The Emmons Saga

Rear Admiral Edward Baxter Billingsley's book, The Emmons Saga, captures the deck plate routine of the Sailors aboard Emmons as she intersected with the great events of World War II and influenced the course of history. Any reader who has ever served afloat will recognize the authenticity of every detail, and will appreciate the complex relationship of an individual ship with war and diplomacy. This is a history of brave men - members of "the greatest generation" - who operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of World War II. Admiral Billingsley provides us a microcosm of World War II naval warfare, spanning the Battle of the Atlantic, the North African Campaign, the Normandy Invasion and the Battle of Okinawa. Historic facts and colorful sea-stories depict life aboard a naval combatant and illuminate the bonds of friendship and trust that developed among this group of young, inexperienced, and untested youth. As members of that "special" generation pass on at a rate of over 1,000 each day, it is important that the virtues and sacrifice that they epitomize be remembered by future generations of Americans. USS EMMONS rose from the depths of obscurity in 2001 when her gravesite was discovered off the shores of Okinawa and charted by American recreational divers. Her rediscovery has focused renewed interest both in the United States and Japan into the character of the American youth of that generation. The Emmons Saga, originally published a decade and a half ago, has been revised and up-dated, and it deserves a place of honor on the bookshelf of every maritime historian and lover of the sea. RADM Jacob L. Shuford, USNB President, Naval War College

Rear Admiral Edward Baxter Billingsley's book, The Emmons Saga, captures the deck plate routine of the Sailors aboard Emmons as she intersected with the great events of World War II and influenced the course of history. Any reader who has ever served afloat will recognize the authenticity of every detail, and will appreciate the complex relationship of an individual ship with war and diplomacy. This is a history of brave men ? members of "the greatest generation" ? who operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of World War II. Admiral Billingsley provides us a microcosm of World War II naval warfare, spanning the Battle of the Atlantic, the North African Campaign, the Normandy Invasion and the Battle of Okinawa. Historic facts and colorful sea-stories depict life aboard a naval combatant and illuminate the bonds of friendship and trust that developed among this group of young, inexperienced, and untested youth. As members of that "special" generation pass on at a rate of over 1,000 each day, it is important that the virtues and sacrifice that they epitomize be remembered by future generations of Americans. USS EMMONS rose from the depths of obscurity in 2001 when her gravesite was discovered off the shores of Okinawa and charted by American recreational divers. Her rediscovery has focused renewed interest both in the United States and Japan into the character of the American youth of that generation. The Emmons Saga, originally published a decade and a half ago, has been revised and up-dated, and it deserves a place of honor on the bookshelf of every maritime historian and lover of the sea. RADM Jacob L. Shuford, USNB President, Naval War College

The last Pacific campaign of World War II was the most violent on record. Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher’s Task Force 58 carriers had conducted air strikes on mainland Japan and supported the Iwo Jima landings, but his aviators were sorely tested once the Okinawa campaign commenced on 1 April 1945. Rain of Steel follows Navy and Marine carrier aviators in the desperate air battles to control the kamikazes directed by Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki. The latter would unleash ten different Kikusui aerial suicide operations, one including a naval force built around the world’s most powerful battleship, the 71,000-ton Yamato. These battles are related largely through the words and experiences of some of the last living U.S. fighter aces of World War II. More than 1,900 kamikaze sorties—and thousands more traditional attack aircraft—would be launched against the U.S. Navy’s warships, radar picket ships, and amphibious vessels during the Okinawa campaign. In this time, Navy, Marine, and Army Air Force pilots would claim some 2,326 aerial victories. The most successful four-man fighter division in U.S. Navy history would be crowned during the fight against Ugaki’s kamikazes. The Japanese named the campaign tetsu no ame (“rain of steel”), often referred to in English as “typhoon of steel.”

In this text, Piehler and Pash bring together a collection of essays offering an examination of American participation in the Second World War, including a long overdue reconsideration of such seminal topics as the forces leading the US to enter World War II, the role of the American military in the Allied victory and more

"This book details more than 400 kamikaze attacks performed by Japanese aircraft, manned torpedoes, suicide boats and suicide swimmers against U.S. ships during World War II. Part One focuses on the traditions, development and history. Part Two details the kamikaze attacks on ships. Appendices list all of the U.S. ships suffering kamikaze attacks"--Provided by publisher.

The untold story of ferocious air and naval combat during the WWII Battle of Okinawa—drawn from primary sources and survivor interviews. This is the story of an overlooked yet significant aerial and naval battle during the American assault on Okinawa in the spring of 1945. While losses to America’s main fleet are well recorded, less well known is the terrific battle waged on the radar picket line, the fleet’s outer defense against Japanese marauders. Weaving together the experiences of the ships and their crews—drawn from ship and aircraft action reports, ship logs, and personal interviews—historian Robin L. Reilly recounts one of the most ferocious air and naval battles in history. The US fleet—and its accompanying airpower—was so massive that the Japanese could only rely on suicide attacks to inflict critical damage. Of the 206 ships that served on radar picket duty, twenty-nine percent were sunk or damaged by Japanese air attacks, making theirs the most hazardous naval surface duty in World War II. The great losses were largely due to relentless kamikaze attacks, but also resulted from the improper use of support gunboats, failure to establish land-based radar at the earliest possible time, the assignment of ships ill-equipped for picket duty, and, as time went on, crew fatigue. US air cover during the battle is also described in full, as squadrons dashed from their carriers and land bases to intercept the Japanese swarms, resulting in constant melees over the fleet.