This is a book with a useful premise, that there can be an analysis of the battles of the IJN-USN in 1942, that could be related to an outside critical framework; that there could be a comparison of the commanders and how they tried to carry out their roles to a relatively objective forum. It does come close, to being a three star work on this theme, but there are some simple errors that seem likely to limit its audience both famong the "buffs" and the professional communities.
Least problems first 10 the map suite is very badly chosen. the maps are neither big enough numerous enough, and badly legended. The reader doesn't learn enough from them, and especially doesn't get an impression of the huge spaces involved, and the small areas covered by the intelligence gathers available.
There's an example of poor research, the number of the airplanes carried by the Japanese Ship "Akagi." Smith gives the wrong number for the load carried to Midway by that ship. Then he includes a footnote stating that the Akagi after being sunk at Midway, was somehow refitted to the final aircraft load for the ship after it wa sunk! . This is very fuzzy thinking that could have avoided by reference to either of the two good handbooks about the IJN, either "Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869 - 1945", Jentsura, Jung and Mickel, translated to English by Antony Preston and J.D. Brown, Arms and Armour Press, London, 1977. or "The Imperial Japanese Navy, Antony J. Watts & Bryan Gordon,Macdonald London, 1971. Instead he seems to have relied on the "Janes Book of Fighting Ships," for the war period. The Janes books for this period are very unreliable as the Japanese do not seem to have informed these British publishers of real developments.
If this footnote, and the errors in other force balance charts are corrected, and the maps for the battles of "Coral Sea", "Eastern Solomons" and "Santa Cruz" are redrawn for legibility, a better time can be had by the reader.
There is an area where the book is interesting, and the reader is drawn to close examination of the milita-political treatment of Frank Jack Fletcher, victor, at least in the strategic sense of Coral Sea, Midway, and Eastern Solomons after the famous "Bull Halsey", a man of competence during the fleet problems and war games, emerged from Hospital ready for assuming Carrier Fleet Command. ...Very interesting questions are raised. ( )