Reddit reviews Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway - The Great Naval Battles as Seen Through Japanese Eyes

Japanese Destroyer Captain by Tameichi Hara. Literally the only Japanese DD Captain who survived the war while being part of the Dec 7/8 opening of hostilities through being the skipper of Yahagi and getting it bombed/torpedoed out from under him on the last ride alongside the Yamato.

Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway - The Great Naval Battles as Seen Through Japanese Eyes https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591143845/

https://www.audible.com/pd/Japanese-Destroyer-Captain-Audiobook/B00GA7GKMO?qid=1565975726&sr=1-1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=3Z96VN1EJ46732HP6W9T&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1

Im currently reading Japanese Destroyer Captain by former IJN destroyer captain Tameichi Hara. It is an excellent portrayal of the Japanese side of the Pacific War.

Sort of already been beaten to it, but Japanese Destroyer Captain by Captain Tameichi Hara is a great source that gives a perspective from someone in the middle of said developing doctrine.

Norman Friedman spends a little time discussion it in his book Naval Firepower: Battleship Guns and Gunnery in the Dreadnought Era, in the section 'Equalisers' under the IJN chapter (Ch.11), but 'little' can't be stressed enough - unless you want to start learning about anti-ship fire control, I wouldn't recommend buying the book just for that blurb. However, it does help explain how the torpedoes fit into Japanese gunnery tactics as a whole.

For sources on technical information, I'd recommend looking directly at the NavTechJapan reports, which are US Navy technical reports of Japanese naval technology conducted immediately after the war. They above is linked to an internet archive page.

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In particular, O-01 (Japanese Torpedoes and Torpedo Tubes Articles 1 through 3) will be of interest, but since O-01-2 is focused on aerial torpedoes, O-01-1 (Ship and Kaiten Torpedoes) and O-01-2 (Above-Water Tubes) are probably more relevant to you, assuming you're focusing on surface warfare.

Japanese Torpedo Fire Control (O-32) will also be of great help, since their comprehensive approach to torpedo fire control is part of what made them different to many other navies at the time (where torpedo fire control on ships tended to play second fiddle to gun fire control).

The "best" book i can advice is Japanese Destroyer Captain by Tameichi Hara. He was the captain of Amatsukaze, Shigure and later Yahagi at operation Ten-go. It describes the whole war from his view as leading officer and is very good to read, well written and very insightful. The book is sure a good place to start and you'll find many many names and places you will recognize.

Ok. Here you go!

Clash of Titans: World War II At Sea Walter J. Boyne (the author) was an Air Force colonel and gives an interesting perspective on WW2 at sea. He also wrote Clash of Wings about the war in the air.

Great Warship From the Age of Steam by David Ross. Fun coffee table book that has just about every large big gun warship from 1860 to 1945 listed.

Struggle for the Middle Sea and The German Fleet at War, 1939-1945 are books by Vincent P. O'Hara who does an excellent job of covering just about every single engagement by the Germans, Italians and Allies during WW2. You come away with the impression that the Italians gave just as good as they got most of the time. And wonder why you haven't heard of 90% of the battles in his books.

'And I Was There' by Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton. You won't read a better book about the intelligence (and failure of intelligence) behind the attack on Pearl Harbor. Adm Layton was Admiral Kimmel's Combat Intelligence Officer and had intimate knowledge of just about everything relating to code breaking in WW2.

Japanese Destroyer Captain by Captain Tameichi Hara. This guy was everywhere in the Pacific. Pearl. Fighting it out point blank at Guadalcanal. Midway. He commanded the light cruiser escorting Yamato when she was sunk on her kamikaze mission. And, somehow, he lived.


*More to come tomorrrow, if I get a chance.

^ I'm currently reading the memoirs of Capt. Tameichi Hara and he goes into some detail regarding his superior officers and internal politics of the IJN, including quite a bit of criticism towards Yamamoto. Very much recommended reading.

Got it just because I was interested in reading about the battles, but his descriptions of daily life in 1930s Japan as well as the external and internal political turmoils of the pre-war years are at least as interesting.

The fatal flaw of High School Fleet is that the action was pretty boring. A destroyer had no right fighting a battleship one-on-one, but the anime resorted to such kinds of fights all the time. Because a single battleship round could destroy a destroyer, the main ship wasn't allowed to get hit. The fights basically turned into the destroyer doing fancy maneuvering and all the shells shot at it missing.

Historically, the destroyer combat in WWII was some of the most crazy naval combat in the war. The main reason was due to the fact it mostly happened at night. The lack of visibility resulted in chance encounters and desperate fighting. Japanese Destroyer Captain is a great book to understand how that kind of fighting took place.