Turning the Tide: How a Small Band of Allied Sailors Defeated the U-boats and Won the Battle of the Atlantic Review

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(More customer reviews)Five COMPELLING Stars! A sweeping, very detailed, often action-packed portrait by author Ed Offley of the Battle of the Atlantic, describing activities within the five phases of the "longest and deadliest naval conflict in world history" stretching from 1939 to 1945: the "crucial naval battle of the Second World War." Along the way, he places the battle into historical context and gives a detailed picture of the treacherous Atlantic ocean routes, made all the more dangerous because of the weather. The book describes crucial battle encounters between the Allies and the Axis forces on the high seas and in coastal waters as U-boat 'wolf packs' pursued Allies' vital supply convoys across the Atlantic ocean. The author looks at both the strategic and tactical points of view, using diagrams and photographs. The book's opening engagement between the HMS Hersperus on 12 May 1943, hunting the trailing Nazi U-boat, U-223, which was stalking the 24 merchant ships of SC (Slow Convoy) 129 is mesmerizing and just a foretaste of what is to follow, such as the carnage of The Battle of St. Patrick's Day, with its heroes and its fainthearted. The book is loaded with detail on the ships and subs, their weaponry, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing forces, with input from crew member's postwar interviews. Superbly researched and well written with great attention to detail, linking the Battle of the Atlantic to the land and air wars and the political climate of the time, "Turning the Tide" gets my Highest Recommendation. Five HISTORICAL Stars! (This review is based on a Kindle download, in text-to-speech, Mac2, and iPhone platforms. 14 Chapters with numerous pictures and diagrams; Epilogue; Appendices of critical convoy ships, U-boats, and Escort warships; bibliography; and a very helpful glossary of acronyms and unique terminology.)

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Aircraft Carriers at War: A Personal Retrospective of Korea, Vietnam, and the Soviet Confrontation Review

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(More customer reviews)Admiral Holloway's story begins with a destroyer torpedo attack on a battleship during the Battle of Suriago Strait in WW II. At the time Holloway was a lieutenant assigned as the gunnery and torpedo officer in the destroyer USS Bennion. There is a rule of thumb in the Navy that a destroyer making a torpedo attack on a battleship in a sea battle has a life expectancy of less than five minutes before being sunk. You can imagine the feelings of the crew aboard Bennion realizing as they turned in to attack that many of them probably had less than five minutes to live.
Less than a week after that battle Lieutenant Holloway departed for flight training. His parting comments to the commanding officer were "In the past 48 hours we have silenced two shore batteries, shot down three Zeros, battled a Japanese cruiser, sunk a destroyer by gunfire, and torpedoed a Japanese battleship. I think I'm ready to try something new."
The book goes on to describe Holloway's experience in flight training and eventual assignment as operations officer of a carrier air task group where he flew as a pilot with Fighter Squadron 111 in combat in Korea. Later in the war he served as executive officer and then commanding officer of Fighter Squadron 52. His descriptions of flying in that war are as detailed, readable and understandable as any air combat stories I have ever read. The intensity of the naval air campaign in Korea is little understood or appreciated. An example is that one of the squadrons in his task group, VF-653, lost 12 of its 26 pilots during his 1951-52 tour.
Aircraft Carriers at War could well have been titled A History of the US Navy in our Time. Admiral Holloway next describes many of the naval operations during the cold war where his assignments included command of Attack Squadron 83 whose mission was delivery of nuclear weapons. The operations of such squadrons are described in easily understood terms.
The most significant operational descriptions in the book are included in Holloway's command tour of the nuclear powered attack aircraft carrier Enterprise during the Vietnam War. We seldom read descriptions of carrier operations by carrier commanders and this book has the best description of carrier warfare I have ever read. The command responsibilities and day to day operations of a carrier captain are clearly described and explained.
The remainder of the book is the most important historically as Holloway describes his operational experiences as an admiral in command of various fleet components and his Washington assignments leading to his selection as Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). The description of his tour as CNO gives seldom revealed insights into the inner workings of the Department of Defense and the relationship of the service commanders with the president and congress.
Aircraft Carriers at War is a historical review of naval operations in our time including three hot wars, the cold war and numerous international incidents written by a participant rather than an observer. Admiral Holloway is generally considered the most knowledgeable and dedicated proponent of aircraft carriers in our time and this book clearly reflects his knowledge and experience.
You may have noted this is not an entirely unbiased review. I confess that I commanded an attack aircraft squadron and an attack aircraft carrier at the same time as Admiral Holloway and we sometimes operated together.


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