Tidal Wave: from Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay James P
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Naval War College Review Volume 72 Article 14 Number 3 Summer 2019 2019 Tidal Wave: From Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay James P. McGrath III Thomas McKelvey Cleaver Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation McGrath, James P. III and Cleaver, Thomas McKelvey (2019) "Tidal Wave: From Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay," Naval War College Review: Vol. 72 : No. 3 , Article 14. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol72/iss3/14 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. McGrath and Cleaver: Tidal Wave: From Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay BOOK REVIEWS 167 times, the Atlantic twenty-four times, active-duty assignment as commodore the Pacific twice, been shipwrecked and and governor of Newfoundland� Some stranded, conveyed a first-of-its-type prominent naval officers held the post of diplomatic mission, served in the commodore-governor of Newfoundland Caribbean, East Indies, and China, between 1729 and 1825, but in most na- three times in the Mediterranean and val histories and biographies, historians Newfoundland, numerous times off the typically summarize their roles in only a French, Portuguese, and Spanish coasts� few lines� Additionally, the battle of Tra- Add to this, inclusion amongst those falgar dominates most naval history for more widely celebrated naval officers the years 1804–1806� It is beneficial to for cutting out expeditions under heavy find in this volume a detailed account of fire, being wounded in battle, receiving Erasmus Gower’s work in civil, military, the thanks of both houses of Parliament, and naval administration as well as fish- [and] sharing in the capture of more ery protection during these same years� than fifty ships” (p� 1)� Bates provides All in all, Bates’s volume on Admiral a highly detailed narrative description, Gower sheds light on the life and with extensive quotations from original career of a very interesting and documents, describing Erasmus Gower’s highly accomplished naval officer whose naval career� The volume has twenty- experiences scholars have overlooked five chapters, with five appendices, for too long� The volume makes a which include a handy section of valuable addition to the extensive short biographical sketches of people literature on the age of Nelson and a closely associated with Gower and an useful reference volume for any library annotated list of all the ships that Gower collection in that area of naval history� served in, commanded, or captured� JOHN B� HATTENDORF The book offers much detail of great interest to specialists in naval history� General readers are likely to be in- terested in the chapters on Gower’s expe- riences with Carteret’s voyage (1766–69), Tidal Wave: From Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay, by his subsequent shipwreck in HM sloop Thomas McKelvey Cleaver� New York: Osprey, Swift, and the two chapters that describe 2018� 320 pages� $32� the naval aspects of Earl Macartney’s Tidal Wave covers well-trodden ground, voyage to China as Britain’s ambassador looking at the final nine months of in 1792–94� During the voyage to China, World War II� With so much previously Sir Erasmus Gower commanded the written, finding a new angle is chal- flagship, the sixty-four-gun HMS Lion, lenging, and Cleaver sets up to focus which, along with two accompanying on the epic battle between the Japanese vessels, carried the embassy to and from special-attack units—the kamikaze—and China. In telling this story, Bates has the U�S� Third/Fifth Fleet� Unfortu- used Gower’s previously unpublished nately, Tidal Wave fails to deliver new manuscript journal now held at Cornell analysis� Insightful in spots, the book University Library� The final chapters wanders to earlier battles to trace the of the book discuss Gower’s final lineage of aviation squadrons and Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2019 1 NWC_Summer2019Review.indb 167 5/2/19 11:35 AM 168 NAVAL WAR COLLEGENaval REVIEW War College Review, Vol. 72 [2019], No. 3, Art. 14 individual pilots� The book’s staccato, to investigate the operational-level sometimes frenetic, pace is challenging duel between the two belligerents� also, and it leaves readers wondering Tidal Wave explores one area that might where they are in time and space� be new to the American audience: The book begins with the end: the the contribution of the Royal Navy final operations of the American fast- (RN) in the Pacific War� In a chapter carrier task forces over the skies of the entitled “The Forgotten Fleet,” Cleaver Japanese home islands� Jumping back summarizes how the British Far Eastern in time, Cleaver provides an interesting Fleet was manned, equipped, and description of the birth of the Japanese operated as it joined the fight in the tokubetsu kogeki tai (special-attack Pacific� There were limited examples of units), commonly called kamikaze by RN carriers integrating with American the Americans� Envisioned before the task groups; instead, the majority of RN American invasion of the Philippines operations occurred under a separate (where they were first introduced into task force within the American Third/ combat), the kamikaze grew into Japan’s Fifth Fleet, assigned unique missions primary offensive weapon after the independent of American task groups� destruction of the Combined Fleet at Oddly, the penultimate chapter is Leyte Gulf� This growth, while illogical entitled “Finale,” and while it recounts to the Americans, is rational within the closing days of naval combat in the Japanese Bushido warrior code� the Pacific it does not include the final The chapter showing the most promise battles, the dropping of the atomic to address the struggle between the two bombs, nor the end of the war� One ac- forces is entitled “Big Blue Blanket�” tion covered is the foray of nine Ameri- American naval ace and air theorist can submarines (“Hydeman’s Hellcats”) Commander (later Admiral) John S� into the Sea of Japan, demonstrating Thach Jr� addressed the new Japanese the vulnerability of this previously safe tactics, recommending significant haven for Japanese logistics shipping� changes to American carrier air wings The bombardment of Japanese coastal aimed at defeating this new threat� industry by American battleships and Cleaver covers Thach’s plan and cruisers—a subject often not included in explains why it was not implemented other narratives—is discussed as well� immediately, but then abandons this The final chapter is titled “Gyokusen”— discussion for several chapters� or “dancing fan,” in Japanese� Thinking Instead of fully exploring the evolution gyokusen might have some significance of American defenses against the pertaining to the end of the war, I kamikaze and the Japanese response, asked several Japan experts� The the narrative returns to accounts of best we could determine is that the individual battles, with limited analysis chapter should have been titled gyokusai, of their contribution to the overall meaning “shattered or crushed jewels,” war effort� Cleaver ultimately fails to a term used in Japan to describe the connect Thach’s initial proposal to the hopeless defeats and massacres of eventual implementation of the ideas he championed—a missed opportunity https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol72/iss3/14 2 NWC_Summer2019Review.indb 168 5/2/19 11:35 AM McGrath and Cleaver: Tidal Wave: From Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay BOOK REVIEWS 169 Japanese soldiers and sailors on distant battlefields� Gyokusai objectifies fighting to the last while giving and accepting no quarter, and is sometimes used to One Nation under Drones: Legality, Morality, and Utility of Unmanned Combat Systems, ed� John E� describe the national annihilation many Jackson� Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, Japanese leaders advocated at the end of 2018� 256 pages� $29�95� the war, which is the focus of the final “Something for everyone” are words chapter of Cleaver’s book� (For more that come to mind after reading One information on gyokusai, see Rodney Nation under Drones� Americans have James Szas, “Gyokusai” Shattered like a developed an avid interest in drones Jewel: Last Stands of the Japanese Soldier and unmanned aerial vehicles and their in Their Own Words, shatteredjewels myriad potential uses� Scientists, histo- �wordpress�com/�) Like most of the rians, ethicists, and others are trying to book, this last chapter ranges across determine not only the proper roles for time and space from sixteenth-century this new technology but how to address Nagasaki to an American pilot buzzing the ethical, privacy, and related challeng- USS Missouri (BB 63) in Tokyo Bay� es this technology presents� One Nation Analysis of war-ending decisions is under Drones takes all these factors into limited and, in several cases, carries account while focusing on “how these forward a singular view about the role revolutionary systems are reshaping of Russian entry into the war and its the legal, ethical, and operational impact on American and Japanese nature of both war and peace” (p� 21)� decision-making without acknowledg- ing counterviews on the subject� In addition to his introductory and con- cluding chapters, Jackson has compiled Cleaver is an experienced author eleven chapters written by other experts with over forty years of publishing in various