The last great naval battle has been fought, and the last fighting ship, as we knew it, has gone over the horizon. An era has ended; now the naval power of nations will be decided, not on the surface of the sea but in the green water below and the blue sky above.
Because that era is charged with drama, gallantry and great sweeping action in wars that washed over two worlds, the authors of this book undertook the formidable task of containing it within the covers of a single volume, telling their story in almost cinematic form in a series of action pictures and running texts.
Examples: Setting the scene for the Battle of Jutland, in May, 1916, with pages of magnificent photographs:
"The Danish steamer N. J. Fjord was traveling placidly along the North Sea some hundred miles west of the Danish province of Jutland the bright afternoon of May 31, 1916, minding her own business, when the column of black smoke from her stack was sighted almost simultaneously by light scouting units of the British Grand Fleet, and the German High Seas Fleet, which were at sea unbeknownst to the other, attempting to entice some of the enemy's units within range of their battleships' big guns...."
And the Battle of Leyte in October, 1944: "As the sun crossed the yardarm on the afternoon of October 24, and started down toward its setting west of the Philippines, the clouded picture on the chart tables of the American admirals came into focus. . . . In the enemy units converging on Leyte was practically every major combatant ship the Japanese still had in battle condition.... The United States Pacific Fleet was there in its Sunday suit. In the Third and Seventh Fleets maneuvering east of Leyte were most of the major Pacific Fleet units.
"This was it. This was the showdown naval battle of the war." And it was the showdown naval battle of all time as well. It put a period to the story of the rise and fall of Japanese naval power, and it marked the end of a great era.
Within the years of modern naval warfare, 1898-1964, CLEAR FOR ACTION Covers every battle of importance, every new development in ships, submarines, tactics, and armament; the remarkable photographic narrative includes many pictures published for the first time in America.
In addition to the more than 400 superb photographs, there are charts, logs, diagrams, and accurate statistics, including diagrams showing exactly what happens when a ship is hit from the surface, from underwater, or from the air.
Pictures and text carry the story to the edge of "tomorrow and tomorrow" when nuclear power takes over the missiles, and rockets rule the sky.
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