Author Topic: Looking for WW2 naval history book recomendations  (Read 730 times)

aktr

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 7
  • Number of Times Thanked: 0
    • View Profile
Looking for WW2 naval history book recomendations
« on: November 22, 2017, 10:29:03 am »
Hi,

I've just finished reading Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the winning of the great war at sea by Robert K Massie and really enjoyed it

and now I'm looking for recommendations for something similar but for WW2, ether for the whole war or a particular theatre
I've not read much naval history before so feel free to suggest really obvious things

I'm also open to suggestion about books the deal with the interwar period or pre WW1 as long as there metal hulled - Dreadnaught also by Massie is already on my list
The only stipulation is that it has to be a normal sized paper back as I'm reading it on the bus to work

Oh and I'm UK based

Cheers

McKInstry

  • Lieutenant
  • **
  • Posts: 130
  • Number of Times Thanked: 3
    • View Profile
Re: Looking for WW2 naval history book recomendations
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2017, 11:37:55 am »
An author named Vincent P. O'Hara writes extensively at a theater/navy level on, for example, the Med.

James D. Hornfischer has several very readable books on the US Navy.

Samuel Elliot Morrison's study of the US Navy in WW2 is a classic multi-volume work but pricey as a whole.

Landlubber

  • Administrator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2177
  • Number of Times Thanked: 63
    • View Profile
Re: Looking for WW2 naval history book recomendations
« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2017, 12:39:08 am »
For the Pacific Theater of WW2, I can recommend one of the Hornfischer books that McKinstry referenced...Neptune's Inferno, which covers the naval fights around Guadalcanal from mid-1942 through early 1943. I listened to the audiobook version, really enjoyed the book.

https://www.amazon.com/Neptunes-Inferno-U-S-Navy-Guadalcanal/dp/0553385127/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511588144&sr=8-1&keywords=neptune%27s+inferno

I read John Costello's The Pacific War, 1941-1945 several years ago. It's a good one-volume overview of the Pacific Theater, but it's also pretty hefty, coming in at nearly 750 pages.

https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-War-1941-1945-John-Costello/dp/0688016200/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511588182&sr=1-1&keywords=the+pacific+war+1941-1945

"Sometimes, you gotta roll the hard six."--Commander Adama