H. P. Willmott (1945–2020)

Hastily thrown together book, full of errors and mistakes. A T-6 Texan from Tora! Tora! gets identified as the real thing and we also see a Japanese Army Air Force Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Oscar") getting identified as a Japanese Navy A6M Zero. Whoever was responsible for the pictures and/or their captions had never read about the A6M Zero before.

Dr. Willmott has moved on to deal with the second world-wide naval war, and the charts are even more voluminous. But he has been thorough and the book continues to be interesting, and there is no doubt of his effort to explain rather than describe. His theories continue to hold the interest of the student, and his take on some of the controversial moments in the conflist are thought provoking. This second volume remains a necessary part of a good bibliography on the tpics he exlores.

There is a good deal of analysis rather than description in this book, and the useful tables and maps should be a selling point. Willmott defines sea power, the power to make use of the sea, as a truer indication of might that the totting up of battleships or aircraft carriers. It is a valuble point of view, and does explain some of the results of naval conflict. I have read only Volume one so far, but I would encourage the serious student to aquaint himself with this work and autrhor.

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