Sinking the Rising Sun: Dog Fighting and Dive Bombing in World War II: A Navy Fighter Pilot's Story by William E. Davis, Jonathan Winters, Jonathan Winters (Foreword by)

A reviewerby Anonymous

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November 21, 2007: Sinking the Rising Sun makes for exciting reading. I read it through in one day and I confess that I was absorbed in the excitement of following a young naval flyer from his enlistment through his winning of the Navy Cross for his role in sinking the aircraft carrier Zuikaku, the last survivor of the six carriers that had atacked Pearl Harbor. However, like me, World War II buffs will probably be probably disturbed by the many errors the author makes in discription of the ships involved in this tale of the sea. Here are a few examples that bothered me. Main armerment is perhaps the most commonly known chracteristic of World War II warships,knowing the big guns on a ships is like knowing a batting average to a baseball fan, but this author repeatedly gets it wrong. He tells how in 1944 he helped direct the fire of American crusiers at the island of Peleliu. The crusiers involved in the bombardment -like all modern American crusiers of the period - had six or eight inch guns, but the author remarks that he could 'only imagine the firing of those nine twelve inch guns at an enemy ship.' A litle further along, in his tale of the climatic attack on the Zuikaku in the battle of Cape Engano - the action for which he won the navy cross - the author is met by a hale of fire from '16-inch guns' which is annoying to those of us who know that the two battleships present, mounted fourteen inch guns. The author then swoops low over over 'Heavy Crusier' Oyodo 'which was in fact a light crusier' and in a dramatic molment describes how he flew at low level between the ship's second eight-inch gun turret and its bridge the eight inch gun turret then turns and fires at the fleeing plane, exciting yes, but troubling to those of us who realize the Oyodo mounted six 'or it you prefer 6.1' inch guns. The errors go on. When 13,000 ton Japanese crusier Nachi is is sunk Manila Bay the author writes, 'it was twenty-five thousand tons of metal' that disappeared in one great flash. The sinking of Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku 'the sister ship of Zuikaku' by the submarine Cavalla in 1944 is one of the best known episodes of World War II, but the author incorrectly tells the reader that this was sunk by aircraft in the battle of the Coral Sea in 1942. I do not think these problems just are just technical complaints. They badly hurt the readabily of the book. They certainly diminished my pleasure in reading the book. I suspect that many who might think of picking up the book know something of World War II ships and battles. I would certainly hesitate to recommend 'Sinking the Rising Sun' to anyone with such knowlwdge.