Disaster in the Pacific: New Light on the Battle of Savo Island

While the authors use the first few chapters take an odd approach in defending the RAAF Hudson pilots from blame in a failed early warning report, the book does shed some light on the battle from each ship's perspective. Understanding Mikawa's planning and objectives, Crutchley, Turner and Fletcher's failure in adequately protecting the landing force, providing sound direction for their groups while they all on the night of August 8-9. In all the failings (lack of night fighting preparedness, lack of organization and standing orders by Crutchley & Turner, poor readiness), the ultimate objective of Mikawa's force was not achieved. The landing craft and support ships at Guadalcanal and Tulagi were protected. Vincennes, Astoria and Quincy and the destroyer escorts inflicted enough damage that led to Mikawa removing his group to safety, steaming away from Savo. Although the Allied ship losses were significant and the duplicated bumblings of the senior officers (on each ship) was a disaster, they ultimately did what they were positioned to do. This fact is seldom taken into account when this battle is studied. Warner and Warner's "new light" falls into line (after they defend the Hudson crews). This book is well written and worth the read. Warner and Warner aren't as familiar with US Naval terminology which led to some inaccuracies in the details of their timeline accounts on each of the US cruisers. These errors do not get in the way of the overall narratives and readers are presented with good accounts of the battle. I enjoyed the authors' interlacing of the events from all the ship's perspectives.

Having read the previous review of this book I only wish to say that I felt this book was well presented and researched. Only the final three chapters out of 17 cover in detail why this disaster happened. Most of the book deals with the lead up to the battle and what happened during the battle. I have no problems with the authors trying to present facts that show that the RAAF crew flying the Hudson were not to blame. Isn't it about time that they got a fair shake and their reputations rehabilitated? How many other authors have continued presenting this incident as the main cause for the allied defeat when in reality it was numerous other little things that combined to cause the disaster. I also agree with the previous reviewer in relation to another great book on this battle 'The Shame of Savo' written by Bruce Loxton and Chris Coulthard-Clark.Overall 'Disaster in the Pacific' was a good book to read and I found it well researched and presented.