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By Root 1788 0

6. “My Dutch blood”: Vandegrift, Once a Marine, 120. Richard Frank, annotation to author’s draft ms., April 12, 2010; see also Lundstrom, Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, 373–374: “Fletcher envisioned another grim carrier battle soon.… Hindsight has obliterated the validity of Fletcher’s prudence.” “Who is closely acquainted”: Turner to King, “Strategic Deployment,” 3. “You son of a bitch”: Loxton, The Shame of Savo, 71; Lundstrom, Black Shoe, 336. “I sent Dan Callaghan”: Ghormley to Nimitz, July 29, 1942, 3. “At first there was a mast”: Calhoun, Tin Can Sailor, 51. Early U.S. South Pacific strategy: Braisted, The United States Navy in the Pacific, 1909–1922, 522–523; SOPAC, “South Pacific Strategy,” 7–8. Logistics: Ghormley, “The Tide Turns,” 62. “Pounded flat into baked mud”: Crenshaw, South Pacific Destroyer, 43. “Almost every French civilian”: SOPAC, “South Pacific Strategy,” 10. “The war in our area”: Ghormley to McCain, May 19, 1942, 3. “I think our actual deficiencies”: Ghormley to Nimitz, July 29, 1942, 2–3. “If an enemy lay beyond”: Hough, History, 4–5. “God was with us”: Smoot interview, 92. “Vague, black and shapeless”: Custer, Through, 104. “Like a purple lump”: Kittredge, untitled narrative, 11. “What the hell”: Custer, Through, 104. “All hands man your battle stations” and disposition of cruiser screen: Crutchley, “Operation Watchtower,” 11–12 (Hepburn Report Annex, 65). “The pervasive mud”: Jones, WW2, 48. “Amazing panorama”: Lord, Lonely Vigil, 40. “UNDER INFORMATION YOU PLAN”: Ghormley to Fletcher, August 2, 1942 (0240). “Enemy strength is overwhelming”: McGee, The Solomons Campaigns, vol. 2, 30. Lieutenant Snell’s flag: Bureau of Naval Personnel, Information Bulletin, September 1942, 60.

4: Nothing Worthy of Your Majesty’s Attention

“It is nothing worthy”: Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, 104. Japanese reaction to landings: Ohmae, “The Battle of Savo Island,” 1260–1267; Ugaki, Fading Victory, 177. “Absolutely no concern with the Solomons”: Ohmae, “The Battle,” 1267. Japanese intelligence deficiencies: Kotani, Japanese Intelligence in World War II, 155, 161–162. “Magnificent curtain”: Commander, Task Group 62.6 “Operation Watchtower—the Capture and Occupation by United Nations Forces of Tulagi and Guadalcanal,” 18. Be it ever so humble … “How can you beat”: Custer, Through the Perilous Night, 123. “Either these are Army pilots”: Ibid., 118. “How do you like that”: Ibid., 121–122.

5: Fly the Carriers

“Whenever he became disgusted”: Jones, The USS Astoria (CA-34) and the Men Who Sailed Her, 48. “I have seen him ‘blow up’ ”: Dyer, The Amphibians Came to Conquer, 1165–1166. “After dark, conditions” and “No small share” and “a failure on”: McGee, The Amphibians Are Coming! 19–20. “This was the Koro conference”: Vandegrift, Once a Marine, 129. “All knew that the enemy”: Ghormley, “The Tide Turns,” 93. During carrier flight operations, speeds of twenty-five knots were necessary, according to Frank Jack Fletcher. ComCruPacFlt, “Preliminary Report—Solomons Islands Operations,” September 9, 1942, 3. “It is the opinion”: MacArthur to King, July 8, 1942 (1020). “The withdrawal of the naval attached units”: King to Nimitz, July 2, 1942 (2154). “Marines cannot be dislodged”: Lundstrom, Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, 383. HMAS Australia conference: Commander, Task Force 62, War Diary, 4; Kinkaid, Four Years of War, 233.

6: A Captain in the Fog

“His officers were scared”: Zarker interview. “He was short and stocky”: Backus interview, 93–94. Cruiser engineering performance: Fleet Maintenance Office, “Material and Engineering Performance Bulletin, Cruisers, Pacific Fleet,” 14. “Take charge of patrol”: Crutchley, “Explanatory Memorandum,” 9. “Aircraft reports 3 cruisers”: CINCPAC, “Grey Book,” August 8, 1942 (1025). “We will penetrate south”: Ohmae, “The Battle of Savo Island,” 1271–1272. “The Eighth Fleet is going”: Ugaki, Fading Victory, 178. “I was satisfied with arrangements”: Turner to Hepburn, “Answers to Questionnaire” (Hepburn Report Annex, 272). “Warning—warning—plane”: USS Ralph Talbot, “Preliminary Report of Action,