Mark Lardas

A detailed and fascinating exploration of the 1945 US combined land, naval and air operation to retake Corregidor and the other Japanese-held islands in Manila Bay from a determined and well-entrenched enemy. The islands guarding the entrance to Manila Bay, Luzon, had been seized by the Japanese in May 1942. In February 1945, US forces were back, closing in on...

An absorbing study of the duels fought between the US Navy’s escort warships and Hitler’s U-boats between December 1941 and May 1945. Although the Battle of the Atlantic lasted several years, its most critical phase began once the United States entered World War II. By December 1941, the British had mastered the U-boat threat in the Eastern Atlantic, only to...

US Navy Pacific Fleet 1941 by Mark Lardas is the first book to examine the battleship-led 1941 Pacific Fleet as it was intended to fight. Packed with illustrations, this study explains how the US Navy saw the approaching war unfolding. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet was the most powerful in the US Navy. Although dominated by...

Fully illustrated, this book pits US Navy submarines against the aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the height of World War II. Before World War II, the world’s navies envisioned the submarine as a tool to hunt and kill cruisers and capital ships (aircraft carriers and battleships). Instead, they became best known for their abilities as commerce raiders....

This book examines the major warships of the Imperial Russian Navy which participated in the Russo-Japanese War. The focus is on the battleships, coastal defence warships, and cruisers of the Pacific Squadron and Baltic Squadron that fought during the war. It discusses in detail their design and development between the years of 1885 and 1905, concentrating particularly on battleships and...

A comprehensively illustrated history and analysis of The Hump campaign in World War II, the huge and treacherous airlift over the Himalayas to keep China fighting. In World War II, the war in China tied down much of the Japanese Army, and it was crucial to keep China fighting and supplied. But when the Burma Road fell, the only way...

This insightful illustrated study investigates how the Royal Navy lost two battleships and three aircraft carriers to German U-boats during 1939–42. During World War II, over half of Britain’s capital ship losses were due to U-boats, as Germany’s submarines sought to deplete the Royal Navy’s powerful surface fleet. Featuring specially commissioned artwork and mapping alongside archive photographs, this study explains...

A comprehensively illustrated account of the Atlanta-class cruisers, warships that found a surprising key role in the Pacific War as the US Navy's superb antiaircraft warships. In the late 1930s, the US Navy created a class of small, light cruisers intended as a versatile destroyer leader. The Atlantas could provide antiaircraft support, lead and launch torpedo attacks, serve as antisubmarine...

U-505 was the first enemy warship the US Navy captured at sea since 1812. This is a new account of how Captain Gallery planned and executed the raid on his own initiative, and how his success almost endangered the war against the U-boats. On June 4, 1944, a US Navy antisubmarine task group in the Atlantic captured an enemy U-boat...

A classic duel in the age of sail, boasting first-hand accounts, dramatic battle recreations and detailed comparisons of the strengths and weaknesses of the frigates of these two great nations. Famed as a classic naval duel, a one-on-one clash between two sailing frigates offered the victor immeasurable fame and glory. During the War of 1812, the Royal Navy and United...

A history of the US Navy's remarkable 1945 South China Sea raid against the Japanese, the first time in history that a carrier fleet dared to rampage through coastal waters. As 1945 opened, Japan was fighting defensively everywhere. As the Allies drew closer to the Home Islands, risks of Japanese air and sea attack on the US Navy carrier force...