Old Friends, New Enemies: The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, vol. 1: Strategic illusions, 1936-1941

This is the first scholarly account of the Royal Navy in the Pacific War. It concludes the late Arthur Marder's two-volume history of the Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy in the decisive years of 1936-1945. Volume II picks up the story at the nadir of the British naval fortunes, and follows the Royal Navy from its position in 1942 to its role in the Japanese surrender in August 1945. The book offers a critical assessment of Churchill's role in shaping the British war effort; the role of the HMSExeter; the work of Sir James Somerville, who attempted to train his motley fleet of castoffs into an efficient force able to safeguard trade in the Indian Ocean against Axis raiders and submarines; and the events leading up to the Battle of the Java Sea. Meticulously researched and fully referenced, Old Friends, New Enemies draws on both British and Japanese sources, and offers a readable and comprehensive account of the two navies in the Second World War.