"On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss, a blow that destroyed the offensive power of their fleet. Pacific Crucible tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history and seized the strategic initiative. This dramatic narrative, relying predominantly on eyewitness accounts and primary sources, is laced with riveting details of heroism and sacrifice on the stricken ships and planes of both navies. At the war's outset, Japan's pilots and planes enjoyed a clear-cut superiority to their American counterparts, but there was a price to be paid. Japanese pilots endured a lengthy and grueling training in which they were disciplined with baseball bats, often suffering broken bones; and the production line of the Zero-- Japan's superbly maneuverable fighter plane--ended not at a highway or railhead but at a rice paddy, through which the planes were then hauled on ox carts. Combat losses, of either pilots or planes, could not be replaced in time to match the fully mobilized American war machine. Pacific Crucible also spotlights recent scholarship that revises our understanding of the conflict, including the Japanese decision to provoke a war that few in their highest circles thought they could win. Those doubters included the flamboyantly brilliant Admiral Isokoru Yamamoto, architect of the raid on Pearl and the Midway offensive." -- From the publisher.

U.S. Army Chief of Staff's Professional reading list, 2017. Military Reading List: Army 2017. Includes maps of: The Pacific, 1942; Mahan's Worst-Case Scenario; Sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, 10 DEC 1941; Principal Ports and Naval Bases of Japan; Wake Atoll, 11 DEC 1941; U.S.-Australian Lifeline, 1942; Halsey's Raid in the Marshalls, 1 FEB 1942; Japanese Advance into the East Indies, JAN-FEB 1942; Doolittle Raid, 18 APR 1942; Operation MO: Japanese Plan to Take Port Moresby; Battle of the Coral Sea, 1-4 MAY 1942 and 7-8 MAY 1942; Japanese Naval Forces: Advance on Midway and Aleutians, 24 MAY-3 JUN 1942; Enterprise and Yorktown Dive-Bombers Ambush Kido Butai, 4 JUN 1942; Carrier Task Forces: Track Charts, 4 JUN 1942.

The Pacific, 1942 -- Mahan's worst-case scenario -- Sinking the HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse: December 10, 1941 -- Principal ports and naval bases of Japan -- Wake Atoll: December 11, 1941 -- U.S-Australian lifeline, 1942 -- Halsey's raid in the Marshalls: February 1, 1942 -- Japanese advance in the East Indies: January-February 1942 -- The Doolittle raid: April 18, 1942 -- Operation MO: Japanese plan to take Port Moresby -- Battle of the Coral Sea, May 1-4, 1942 -- Battle of the Coral Sea, May 7-8, 1942 -- Japanese naval forces advance on Midway and Aleutians, May 24-June 3, 1942 -- Enterprise and Yorktown dive-bombers ambush Kido Butai: June 4, 1942 -- Carrier task forces: track charts, June 4, 1942.