The Battle of the Atlantic : September 1939-May 1943
by Samuel Eliot Morison
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (1)
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Recounts the role of the United States in World War II at sea, from encounters in the Atlantic before the country entered the war to the surrender of Japan.Tags
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Published in fifteen volumes, Morison provides a clear & detailed view of American efforts to keep transport lanes open, German reluctance to allocate major resources to the war at sea, & the influence on strategy of what each side thought the other capable. Volume I: The Battle of the Atlantic, September 1939- May 1943 concerns Allied efforts to protect shipping, supply, & troop transport against Axis submarines & their supporting aircraft & ships.
The Campaign in the Atlantic from the USN point of view.September 1939 to May 1943. This is Vol.I of USN in WWII. Morison was writing very close to the end of the war, in 1947, to be exact, and so this account has no mention of Ultra or a good deal else, with only a small amount of input from German sources. Still, invaluable information about the switch from the pre-War navy and the grudging change in emphasis to an Atlantic rather than Pacific war that the Navy had prepared for.
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Samuel Eliot Morison was born in Boston in 1887. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1912 and began teaching history there in 1915, becoming full professor in 1925 and Jonathan Trumbull professor of American history in 1941. He served as the university's official historian and wrote a three-volume history of the institution, the Tercentennial show more History of Harvard College and University, which was completed in 1936. Between 1922 and 1925 he was Harmsworth professor of American history at Oxford. He also was an accomplished sailor who retired from the navy in 1951 as a rear admiral. In preparing for his Pulitzer Prize-winning biographies of Christopher Columbus and John Paul Jones, Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1941) and John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography (1952) he took himself out of the study and onto the high seas, where he traced the voyages of his subjects and "lived" their stories insofar as possible. When it came time for the U.S. Navy to select an author to write a history of its operations in World War II, Morison was the natural choice for the task. In 1942, Morison was commissioned by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to write a history of U.S. naval operations in World War II and given the rank of lieutenant commander. The 15 volumes of his History of United States Naval Operations in World War II appeared between 1947 and 1962. Although he retired from Harvard in 1955, Morison continued his research and writing. A product of the Brahmin tradition, Morison wrote about Bostonians and other New Englanders and about life in early Massachusetts. He was an "American historian" in the fullest sense of the term. He also had a keen appreciation for the larger history of the nation and world, provincial is the last word one would use to describe Morison's writing. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Battle of the Atlantic : September 1939-May 1943
- Original publication date
- 1947
- People/Characters
- Karl Dönitz; Ernest J. King; George C. Marshall; Harold R. Stark
- Important places
- Atlantic Ocean; North Atlantic Ocean; Malta; Iceland
- Important events
- World War II (1939 | 1945); Battle of the Atlantic (1939 | 1945); World War II, Siege of Malta (1940-06-11 | 1942-11-20)
- Related movies
- Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970 | IMDb); Midway (1976 | IMDb); Sea Power (2020 | S1 E2)
- Epigraph
- O this may march through endless time, immortal,
if one but tell it well. If so it be,
across the fruitful earth and o'er the sea,
shoots a bright beam of noble deeds, unquenchable.
-PINDAR, Isthmian Ode, <... (show all)/I>iv. 40-43 - Dedication
- To
The Memory of
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
1882-1945
President of the United States
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy
4 March 1933-12 April 1945 - First words
- The British Nation and Empire depend for their freedom and existance on the maintenance of ocean communication.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)More of everything - of very-long-range planes, of escort carriers, destroyers, destroyer escorts, sloops and frigates - better training and doctrine, better weapons and devices, were to reap a notable harvest of 41 U-boats in May; and although Doenitz still had a number of tricks up his sleeve, he was destined never to recover the initiative.
- Original language
- English
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- Members
- 243
- Popularity
- 133,344
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
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- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 5
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 15
