The Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War

Name: The Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War
Author: Samuel Eliot Morison

by Samuel Eliot Morison

Buy on Amazon

Samuel Eliot Morison was a fascinating throwback figure, a Boston Brahmin who used to ride his horse from Back Bay to Harvard Yard. Before the Second World War, he was known primarily as a historian of early America. On the eve of the war, however, he published a biography of Christopher Columbus. During research for the book, he spent four months at sea, sailing the route of Columbia’s four voyages, and this gave him a reputation as a historian-sailor. As soon as the US entered World War II, he wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt, a fellow Harvard alum, asking to be commissioned as the official historian of the US Navy and to be allowed to serve on vessels in combat zones. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . Morrison saw service on eleven different ships over the course of World War II and saw battle repeatedly. After the war, he published a magnificent 15-volume history of the Navy’s war. This book is the short one volume version. It’s the American Iliad . If you want to understand what World War II felt like for a participant, with the perspective of a great historian, this would be the book. Morrison is not trying to be neutral. Some might consider that a weakness. I consider it a strength. Sophisticated readers can see through his nationalism. No other historian gives us a feel for what this conflict meant to Americans serving on naval vessels during World War II. A great quote from the book captures this. “To witness the conduct of the average enlisted man … would make any man proud to be an average American.” This is really what the book is about, how a group of civilian-sailors went to war to protect democracy, written by someone who deeply respected both the purpose of the war and the people who served in the Navy. Submerged would be the right word! A huge part of the story of the Cold War is the history of the US Submarine Force, which had the responsibility of carrying ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles] and hunting Soviet missile subs that were hard to find. The US Navy was a key part of deterrence. Submarines protected us from nuclear strike. Though the Navy was somewhat unsung during the Cold War, it played a crucial role. Since the end of the Cold War, the Navy has declined even further in American consciousness. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the conflicts the United States has been involved in, like Iraq and Afghanistan, have been largely land-based. The Navy has played a supporting role, particularly the Navy Seals in special operations, but there has not been naval combat at sea. So, we’ve tended not to focus on the Navy. Funding has not been robust. The Navy currently has 297 vessels, which is tiny based on its 20th-century averages, and roughly half the size of the Navy at the end of the Cold War. We might be coming out of that boom-bust cycle I talked about earlier. There’s probably going to be renewed focus on the Navy over the next 20 years as part of the so-called ‘pivot to Asia’ and the need to deter conflict in the Pacific Theater.

Recommended by

John Kroger

"Samuel Eliot Morison was a fascinating throwback figure, a Boston Brahmin who used to ride his horse from Back Bay to Harvard Yard. Before the Second World War, he was known primarily as a historian of early America. On the eve of the war, however, he published a biography of Christopher Columbus. During research for the book, he spent four months at sea, sailing the route of Columbia’s four voyages, and this gave him a reputation as a historian-sailor. As soon as the US entered World War II, he wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt, a fellow Harvard alum, asking to be commissioned as the official historian of the US Navy and to be allowed to serve on vessels in combat zones. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . Morrison saw service on eleven different ships over the course of World War II and saw battle repeatedly. After the war, he published a magnificent 15-volume history of the Navy’s war. This book is the short one volume version. It’s the American Iliad . If you want to understand what World War II felt like for a participant, with the perspective of a great historian, this would be the book. Morrison is not trying to be neutral. Some might consider that a weakness. I consider it a strength. Sophisticated readers can see through his nationalism. No other historian gives us a feel for what this conflict meant to Americans serving on naval vessels during World War II. A great quote from the book captures this. “To witness the conduct of the average enlisted man … would make any man proud to be an average American.” This is really what the book is about, how a group of civilian-sailors went to war to protect democracy, written by someone who deeply respected both the purpose of the war and the people who served in the Navy. Submerged would be the right word! A huge part of the story of the Cold War is the history of the US Submarine Force, which had the responsibility of carrying ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles] and hunting Soviet missile subs that were hard to find. The US Navy was a key part of deterrence. Submarines protected us from nuclear strike. Though the Navy was somewhat unsung during the Cold War, it played a crucial role. Since the end of the Cold War, the Navy has declined even further in American consciousness. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the conflicts the United States has been involved in, like Iraq and Afghanistan, have been largely land-based. The Navy has played a supporting role, particularly the Navy Seals in special operations, but there has not been naval combat at sea. So, we’ve tended not to focus on the Navy. Funding has not been robust. The Navy currently has 297 vessels, which is tiny based on its 20th-century averages, and roughly half the size of the Navy at the end of the Cold War. We might be coming out of that boom-bust cycle I talked about earlier. There’s probably going to be renewed focus on the Navy over the next 20 years as part of the so-called ‘pivot to Asia’ and the need to deter conflict in the Pacific Theater."

American Naval History · fivebooks.com