The previously untold story of one of the most ferocious battles of
Second World War * Based on primary sources, including personal interviews *
Enthralling combination of firsthand action and astute tactical
analysis
This is the previously untold story of one of the most ferocious and
prolonged air/naval battles in history: the battle at the radar picket stations
during the American assault on Okinawa in spring 1945. It weaves together the
experiences of the ships and their crews, Navy, Army, and Marine Corps pilots,
and Japanese kamikazes in an account which provides the complete story of this
infamous battle. The US fleet and its accompanying airpower that took
station off Okinawa was of gigantic
proportions, such that the Japanese could only rely on suicide attacks to
inflict critical damage. While losses in the main fleet have been well covered
in the literature, less well known has been the terrific battle waged on the
picket line, the fleet’s outer defence against the swarms of Japanese marauders.
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 Second World War. The great losses were due in large part to the
relentless nature of the kamikaze attacks, but also to 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 the battle
went on, crew fatigue. The intricate nature of the US air cover is
also described in full. Toward the end of the battle, the radar picket ships
became the prime kamikaze target as Japanese pilots despaired of getting through
the “big blue blanket” of American fighter planes to reach larger prey at
Okinawa.
