Name: Neptune's Inferno
ISBN: 9780553385120

Neptune's Inferno

While the Battle of Midway is perhaps more well known, the Battle of Guadalcanal was a far larger, longer, and more brutal struggle which marked the turning point in the Pacific War. It was an all out fight on land, sea, and air which lasted for over 4 months, into which both sides poured all the resources they could summon. This book is about the many major naval battles which to a large extent determined the outcome. At the beginning, the US Navy was still emerging from its peacetime slumber, and it was ravaged by the much more experienced Japanese in some of the worst defeats in US naval history. However, as crews and commanders learned from very painful experience, the tide was turned, and eventually the Japanese were forced to withdraw as they couldn't sustain their enormous losses in ships and sailors. The book vividly describes the hell that both sides went through as human beings lived and died in hailstorms of hot steel.

What Hacker News says

bloopernovaSep 2024

If you're interested in how some of the wrecks got in Ironbottom Sound, read Neptune's Inferno by James Hornfischer.

Then read The Last Stand of The Tin Can Sailors by the same author. Because it's an amazing book about some astonishing bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.

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bloopernovaJun 2024

These 2, in this order:

Incredible Victory by Walter Lord[1]. The story of Midway, fairly balanced.

Shattered Sword by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully[2]. also about Midway, but more research on Japanese sources. Has updated information about some things that are taken as "truth" about Midway. Amazing book.

EDITED to add:

James Hornfischer has some great books about the Pacific Naval war:

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour[3]. 6 small escort carriers, and a handful of destroyers and destroyer-escorts vs the heavyweights of the Japanese fleet: Battleships and cruisers. Jaw-dropping descriptions of courage under fire. Fantastic book.

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal[4]. Covers several naval battles, but not much on the ground conflict. Really good book too.

The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific[5]. The late Pacific war, with the invasion of Saipan, and the naval aircraft battle of the Philippines, leading up to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the end of the war.

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[1] https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Victory-Battle-Midway-Clas...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Shattered-Sword-Untold-Battle-Midway/...

[3] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553381482

[4] https://www.amazon.com/Neptunes-Inferno-U-S-Navy-Guadalcanal...

[5] https://www.amazon.com/Fleet-Flood-Tide-America-1944-1945/dp...

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pjc50Aug 2020

For a detailed and in places dramatic book on the primitive technology of WW2 surface naval warfare, I can recommend "Neptune's Inferno": https://erenow.net/ww/neptunes-inferno-the-u-s-navy-at-guada...

While radar existed, it had similar problems of manual plot, was only on a few ships, and the commanders had not updated their training and doctrine to match.

Several of the key engagements around Guadalcanal were fought at night. Without radar, and without any reliable means of telling friend from foe other than eyeballing the shape. Total chaos.

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skmurphyAug 2020

Thanks for this reference to Neptune's Inferno by James Hornfischer, it was a fantastic book. I like two quotes in particular

"The epic of the Pacific war found new chapters for everyone. The endless game of personnel-rotation musical chairs saw the continuous replacement of the experienced by the inexperienced, until, by the end, only the experienced remained."

"Ascending to theater command had never been his ambition, for ambitions, he felt, were meant not for personal gain but to pursue common goals within the established order of a group."

A description of Chester Nimitz

I like this description of ambition as a model for leadership: "pursue common goals within the established order of a group." I think it's a good one for startup CEO's as much as any other leader.

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pjc50Jul 2020

As someone chewing their way through a WW2 history book (Neptune's Inferno) at the moment: I think the presence of external enemies mattered hugely. As it did during the cold war. Those in charge actually needed the effort and bodies of the public, for material war-fighting purposes. That drove nation-building solidarity efforts.

It also forced a certain amount of pragmatism; useless ideologues whose plans failed could get replaced rather than promoted, and at the middle ranks there was even the possibility of them getting themselves killed.

America in the present day is consumed with imaginary internal enemies, which is why it's deploying troops on the streets.

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