Clash of Titans: World War II at Sea

Some folks think I am pretty well read. But Boyne's book provided some surprising (to me) insights...changes to my "strategic thinking". I've read all kinds of histories of WWII. But, for example, I was aware of the Lend Lease shipments and convoys to Murmansk and the bitter cold ocean temperatures that caused survivors of ship sinkings to perish rapidly from hypothermia and all that. But right off, Boyne's book contains some maps overprinted with convoy routes and famous battles. Maybe it's me, but I gained an appreciation of how much naval activity (the sinking of the Tirpitz, for example) took place NORTH of the Arctic Circle!!! Boyne makes a lot of the German invasion of Norway to protect German supply lines for shipment of iron ore. And the huge losses of German surface combat ships [which other reading informs me hurt the Germans later on when they had nothing to fight with on June 6, 1944.] These are just a couple of issues that Boyne helps with. [Did you know that the Germans had successfully broken the British naval codes?] World War II was a very complicated "event". I have been reading about it for almost 50 years. And I am constantly learning new things. I consider Boyne's book (Clash of Titans) to be a valuable addition to my library and knowledge base.

Clash of Titans is an excellent narrative covering naval warfare in all major theatres of World War II. The contributions of all major naval powers are well documented. In this book, Boyne organizes the story according to the various fields of activity.This book does an excellent job in breaking down each aspect of the naval war. Within each topic Boyne describes the strategies pursued, the importance of the operations under consideration to the overall course of the war as well as the tactics employed by the combatants.The various aspects of the naval war are presented from the perspectives of the participating navies. North Atlantic convey warfare is presented from the perspectives of both the attacking German and defending Allied forces. Similar treatment is given to other maritime aspects, such as the U-boat threat, support of both amphibious landings and ground campaigns, naval evacuations of land forces, the naval war in the Pacific, and the contribution of naval aviation to the final air attack on Japan.The War in the Pacific is approached from many angles. The underlining objectives and means of achieving them of both the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Allied Navies are explained in detail. The Japanese objective of creating enough havoc with its initial strikes so as to obtain the time in which to establish an unassailable Japanese position throughout the Western Pacific is analyzed, both in terms of its vision as well as the reasons for its failure. The Allied executions of their strategies after the Pearl Harbor disaster are equally examined.The role of various naval units are analyzed. Sections include those devoted to the roles of aircraft carriers, battleships, PT boats, naval aviation and other services. Attention is directed to the details of significant naval engagements of the war. The details included are sufficient to convey a sense developments without boring the reader.Clash of Titans provides the reader with a good introduction into the leading naval personalities of the war. In so doing, Boyne spotlights those individuals whose contributions were important to the conduct of the wars. Little attention is paid to sailors who later became celebrities. The section on PT warfare contains one brief mention of John F. Kennedy. The section on submarine rescue of downed pilots omits any mention George Bush.If there is one defect in this book, I find it in the claims of the potential significance of Axis naval warfare efforts. Prominent among these claims is the suggestion that the German navy submarine and surface raiders, if properly employed in sufficient numbers, could have altered the ultimate outcome of the war. Given the extent of the land and air aspects of war I doubt that the German Navy could have held the key to victory.Overall, Clash of Titans is an excellent introduction to the overall role of naval warfare in World War II.

I don't care what the others say: Col. Boyne's book about the ocean war during World War II is THE BEST! His accounts of Pearl Harbor, The Prince of Wales/Repulse sinking, Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, and the sinking of the Yamato are the best parts of the book, not to mention the Bismarck chase.