Reddit reviews Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

Neptune's Inferno, by James D. Hornfischer gives a pretty in-depth depiction of what it was like, using interviews with veterans from both sides.

Most local libraries have a copy if you're interested.

I read a book about the naval battles around Guadalcanal during WWII. Survivors of sinking ships would sometimes be killed by the shock of unsafed depth charges exploding as the ship, to which the charges were still attached, sank beneath their detonation depth. The shockwave would go up their butthole (no, really) and rupture Important Things™.

Neptune's Inferno is a must-read book for anyone interested in naval combat.

Read James D. Hornfischer's books:

Neptune's Inferno - About Guadalcanal

The Fleet at Flood Tide - The Pacific campaign later in the war. I'm currently reading this.

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors - About Taffey 3 and battle off Samar

The others are correct. The IJN was still convinced of the inevitability of the Decisive Battle that Mahan had espoused at the turn of the century. The entirety of their doctrine, excluding the Decisive Battle, was built around battles being at night and at close range.

They would launch their torpedos while still undetected at long range and then close with the enemy. It’s the same logic behind a Z 52 torping smoke and then charging that smoke, behind a wall of skill, to catch the DD off guard. The IJN hoped for two things. First, that the torpedoes would damage or sink enough ships to make a difference in numerical superiority. Second, that the other ships in the USN formation would turn and break formation making their gunfire much more ineffective and make single ships easier to pick off.

The USN doctrine put all of their eggs in the radar fire control basket. Unfortunately, many of the commanders didn’t trust the new technology, instead trusting their own, flawed, pre-war doctrine. For instance, Norman Scott had a cruiser with search radar but didn’t pick it because he thought a Heavy Cruiser was more befitting an Admiral. So, there was a huge delay in communication between ships and commanders at the Battle of Cape Esperance.

If you’re seriously interested in learning more I strongly suggest reading:

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553385127/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_LjBOAbQ8CTBFT

His other two are great as well.

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of her Survivors

http://www.amazon.com/Neptunes-Inferno-U-S-Navy-Guadalcanal/dp/0553385127
This book is really good too, regarding the IJN and USN fights during the Guadalcanal campaign.

Any one interested in this should read Neptunes Inferno: The story of American and Allied(Austrailian and New Zealand) Navies against the Japanese at Guadal Canal Absolutely mind blowing read thats not covered enough by most WW2 history sources.

If you guys liked this interview you should read Neptune's Inferno.

It's a book that tells the story of the USN at Guadalcanal, and it's built using first hand accounts like that of Captain Ruiz, Captain's Log, After Action Reports, and all sorts of sources, and it's blended into a book that really hits home about just how brutal the war at sea was, and how ordinary men can do extraordinary things when they have to.

I don't think any non-fiction has ever hit me quite the way that this book did, and it's because of stories just like Captain Ruiz's.

Neptune's Inferno was excellent, but not quite as riveting as Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.

Got started on At All Costs, but haven't yet dug in.

Whadda ya got for me?