- The Strategist - https://www.aspistrategist.org.au -
ASPI recommends ‘Pacific Crucible: war at sea in the Pacific 1941–42′
Posted By Andrew Davies on November 6, 2014 @ 06:00
King's mind was clear. The entire Allied strategy in the Pacific depended on two cardinal points: Hawaii must not fall, and Australia must not fall. [He] ordered the new Pacific Fleet chief, Admiral Nimitz, to secure the seaways between Midway, Hawaii and the North American mainland. That was to be his first priority. The second, in only a "small degree less important" was to protect the lifeline between North America and Australia. … By those means the allied war machine would be built up in Australasia…
Perhaps Mahan would have turned over in his grave to hear it said, but the loss of the American battleships was no catastrophe. It might even have been entered into the ledger as a net gain… As one officer put it, the Japanese converted the American fleet from a "seventeen knot fleet to a twenty-five knot fleet" [and forced] the American high command to acknowledge the ascendency of aviation and submarines.
Article printed from The Strategist: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au
URL to article: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/aspi-recommends-pacific-crucible-war-at-sea-in-the-pacific-1941-42/
[1] Image: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/USS_Lexington_brennt.jpg
[2] ANZUS in the news: http://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/18924-acri-anzus-booklet-web.pdf
[3] this book: http://books.wwnorton.com/books/Pacific-Crucible/
[4] argued recently: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/northern-australia-how-much-defence-is-enough/
[5] Admiral Ernest King: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_King
[6] Battle of the Coral Sea: https://www.navy.gov.au/history/feature-histories/battle-coral-sea
[7] had no plans to invade Australia: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/aspi-recommends-australia-1942-in-the-shadow-of-war/
[8] Battle of Midway: http://www.history.navy.mil/Midway/Battle-of-Midway-Overview.html
[9] Wall Street Journal didn’t like: http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204190704577024143531507710
[10] might: http://www.navyhistory.org/2012/11/book-review-pacific-crucible-war-at-sea-in-the-pacific-1941-1942/
[11] might not: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/review/pacific-crucible-war-at-sea-in-the-pacific-1941-1942-by-ian-w-toll-book-review.html?pagewanted=all&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C%7b%221%22%3A%22RI%3A9%22%7d
[12] Andrew Davies: https://www.aspi.org.au/about-aspi/aspi-staff/senior-analysts/andrew-davies
[13] Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Lexington_brennt.jpg