PDF The Battle of the Atlantic: September; 1939-May; 1943 (History of United States Naval Operations in World War II; Vol. 1) by Samuel Eliot Morison in History

Review

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. subjective and partisan but good on the operational sideBy Karun MukherjiMorison’s battle of Atlantik is volume 1 of multi-volume work on US naval operations in World War II covers critical period of naval conflict when Axis navies had ascendency.Battle was fought on two levels; active and passive. By passive I mean ‘special intelligence’ ; information obtained by busting German naval enigma ciphers which provided accurate information on German naval deployments. It helped Allies save precious shipping by wheeling convoys around waiting U boat lines. A reader would get nuggets of useful information on ASW; a whole section has been devoted to it; unquestionably the best feature of the book. Americans established an organization ASWORG to study several operational problems linked to ASW. Its findings and operational level implementation substantially improved kill ratios of US naval vessels fighting U boats not before later went on a rampage along US eastern sea board. Few practised deceptive warfare. A Canadian corvette Spikenaard was sunk while sweeping ahead of convoy. A U boat faked the vessel’s signal making convoy reveal its whereabouts resulting in heavy losses.I disagree with author’s political views. American neutrality was a sham. By taking sides Washington demonstrated selectivity in the application of neutrality laws. Under the cover of neutrality patrols American navy tried to establish hegemony in the Atlantic;security zone stretching thousands of miles from American shores established and shipping from belligerent nations prevented from entering. Actually this practice is applicable only to a country’s territorial waters which extend a 100 miles from the coast. Further by spying on German naval movements and reporting it to Admiralty in London USA behaved liked a belligerent.However from an operational perspective author has done justice to the subject. Plus point of Morison’s history was author directly in contact with events. After receiving a commission rank in the navy he visited various naval establishments; several theatres of war and experiencedcombat from close quarters.Morison’s book is one of the earliest accounts of the campaign. Though later day historians have picked many holes; his contribution laid the foundation for all subsequent documentation generated on the subject. Book has continued to remain in print 7 decades after it was first published owing to popular demand.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Unique; one of a kind 15 Vols. on U.S. Naval Operations in W.W. IIBy bowonwingMonumental; engrossing; well written with loving care by Morison and well researched with documented sources. One of a kind; 15 Volumes which must be purchased and read by any W.W. II buff or interested person. (Which might not be that many these days; as some of our youngsters do not even know what D-Day was;on June 6; 1944 in Normandy; France.) The broad scope of the Naval conflict is there; along with interesting details whenever possible. The U.S. Marine Corps is included with all of their guts and glory.One caveat: There are omissions; e.g. IV CORAL SEA; MIDWAY AND SUBMARINE ACTIONS; re: the Battle of Midway and Commander Joseph J. Rochefort and his team breaking the Japanese naval code before the Battle of Midway (perhaps at the time of writing by Morison there was a security reason).There is even a little "humor;" as such; under incredible trying circumstances. In Volume XI; page 188; Morrison describes a skipper of an American LCI (Landing Craft Infantry) on D-Day; June 6; 1944:"After landing American troops at Utah on the afternoon of D-Day; he was sent back to the Solent; where he received orders to load British troops at one of the local hards. Having done so he awaited orders; but none came. Observing an LCI convoy making up in the Solent he decided to join it; lest his passengers run out of food while waiting. As he was passing the Isle of Wight a signal station blinked to him; 'Where do you think you are going?' to which the skipper replied; 'I don't know!' After an interval came the the answer; 'Proceed!'" (Amen) We also learn in volume X THE ATLANTIC BATTLE WON; that Hitler used U-Boats in the Atlantic to forecast the weather for what is known as "The Battle of the Bulge." Hitler wanted the foul weather to stop Allied air attacks; which is what happened at the beginning of the battle.The main titles to the volumes are (all have further sub-titles to each volume):I THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC;II OPERATIONS IN NORTH AFRICAN WATERS;III THE RISING SUN IN THE PACIFIC;IV CORAL SEA; MIDWAY AND SUBMARINE ACTIONS;V THE STRUGGLE FOR GUADALCANAL;VI BREAKING THE BISMARCKS BARRIER;VII ALEUTIANS; GILBERTS AND MARSHALLS;VIII NEW GUINEA AND THE MARIANAS;IX SICILY - SALERNO - ANZIO;X THE ATLANTIC BATTLE WON;XI THE INVASION OF FRANCE AND GERMANY;XII LEYTE;XIII THE LIBERATION OF THE PHILIPPINES; LUZON; MINDANAO; THE VISAYAS;XIV VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC;XV SUPPLEMENT AND GENERAL INDEX (which includes in this volume the illustrations for all book dust covers with explanations- if your copy does not come with the book dust covers.)With that said; I would have much shorter reference work handy to help steer through these 15 volumes and all the events in them; such as James L. Stokesbury's "A Short History of World War II;" which really helps to put events into a succinct perspective (e.g. "The Battle of the Java Sea.")For general reference: "O2S4 MEC:"Objective (Simplicity);Offensive; Sprit of;Superiority at Point of Contact (Economy of Force);Surprise (Security);Security (Surprise);Simplicity (Objective);Movement (Mobility);Economy of Force (Superiority at Point of Contact);Cooperation (Unity of Command)1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Excellent first volume of a republished historyBy N. WallachThis is the first volume in a series of fifteen books that were written by Samuel Eliot Morison and his colleagues immediately following World War 2 and in which they provided a relatively comprehensive history of the war from the Navy's perspective. Dr. Morison was a professor of History at Harvard when the war broke out and he used his connections with President Roosevelt to gain access to everywhere in the Navy and to all of its archives. From the beginning of the war; he went everywhere; and dispatched his colleagues to places that he could not be at and they all collected information and data which made up the story of the U.S. Navy in World War 2 from the view point of a participant. This volume covers the Battle of the Atlantic (as you can tell from the name!) during the first three years or so.This time period was when the Germans unleased unrestricted submarine warfare on all belligerents and neutrals and indiscriminately sunk any merchant vessel or tanker that they could find in an effort to strangle Britain and end the war in their favor. While touching on the German efforts from the German point of view; the book focuses much more on what the U.S. Navy did in response and how well it worked - or did not work. Therefore; we are treated the story of how the convoy system came about and was implemented and how the Navy learned its lessons from what worked; and what did not work; so that it was able to improve its performance over time and the war was not lost due to a lack of supplies.The author and his writing style are very accessible. He provides you with a lot of dry facts and tables throughout the book and even more in the appendices at the end; but he interleaves these with enough interesting stories of heroism and tragedy as well as tying various points together in a very nice way; that the book is a pleasure to read. This book is not attempting to be a dry "objective" view of things - rather; it contains and explains the way the U.S. Navy saw the war and is not afraid to share the author's view points and opinions. This was an enjoyable approach for me.Almost as soon as the war began in earnest in Europe; the U.S. started getting involved and supported the convoying of merchant ships. Despite the stated neutrality of the U.S. in the first 15 months of the war and until the attack on Pearl Harbor; it slowly but surely supported the British and Canadians and took over more and more of its belligerent duties. U.S. warships escorted merchant ships across larger and larger swatches of the Atlantic even before war was declared by Germany. In addition; the U.S. took on a role in the series of convoys that were sent to Russia. While the author does not provide information about every convoy; he does cover those who voyages were particularly harrowing and tells their stories well.After the institution of; and improvements made to the convoy system; and its expansion to include ships from as far away as Brazil and the upper reached of Northern Europe; the author also covers the design of ships that were to be used for antisubmarine patrols; Civil Air Patrol support of the Navy; Fishermen; air campaigns and the evolution of weaponry and tactics to detect; intercept and destroy the submarines that bedeviled shipping. While the story is told well; it is pretty obvious to see that the fight was not won - many more ships were sunk than submarines. The author does not make the point too obvious; but he does mention that towards the end of this period; the Germans had some 119 submarines out on patrol at any one time. Unfortunately; submarines sinkings were relatively rare and we are probably treated to the majority of them as we read the book.This was a very enjoyable read for me and I got used to the small differences in the language that took place over the past 70 years rather quickly. One thing that did jump out was how often a work modifier of "in" is used instead of today's more common "un". But this is not a quibble; it is rather endearing. The opinions presented were also fun and you could see how they would come about; but I can also see how such things would not be allowed in books being written today. All in all; a very enjoyable read which was the first in the series; and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series as well.