The U.S. Navy Against the Axis: Surface Combat, 1941-1945

The book refutes the widely-held notion that the attack on Pearl Harbor suddenly rendered surface combatants obsolete and that aviation and submarines dominated the Pacific War; it demonstrates that the battleships, cruisers and destroyers made major contributions to Americas victory and played decisive roles at critical junctures.

The U.S. Navy against the Axis offers a cautionary parable relevant to todays Navy. It demonstrates how swift adaptability and intellectual honesty were fundamental to the Navys success against Japan. The books underlying premises is that we cannot assume that in a conflict against conventional or asymmetric enemies, the nation holds title to the same virtues demonstrated by the Navy three generations past. Instead those lessons need to be constantly studied and validated in the face of postwar mythologies, lest they be forgotten.