Description
America's preeminent naval historian offers a history of the Second World War based on the experiences of the young officers--fresh out of the United States Naval Academy--who served on its front lines. They arrived in Annapolis as teenagers the year Hitler re-occupied the Rhineland and graduated as young men the week the British Army evacuated Dunkirk. Annapolis Goes to War tells the story of their four transformative years at the Naval Academy, and then four more annealing years in the cauldron of war. More than a hundred of them were on duty in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Ten of them died that day-seven remain entombed in the USS Arizona still. Over the next four years, these former Midshipmen participated in virtually every significant engagement in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay, from North Africa to Normandy. They were at the front edge of the war in battleships, carriers, destroyers, submarines, and airplanes, and led Marine Corps units ashore. Some experienced the war as prisoners of the Japanese. Fifty-six of them died in the Second World War, the greatest wartime loss any service academy ever experienced.Taking readers into and through the lives of these young men in wartime, Craig Symonds offers a poignant and powerful story of adjustment, growth, pain, loss, and eventually triumph. Using their diaries, memoirs, and letters, he evokes unforgettably their trials and bonds, their loss of innocence and their discovery of the meaning of sacrifice. Annapolis Goes to War is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the experience of fighting the bloodiest war in human history.
Table of Contents
Prologue: Reef PointsPART I: MIDSHIPMENChapter 1. AppointmentChapter 2. Plebe YearChapter 3. Youngster CruiseChapter 4. YoungstersChapter 5. Beat ArmyChapter 6. FirstiesPART II: JUNIOR OFFICERSChapter 7. The Real NavyChapter 8. The Cusp of WarChapter 9: Infamy Chapter 10. Retribution Chapter 11. U-Boats, Convoys, and MatrimonyChapter 12: The Turning Point: The Coral Sea and Midway PART III: ON THE OFFENSIVEChapter 13. Savo Island Chapter 14. Ironbottom SoundChapter 15. Flight Training Chapter 16. The MedChapter 17. Submarine WarfareChapter 18: "Moored as Before"PART IV: VALEDICTIONChapter 19. Semper Fidelis Chapter 19. CommandChapter 20. Decisive Battles Chapter 21. Iwo Jima & OkinawaChapter 22. VictoryEpilogueAcknowledgementsNotesBibliography
