A Grim, Terrible Business: The Carrier Battles Of World War II (English Edition)

This book isn’t so much of what happened hour-to-hour throughout each battle. Instead I tried to bring the stories, tales and accounts of the ships, aircraft and men who fought in the battles. They include not only the admirals but also the pilots and sailors.

It was, as one Navy officer, said, “A grim, terrible business.” That’s the reason I named the book what I did.

World War II marked the end of the big naval battleships and the introduction of the aircraft carrier. The U.S. Navy used its aircraft carriers across the Atlantic Ocean in the anti-submarine patrol and to ferry aircraft to Europe and Africa. The carriers were so successful in the anti-submarine role that they virtually eliminated the threat of the German U-boats.

The aircraft carriers, however, were used in more devastating ways in the Pacific Theater: Midway…Guadalcanal…Marshall / Gilbert Islands…Wake Island…Coral Sea. Some of the most famous and deadly naval battles of all time occurred in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

The naval engagements in the Pacific Theater for the first time in history were fought entirely in the air without opposing surface ships ever spotting an enemy ship. This meant following a new attack and defend strategy. It also meant using aircraft such as fighters and torpedo bombers in new and deadly missions.

You may have noticed that the size of A Grim, Terrible Business (approximately 17MB) is large for an electronic book but I believe the story cannot be told in words alone. Therefore, the book is loaded with several photographs as well as detailed information on many of the specific U.S. aircraft carriers used on both oceans in the greatest naval battles of all time.