Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942 (The Pacific War Trilogy, 1) Paperback – Illustrated, November 26, 2012

I so thoroughly enjoyed Mr Toll’s second volume in this series that I decided to read his first installment and I am very glad I did!Many good reviews have been written so instead of a review I would like to indulge in a little critique but I would like to make clear that just because Mr Toll did not fashion his story to include a few things that I think important and just because he indulges in a theme that I think is a red herring does not detract from his wonderful narrative. The red herring theme is not really a very important part of the overall story.The author makes reference a few times to a supposed rivalry or competition between naval air and the battleship folks. It comes across as if the “black shoe” navy did not really trust that aircraft could make any meaningful impact in war. On page 57 (paperback) he says:“The fate of Force Z…settled old and bitter arguments. …it was a conceptual triumph within naval circles all over the world for the cause of aviation, and did more than even Pearl Harbor to undermine the power of the Mahanian ‘big gun club.’”There was no power to undermine. The navy, to include the “black shoe” admirals, had fought hard to keep control of its investment in its air wing. They wanted aircraft and the platforms to launch them. In the run up to the attack on Pearl Harbor it was the Japanese carrier fleet that was getting all the attention. President Roosevelt, the War and Navy Departments all were concerned about the tremendous threat posed by the Kido Butai. This was before Pearl Harbor and before the demise of Force Z. The fate of Force Z was a Churchill decision against the advice of his admirals. That those two attacks had a major influence on “the cause of aviation” is a story that has been retold over and over. The thing is, history, facts and naval spending going on in America in the run up to war show that to be wrong. A fiction. A myth.Back in 1940 Carl Vinson, Chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee said, "The modern development of aircraft has demonstrated conclusively that the backbone of the Navy today is the aircraft carrier. The carrier, with destroyers, cruisers and submarines grouped around it[,] is the spearhead of all modern naval task forces."He had just got a massive naval spending bill through the House. It called for 18 Essex Class carriers and the planes to stock them. It is called the Two Ocean Navy Act. Mr Toll mentions that bill but he gets the amount of expenditure wrong. The proposal CNO Admiral Stark delivered to Vinson was for 4 billion but Vinson bumped it to 8 billion. The above quote from Vinson came from the news conference after passage. Reporters wanted him to explain why the government was spending so much money. The government and the navy would not invest so much treasure and resources unless the navy really wanted naval air power and the carriers to launch it. Among other classes of ships, the bill also called for 2 Iowa Class battleships and 5 Montana Class battleships. The US Navy wanted a powerful modern force that would not ignore the battleship but it did want a preponderance of carriers that would be the backbone and spearhead of the modern task force. The navy was committed to air power to be the decisive striking force of the fleet well before that terrible week in December 1941.Since the aircraft carriers, and the six major carrier duels between the US and Japan, had such a tremendous influence on the fighting and the outcome of the Pacific War it would have been nice if the author could have told the reader what the two carrier forces looked like at the start. And, since his narrative refers to the doctrine and influence of Mahan, it would have been nice to get a picture of the battleship fleets of both countries as well. For the sake of taking stock of the US Navy’s actual combat doctrine he should have also investigated the influence of war gaming at the Naval War College and fleet exercises conducted in the 1930’s. The author discussed the importance of Theodor Roosevelt to modernizing the navy in his day but did not mention Carl Vinson once, the man responsible for the navy that won the war in the Pacific.In the epilogue to this fine book the author does a superlative job of summarizing the Battle of Midway and the fate of Joe Rochefort. He does a fine job of illustrating how Rochefort is remembered by historians but does not paint a complete picture of how he is remembered today by his country. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal in 1985, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1986 by Ronald Reagan and he was inducted into the National Security Agency/Central Security Service Hall of Fame in 2000.Then the author continues with the carriers vs battleships theme:“Now [after Midway], somewhat belatedly, the Japanese navy acknowledged the primacy of carriers over battleships and other surface units. Hulls that had originally been laid down as battleships were converted on the stocks to new carriers.”I know of only one battleship that was converted to a carrier after Midway, the Shinano, a Yamato Class battleship. No other battleships or battlecruisers were laid down. There was a plan for a super Yamato Class but those plans did not get very far. Meanwhile the Japanese planned for six Taiho Class carriers, 1 was built, and 15 Unryu Class carriers, three were built. The Unryu Class were laid after Midway. It seems the evidence points to the Japanese really wanting carriers but that does not fit in with the author’s desire to depict a preference for battleships.That said, I think Mr Toll has still produced a richly detailed story that does a great job of examining the issues that influenced Japan’s decision to make war with the US and the events of the first six months of the war. This is, I think, a very necessary contribution to Second World War literature. There are many books covering the war against the Nazis but not so many that cover the war against Japan.A very curious thing about the paperback edition I received: the text is missing the notes citation numbers. I have a nice list of notes in the back of the book but I have to really struggle to figure out which part of the text they refer to. I am considering buying the hardcover.

If volumes 2 and 3 reach the level of non-fiction story telling Ian Toll has achieved with "The Pacific Crucible," a new standard in Pacific War history will be set.This book is extremely well written and factual. Toll is blessed with the story teller's gift. This is a very solid work of non-fiction, but written with a style and cohesiveness that emphasizes the "story" in "history." There are no parts that are dry, or academic or drag. It is a thrilling tale very well told.I'm a history buff and have read a lot on World War II. One of the pleasure's of Toll's book is that even with that pedigree, I learned a lot. Not only about small actions like the Halsey raids with the Enterprise right after Pearl Harbor, but also great facets of the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway (about which I have read a fair amount).This is a volume that explores all levels of the struggle. National and military leadership and personalities are plumbed as well as the actions of individual pilots, crew members and soldiers. Toll does an excellent job of leaving the strategic level and enlivening execution of plans with a strong focus on the individuals who actually had to do something other than write and pass along papers. His background on Japanese military thinking and training as well as a very good examination of the political morass that led Japan to war (and the always fascinating story of inter service rivalry in Japan) are about the best I've read and validate the decision making and actions of Japanese during the conflicts covered (validate in terms of their rationale becomes clear given their culture). Also satisfying is that the author has produced a vast number of individual Japanese remembrances and commentary on the events and actions covered in this tome. Having both sides perspectives rounds out the conflicts well.Yammato and Nimitz are the primary strategic level actors and the backgrounds on both are short enough to not lead the reader astray of a fast paced story, but long enough to give the reader a sense of the man. Also well done is Toll's examination and telling of the great role American code breakers played in giving the (in the early war) over-matched Americans an equalizer by having a good idea where and when the Japanese would move.I can't be more positive about this book. It is excellent history well-told. Definitely compares well with and is similar to Rick Atkinson's marvelous trilogy on the American Army in the ETO.

Best description of Pearl Harbor attack and Battle of Midway I have read. This book answered many questions I had. Reads like a novel and is well researched. I was a kid when this was all happening and I remember the troop trains well and the steam engines. Flat cars with tanks and Jeeps. People were determined to whip the Japanese. Radio news of the war every morning with breakfast. People feared for sons and brothers and even daughters. But the war came first and there were shortages of gas, meat, tires, and the reason was always the same, “there is a war on you know”. This book is outstanding history, well told. Recommend highly!