Neptune's Inferno
by James D. Hornfischer · first published 2011
5mentions
3recommended by
3HN commenters
2020–2024first – last mentioned
100% recommend
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
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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…
on “Veteran submariner on how sonar crews tirelessly hunt enemies they can't see” ↗…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…
on “The Programmer's Brain (2021)” ↗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.
on “Mapping 20k ships that sank during WW II” ↗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…
on “Veteran submariner on how sonar crews tirelessly hunt enemies they can't see” ↗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…
on “11M households could be evicted over the next four months” ↗