Main entrance at the National Archives and Records Administraton, College Park, Maryland.
REFERENCES

PRIMARY SOURCES

OVERVIEW

  • Bauer, K. Jack and Roberts, Stephen S., Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990, Major Combatants. Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, 1991 — statistical information from official sources.
  • Whitley, M.J., Destroyers of World War Two, an international encyclopedia. Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 2000 — all destroyers completed or laid down during the period 1939–1945 by all the world’s naval powers.

OPERATIONS

  • Crenshaw, Russell Sydnor, Jr., South Pacific Destroyer. Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 1998 — first-person account by a participant in the Solomon Islands campaign.
  • Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Boston, Massachusetts, Little, Brown & Co., 1947–1962 — 15 volumes; definitive; comprehensive.
  • O’Hara, Vincent P, The US Navy Against the Axis, Surface Combat 1941–45, Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 2007 — description and analysis of every surface action involving major American warships.
  • Pratt, Fletcher, Night Work, The Story of Task Force 39. New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1946 — “Tip” Merrill’s “Hollywood Squadron,” including descriptions of actions of DesRons 21, 22 and 23 in the Solomon Islands.
  • Rohwer, Jurgen, Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939-1945, Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 2005 — fifty years of compilation of the naval history of World War II.
  • Roscoe, Theodore, United States Destroyer Operations in World War II. Annapolis, United States Naval Institute, 1953 — basic reference regarding detailed operations of destroyers and destroyer escorts, with many charts and photographs.

DESIGN

  • Friedman, Norman, U.S. Destroyers, an illustrated design history. Annapolis, United States Naval Institute, 1982 — general development of the American destroyer from the steam torpedo boat to the present.
  • Raven, Alan, Fletcher-class Destroyers. Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 1986 — photographs and line drawings.
  • Reilly, John C., Jr., United States Navy Destroyers of World War II. Poole, Dorset, UK, Blandford Press, 1983 — perhaps the best one-book description of “third- and fourth-generation” American destroyers and the process by which these classes evolved.
  • Walkowiak, Thomas F., The Floating Drydock’s Plan Book: Fletcher Class Destroyers of World War Two. Treasure Island, FL, The Floating Drydock, 1988 — extensive photos and drawings for high- and low-bridge Fletchers for modelers.

SECONDARY SOURCES

OVERVIEW

  • Alden, Comdr. John D., Flush Decks & Four Pipes, Annapolis, United States Naval Institute, 1965 — a complete history of the class and its metamorphosis as needs changed.
  • Dickey, J. L., II, A Family Saga, Flush Deck Destroyers, 1917–1955 — study of the flush-deck four-stack destroyers, the era in which they served and their operations.
  • Worth, Richard, Fleets of World War II; Cambridge, MA, Da Capo Press, 2001 — useful overview in a few paragraphs.

OPERATIONS

  • Calhoun, C. Raymond, Typhoon: The Other Enemy, the Third Fleet and the Pacific Storm of December 1944. Annapolis, United States Naval Institute, 1981 — first person account and analysis from Dewey’s commanding officer.
  • Crenshaw, Russell Sydnor, Jr., The Battle of Tassafaronga. Baltimore, Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1995 — detailed tactical analysis by a participant.
  • Dull, Paul S., A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy (1941–1945). Annapolis, United States Naval Institute, 1978 — the Pacific war from the Japanese viewpoint.
  • Hailey, Foster, Pacific Battle Line. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1944 (see excerpts on this web site).
  • Hara, Tameichi, Japanese Destroyer Captain. New York, Ballantine, 1961.
  • Newcomb, Dick, U.S. Destroyers of the World Wars. Paducah, Kentucky, Turner Publishing Company, 1994 — featuring extensive history with tables reflecting extensive research, though containing some errors, mis-emphases; valuable for biographies of destroyer namesakes amd memories of selected shipmates.

DESIGN

  • Ross, Al, Anatomy of the Ship, USS The Sullivans; Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 1988 — extensive line drawings, descriptive text and photos.
  • Sumrall, Robert F., Sumner–Gearing-class destroyers: their design, weapons, and equipment, Annapolis, United States Naval Institute, 1995 — comprehensive, illustrated description; also with detailed discussion of predecessor classes.

SHIP-SPECIFIC

  • Emmons (DD 457; DMS 22) — Billingsley, Edward Baxter The Emmons Saga. Lincoln, Nebraska, iUniverse, Inc., 2005 — the finest single-ship destroyer history from World War II, meticulously researched and brilliantly written by a former commanding officer-turned-history professor.
  • Kidd (DD 661) — O’Hara, Kelly, Wolfe, Larry W., and Wolfe, Lisa J., History of the USS Kidd and the Fletcher-class destroyers. Paducah, Kentucky, Turner Publishing Company, 1992 — detailed history of Kidd; also contains biographies of namesakes and histories of all Fletcher-class destroyers and memories of selected shipmates.
  • Cassin Young (DD 793) — Harmon, J. Scott, U.S.S. Cassin Young (DD-793) A Fletcher Class Destroyer. Missoula, Montana, Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1984 — including good introductions to The Destroyer: All Purpose Ship and Fletcher Class Destroyer.

REFLECTING RESEARCH FROM THIS WEBSITE

  • McComb, Dave, US Destroyers 1934–45, Pre-War Classes. Oxford, Osprey Publishing, Ltd., 2010 — illustrated overview of design and World War II operations of the US destroyer classes designed during the 1930s.
  • McComb, Dave, US Destroyers 1942–45, Wartime Classes. Oxford, Osprey Publishing, Ltd., 2010 — illustrated overview of design and World War II operations of the Fletcher, Allen M. Sumner and Gearing classes.
LINKS

RESEARCH SOURCES

PUBLIC

PRIVATE

WEB SOURCES

BASIC REFERENCE

COLLECTIONS