preliminary studies on Finland for Colonel House’s Inquiry, he was detailed from the Army in January 1919 and attached to the Russian Division of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, at Paris, his specialty being Finland and the Baltic States. He served as the American Delegate on the Baltic Commission of the Peace Conference until 17 June 1919, and shortly after returned to the United States. He became a full Professor at Harvard in 1925, and was appointed to the Jonathan Trumbull Chair in 1940. He also taught American History at Johns Hopkins University in 1941-1942.

Living up to his sea-going background – he has sailed in small boats and coastal craft all his life. In 1939-1940, he organized and commanded the Harvard Columbus Expedition which retraced the voyages of Columbus in sailing ships, barkentine Capitana and ketch Mary Otis. After crossing the Atlantic under sail to Spain and back, and examining all the shores visited by Columbus in the Caribbean, he wrote Admiral of the Ocean Sea, an outstanding biography of Columbus, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1943. He also wrote a shorter biography, Christopher Columbus, Mariner. With Maurico Obregon of Bogota, he surveyed and photographed the shores of the Caribbean by air and published an illustrated book The Caribbean as Columbus Saw It (1964).

Shortly after the United States entered World War II, Dr. Morison proposed to his friend President Roosevelt, to write the operational history of the US Navy from the inside, by taking part in operations and writing them up afterwards. The idea appealed to the President and Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and on 5 May 1942, Dr. Morison was commissioned Lieutenant Commander, US Naval Reserve, and was called at once to active duty. He subsequently advanced to the rank of Captain on 15 December 1945. His transfer to the Honorary Retired List of the Naval Reserve became effective on 1 August 1951, when he was promoted to Rear Admiral on the basis of combat awards.

In July-August 1942 he sailed with Commander Destroyer Squadron Thirteen (Captain John B. Heffernan, USN), on USS Buck, flagship, on convoy duty in the Atlantic. In October of that year, on USS Brooklyn with Captain Francis D. Denebrink, he participated in Operation TORCH (Allied landings in North and Northwestern Africa - 8 November 1942). In March 1943, while attached to Pacific Fleet Forces, he visited Noumea, Guadalcanal, Australia, and on Washington made a cruise with Vice Admiral W. A. Lee, Jr., USN. He also patrolled around Papua in motor torpedo boats, made three trips up “the Slot” on Honolulu, flagship of Commander Cruisers, Pacific Fleet (Rear Admiral W.W. Ainsworth, USN), and took part in the Battle of Kolombangara before returning to the mainland. Again in the Pacific War Area in September 1943, he participated in the Gilbert Islands operation on board USS Baltimore, under command of Captain Walter C. Calhoun, USN. For the remainder of the Winter he worked at Pearl Harbor, and in the Spring

Reviews

[Wanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was the only book around when I had to do a lot of waiting, and I knew the name of the author, so I read it (okay, okay, the whole set was there; I just pulled out this one at random). It was pretty good.
I didn't even know that America and France were enemies during World War Two, or that invasions from the sea were so difficult and carried out so ineptly.
This war was pretty costly--the index lists 29 ships sunk in 8 days, due to everything from shore battery fire to airplane torpedo. Some of the battles were appalling, with enormous loss of life, such as with two British Navy ships, HMS Walney and HMS Hartland, accompanied by two motor launches, tasked with landing a battalion of specially-trained American soldiers at Oran harbor. First the Walney missed the harbor entrance, even though there were lighted buoys marking it, then collided with the motor launches while circling around trying to find the harbor entrance. All the commotion alerted the French defenders who opened a deadly fired on the ship when it finally managed to enter the harbor. The American soldiers were slaughtered, their bodies piled three feet high on the deck when the ship finally sank near the mouth of the harbor.
The Hartland crashed into the breakwater trying to sneak into the harbor, then circled around and tried again, but under fire from the now-alerted French. In 25 minutes the ship was on fire and sinking and abandoned by her crew, leaving more than 200 dead and dying American soldiers behind, killed while they were below decks or trying to get on deck, helpless to defend themselves. I was so mad to read this, mad at the French--and the stupid British. Oh, and the ship didn't sink for six hours after the crew fled. Outrageous!
What a contrast that murderous fiasco was with the story of the USS Dallas fighting its way up the Wadi Sebou to accomplish its mission without a single casualty to the troops on board. The US Navy seemed so determined, capable and resourceful, as in the case of USS Savannah's SOC-3 scout biplanes attacking enemy tanks with depth charges--and blowing them up!
The book was concisely written, well foot-noted, and now I know how long it takes a well-handled crew to get a shipload of troops onto landing craft at night in a heavy swell. And how long it takes for a badly handled crew to do the same. I also know how many rounds of 20mm anti-aircraft ammunition it requires for an LCI gun crew to shoot down a Ju-88: 105 rounds. I also know what an LCI is, for that matter. And a Ju-88.

[Billy Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a decent read. Before reading this volume I didn't realize the level of French resistance to Operation Torch. It still puzzles me as to why there was any resistance at all to the liberation of the former French empire from Nazi tyranny. For a naval book the story lacks some of the high seas drama that will probably be plentiful in the Pacific war volumes. Nonetheless it was still filled with plenty of essential facts, and Morison did a superb job of setting the backdrop for the upcoming invasion of Sicily. I enjoyed the book for what it was, I guess I just wished I could have smelled the cordite as I turned the pages. Not Morison's fault however, the naval aspect of Operation Torch comes across as a supporting role with a few brief engagements with French warships, and shore bombardments, with carrier air providing offensive counter air support. Maybe if one of the French heavies came out and traded punches with the Massachusetts there could have been more drama. A history however, can only relate the facts, and in this case I felt Morison did a splendid job of telling a story that just didn't have all that much naval drama to report.