Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History

pinehilljoe · Sep 15, 2025

I finished Craig Symond's Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History. The book is broader than WW2, but spends many pages on Midway. IMHO all of Symond's books are good, this one included.

One nit pick, his editor should have done a better job, he cites Henry Stimson as the Sec State, vs Secretary of War.

Thumpalumpacus · Sep 15, 2025

Symonds has a really nice conversational style of writing, presenting facts without donning an aura of authority -- even though he is one.

What are his five battles?

pinehilljoe · Sep 15, 2025

Thumpalumpacus said:
Symonds has a really nice conversational style of writing, presenting facts without donning an aura of authority -- even though he is one.

What are his five battles?

Lake Erie
Monitor vs Virginia
Manilla Bay
Midway
Operation Praying Mantis (Reagan era of escorting Convoys in the Persian Gulf)

Quoting from Amazon listing:
- Oliver Hazard Perry's heroic victory at Lake Erie, one of the last great battles of the Age of Sail, which secured the Northwestern frontier for the United States

- The brutal Civil War duel between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia, which sounded the death knell for wooden-hulled warships and doomed the Confederacy's hope of besting the Union navy

- Commodore Dewey's stunning triumph at Manila Bay in 1898, where the U.S. displayed its "new navy" of steel-hulled ships firing explosive shells and wrested an empire from a fading European power

- The hairsbreadth American victory at Midway, where aircraft carriers launched planes against enemies 200 miles away--and where the tide of World War II turned in the space of a few furious minutes

- Operation Praying Mantis in the Persian Gulf, where computers, ship-fired missiles, and "smart bombs" not only changed the nature of warfare at sea, but also marked a new era, and a new responsibility, for the United States.

Thumpalumpacus · Sep 15, 2025

pinehilljoe said:
Lake Erie
Monitor vs Virginia
Manilla Bay
Midway
Operation Praying Mantis (Reagan era of escorting Convoys in the Persian Gulf)

Quoting from Amazon listing:
- Oliver Hazard Perry's heroic victory at Lake Erie, one of the last great battles of the Age of Sail, which secured the Northwestern frontier for the United States

- The brutal Civil War duel between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia, which sounded the death knell for wooden-hulled warships and doomed the Confederacy's hope of besting the Union navy

- Commodore Dewey's stunning triumph at Manila Bay in 1898, where the U.S. displayed its "new navy" of steel-hulled ships firing explosive shells and wrested an empire from a fading European power

- The hairsbreadth American victory at Midway, where aircraft carriers launched planes against enemies 200 miles away--and where the tide of World War II turned in the space of a few furious minutes

- Operation Praying Mantis in the Persian Gulf, where computers, ship-fired missiles, and "smart bombs" not only changed the nature of warfare at sea, but also marked a new era, and a new responsibility, for the United States.

I guessed three of them and agree with all five. Will buy.

pinehilljoe · Sep 16, 2025

Thumpalumpacus said:
I guessed three of them and agree with all five. Will buy.

I was skeptical about the Gulf, but Symonds makes the point that for the first time, the highest levels of government made final decisions on tactics, modern communications allowed instant access to the highest levels of the War Room. He argues it was the first time commanders in the field were given orders in real time from the White House and Pentagon.

GreenKnight121 · Sep 21, 2025

I was aboard CV-61 Ranger during Sept-Nov 1987 participating in the escort operations (my A-6E squadron, VMA(AW)-121, was part of the air cover).

One day one of my friends, who was in the Intel department of Ranger, showed me a video that had been shot from one of the US destroyers in the operations. The decision had been made to destroy one of the oil platforms the Iranians had been using to launch attacks of tankers - the video opens as 5-7 USN destroyers and frigates were already circling the platform, shelling it with their guns. The video continued for some 15 minutes as scores of 3" and 5" shells were fired - with virtually no damage being caused.

He explained that in the end SEALs were sent to the platform in boats to plant demolition charges on the platform's legs, which finally destroyed it.

About a week later the order came to destroy another platform - two A-6Es from VA-145 (also flying from Ranger) were sent, each with two 1,000lb laser-guided bombs - they completely destroyed the platform, leaving only stubs of legs sticking out of the water.

I viewed this as a personal (as well as collective) triumph, as I was one of 3 people whose job was to repair and service the AN/AAS-33A Detecting and Ranging Set (the hardware of the TRAM [Target Recognition Attack Multisensor] system of the A-6E) for the two A-6E squadrons - and specifically the FLIR (infrared sensor that provided the aircrew with a nice clear 2x-10x zoomable image at night and in bad weather), the laser transmitter and receivers, and the signal processor & video display units that provided the images to the bombardier/navigator.

pinehilljoe · Sep 21, 2025

GreenKnight121 said:
I was aboard CV-61 Ranger during Sept-Nov 1987 participating in the escort operations (my A-6E squadron, VMA(AW)-121, was part of the air cover).

One day one of my friends, who was in the Intel department of Ranger, showed me a video that had been shot from one of the US destroyers in the operations. The decision had been made to destroy one of the oil platforms the Iranians had been using to launch attacks of tankers - the video opens as 5-7 USN destroyers and frigates were already circling the platform, shelling it with their guns. The video continued for some 15 minutes as scores of 3" and 5" shells were fired - with virtually no damage being caused.

He explained that in the end SEALs were sent to the platform in boats to plant demolition charges on the platform's legs, which finally destroyed it.

About a week later the order came to destroy another platform - two A-6Es from VA-145 (also flying from Ranger) were sent, each with two 1,000lb laser-guided bombs - they completely destroyed the platform, leaving only stubs of legs sticking out of the water.

I viewed this as a personal (as well as collective) triumph, as I was one of 3 people whose job was to repair and service the AN/AAS-33A Detecting and Ranging Set (the hardware of the TRAM [Target Recognition Attack Multisensor] system of the A-6E) for the two A-6E squadrons - and specifically the FLIR (infrared sensor that provided the aircrew with a nice clear 2x-10x zoomable image at night and in bad weather), the laser transmitter and receivers, and the signal processor & video display units that provided the images to the bombardier/navigator.

View attachment 848108

I worked with two former aviators that were the EWO on the Prowler. They said a lot of them got sick. They sit sideways, head glued to a screen, and no way to anticipate the moves and turns of the aircraft inviting motion sickness. They also said in the Navy, if you do it, you clean it, regardless of rank.

EwenS · Sep 21, 2025

I think someone got their aircraft types muddled up.

I the EA-6B Prowler all 4 crew sat on ejection seats facing forward I under clear canopies.

https://www.deviantart.com/themacvault/gallery/88972476/other-us-aircraft-compass-report-gallery

On the other hand the EWOs on the EA-3B Skywarrior sat buried in the fuselage facing sideways.

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Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History

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