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"At ten o'clock on the morning of October 20, 1944, the first landing wave of the American Sixth Army hit the beaches on the western side of Leyte Gulf. Supporting them were guns and planes of the Third and Seventh Fleets and Army and Marine flyers of the Fifth Air Force.
Stanley L. Falk has written the first complete account of those bloody and decisive months when the fate of the Japanese Empire was once and for all sealed. The author weaves together for the first time in a single narrative the crucial air, sea, and ground actions that led up to and then determined the outcome of the Battle of Leyte. New and important material on the Japanese side of the story, dealing with their strategy and tactics, has also been included.
Leyte was at one and the same time a dramatic contest of sea power, a grim fight to control the air, and a bloody and difficult struggle for every inch of ground on the shell-torn island. While American engineers tried to carve airstrips out of the mud of Leyte, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese commander in the Philippines, was sending tens of thousands of reinforcements onto the island. Hundreds of Japanese planes, including the new and terrifying kamikazes, struck in waves at American warships and transports. In the end, however, the Japanese were totally defeated: their airforce destroyed, their fleet driven off or sunk, and the best of their troops wiped out. Leyte was the end. The Japanese High Command delayed the inevitable for a while, but defeat was now certain.
In concise and dramatic fashion, the author recreates this massive and multifaceted battle Ä the air strikes, the landings, the task forces of carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers, the command decisions, and the acts of individual heroism that turned the tide. This is an exciting and scholarly account of a crucial engagement."

New York, N.Y., Berkley:1966, paperback

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"The introduction of the first of the twenty-four Essex-class aircraft carriers in 1943 set a new standard for the exercise of American sea power. Andrew Faltum traces the evolution of these versatile carriers and the developments in United States naval aviation that accompanied their long service. Between the commissioning of the USS Essex, on the last day of 1942, and the retirement of the USS Lexington in 1991, the Essex carriers made the transition from propeller to jet aircraft, and they were improved by the introduction of the steam catapult and the angled flight deck.
Considering the importance of the Essex carriers to naval history, surprisingly little has been written about them. The Essex Aircraft Carriers provides a comprehensive operational history of these ships and depicts life aboard. This book is illustrated with photos, maps, and plan and profile drawings. It also includes four appendixes with technical data, historical profiles of each vessel in the class, and a complete bibliography and index.
276 pages / 87 photos / 6 maps /4 technical appendixes / plan and profile drawings / bibliography / index"

Baltimore, Maryland, Nautical & Aviation Publishing:1996, ISBN 1-877853-26-7 (hardcover) Provided by gifts from Ben and Sydney Rountree & Art Burdick

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"The Independence-class light carriers, built during World War II, have been ignored in many ways. Yet this nine-ship class contributed significantly to victory in the Pacific. As a wartime expedient, they were badly needed complements to the regular Essex fast carriers described in Faltum's previous book.
The Navy converted light cruiser hulls already under construction into fast, light aircraft carriers, which, for their size, were well-armed and efficient ships beloved by their crews. The Independence carriers served in the U.S. Navy through the Korean War and some later served in the French and Spanish navies; the Cabot (Dedalo) was decommissioned in 1989."

Baltimore, Maryland, Nautical & Aviation Publishing:2002, ISBN 1-877853-62-3 (hardcover)

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"The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Yorktown brought America her first major naval victory of WW II in the battle of Midway, June 4th, 1942. In that fierce conflict, the Yorktown's pilots destroyed four enemy aircraft carriers, crippled the Japanese navy and ended the threat of invasion of America from the Pacific."

New York, N. Y., Paperback Library:1968 (paperback)

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"The aircraft carrier USS Forrestal was preparing to launch attacks into North Vietnam when one of its jets accidentally fired a rocket into an aircraft occupied by pilot John McCain. A huge fire ensued, and McCain barely escaped before a 1,000-pound bomb on his plane exploded, causing a chain reaction with other bombs on surrounding planes. The crew struggled for days to extinguish the fires, but, in the end, the tragedy took the lives of 134 men. For thirty-five years, the terrible loss of life has been blamed on the sailors themselves, but this meticulously documented history shows that they were truly the victims and heroes."

New York, NY, Perennial/HarperCollins:2002, ISBN 0-06-093690-8 (softcover)

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"For the past forty years, aircraft carriers have been the mainstay of U.S. seapower. They remain both the most impressive and the most controversial of warships, often criticized for their size but always valued for, the image of power they can project throughout the world.
This account of U.S. carrier development, based on the internal files of the U.S. Navy, presents a complete evolutionary design history at a level of detail and accuracy never before approached. The author, a recognized authority on U.S. warships, uncovers the issues behind the emergence of today's carrier, explaining the reasons for the periodic but always aborted attempts to trim back its dimensions. As a result, U.S. Aircraft Carriers is relevant to both current and future plans for new carrier construction.
Norman Friedman points out many features of carrier design that have recurred over the years. For example, he shows how recent interest in the conversion of merchant hulls to limited-capability ASW carriers harks back to a major conversion program of the 1930s and to the escort-carrier program of World War II. Both programs are fully described here, as are those for the proposed VSTOL carrier, the sea-control ship, and the VSTOL support ship.
This book treats the reader to detailed information on every U.S. carrier class, from the gigantic warships of the Nimitz class to the 'side-wheeler' training carriers that operated on the Great Lakes during World War II. Included in this comprehensive history are flight deck plans, outboard profiles, sketches of major design studies, and descriptions of several unique carrier proposals that never got beyond the designer's table but still had a major influence upon contemporary design thinking.
Here, too, is Friedman's lucid explanation of the changing function of U.S. carriers, from their origin as auxiliaries to their present role as the main components of the battle force. The post-World War II controversy over the role of carrier operations is also covered. Extensive appendices provide additional data on the carriers and synopses of developments in the design of their catapults and arresting gear.
The talented draftsman A. D. Baker III has drawn carefully detailed scale profiles and plan views for each major class of carrier. Numerous photographs, many never before published, also complement the text.
U.S. Aircraft Carriers is essential reading for those concerned with the future of the U.S. Navy. Naval historians and architects alike will find this the most comprehensive reference available on the subject and a fitting companion to Friedman's U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History."

Annapolis, Maryland, Naval Institute Press:1983, ISBN 0-87021-739-9 (hardcover) Provided by a gift from Jerry and Brenda Koppes

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"For the Japanese, still gloating over the easy victory at Pearl Harbor and the rapid conquest of their Pacific empire, the Midway operation had one objective: to draw out the U.S. Navy and destroy it. Midway Island was selected as the base which, by its loss, would pose the greatest threat to American naval power in the Pacific.
Admiral Yamamoto's force was the largest ever assembled in the Pacific up to that time, and consisted of some 350 ships and 100,000 officers and men.
It was a plan for victory. Only afterward, stunned by their losses, did the Japanese ask themselves, What should we have done that we did not do? Why did we fail?
In this book you will see the battle for Midway as it appeared to Japanese eyes. With them you will see both the daring and the weakness of the Imperial Japanese Navy - and to those final, anguished questions you will find the answers."

New York, N. Y., Ballantine:1955 (paperback)

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