Samuel Eliot Morison's History of United States Naval Operations in World War II

Hello everybody,

I have this author's series on my amazon wish list for a long time now.
From what i know this was a history of the US naval operations commissioned during the war, and was basically written as the campaigns ended.

My question is, does this series still holds it's own against all the modern studies on all those same campaigns that were published during the last 10-15 years, or is nothing more than a historical curiosity?
Does it still have any relevance?

Cheers!

 

I agree with Opana, it is an excellent read, especially since it gives a contemporaneous feel to events. Plus I like his writing style.

 

It's a very good place to start. But . . .

It is not an "official" history, he simply, as was stated above, was given unusual access to people and records. In my opinion, he was a little too black shoe oriented and never really grasped the complexities of carrier operations. I have always believed he gave far too much credence to folks like Turner and really short shrift, indeed, poison pen, to folks like Fletcher . . . something modern scholarship has corrected (see Lundstrom, "Black Shoe Carrier Admiral). The fact that he either was not exposed, or if he was, knew he couldn't say anything, to the code breaking intel work leaves little gaps in the narrative, but if you're aware of what was going on in the background, they are not annoying. Some of his descriptions of gun fights, especially in the Solomons, are fascinating, right down to the number of rounds fired (hundreds plus) for hits (really, very few).

You could easily make far, far worse purchases. Go for it.

 

True, it is not technically an official history. However, if you want a you were there history, that understands the events from a contemporaneous point of view, that really reflects what was known at the time, what was thought, it's hard to beat Morrison. I think many, (not all, there are a number of superb more modern works) more recent histories have an anachronistic interpretation of events, they suffer from 50/50 hindsight, they didn't live through it and don't understand how desperate things were at the time looking forward. Now it's a given the US would eventually win, a sailor on a DD in the Solomon's in 1942 saw a pretty grim and desperate future. The commanders didn't have the luxury of seeing the massive power in men, aircraft, pilots and warships that flooded into the Pacific in 1944. In 1942 each ship, each plane was crucial and on every action the whole war effort seemed to hang in the balance. That's where I think Morrison excels, in conveying what the war was like. Yes it doesn't have the "classified" code breaking information, but how many people during the war knew we had that capability, very few. Most that made hard decisions, made it without knowing that we had more information than they were being given. They made decisions not knowing if the information was an intelligence "guess", based upon analysis that is sometimes wrong. Unaware that the bits of intel they were getting, too much couldn't be revealed because of the danger of compromising the source, were as good as it gets.

From Wikipedia:
"He gained berths on patrol boats, destroyers, and heavy cruisers; participated in planning sessions for invasions; witnessed sea battles; narrowly escaped death at the hands of a Japanese kamikaze pilot; and conducted post-operational interviews with commanders in the Pacific theater."

How much more could you really ask for?

Morison worked with a team of anonymous researchers to prepare the History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, published in 15 volumes between 1947–1962, documenting everything from strategy and tactics to technology and the exploits of individuals. British military historian Sir John Keegan called it the best to come out of that conflict.

The best part is that Morrison did not ignore the literary aspect of writing history, so his work isn't dry but, engaging and entertaining.

 

That was my first exposure to him. Made me want to buy and read the whole 15 volume set, I've passed them down to my oldest son.

 

I own 'Two Ocean War' myself from a tender age and if formed the basis of my understanding of the naval war ever since. As said by others newer work has filled the gaps and added detail he could not, but it is a cherished member of my personal library.

 

And if you want a complementary work, there is always Captain Walter Karig's "Battle Report" series, a 5 volume set of the same vintage: Pearl Harbor to Coral Sea (1944), The Atlantic War (1946), Pacific War: Middle Phase (1947), The End of an Empire (1948) and Victory in the Pacific (1949). Karig had much the same report and personages accesses as did Morison. Karig was also the tech consultant for the NBC Victory at Sea series. See

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-k/karig-walter.html

I've the complete Morison set, the Karig set, and the Two Ocean War volume.
R

 

I read Morrison's series of books in the 1950's. The local public library had them and I took one out a week. More interesting than the homework the school set me. They have formed the basis of my knowledge and understanding of the US Navy for the last 60 years. I particularly liked the appendices.

Mike