Yukikaze's War: The Unsinkable Japanese Destroyer and World War II in the Pacific

by Brett L. Walker

Overview

Only one elite Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer survived the cruel ocean battlefields of World War II. This is her story. Brett Walker, historian and captain, delves into questions of mechanics, armaments, navigation, training, and even indoctrination, illustrating the daily realities of war for Yukikaze and her crew. By shifting our perspective of the Pacific War away from grand Imperial strategies, and toward the intricacies of fighting on the water, Walker allows us to see the war from Yukikaze's bridge during the most harrowing battles, from Midway to Okinawa. Walker uncovers the ordinary sailor's experience, and we see sailors fight while deep-running currents of Japanese history unfold before their war-weary eyes. As memories of World War II fade, Yukikaze's story becomes ever more important, providing valuable lessons in our contemporary world of looming energy shortfalls, menacing climate uncertainties, and aggressive totalitarian regimes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108837293
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/06/2024
Pages:	311
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.33(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Brett L. Walker is a historian of Japan, medicine, the environment and World War II, as well as an experienced captain.

Table of Contents

1. Divine ships of a bluewater navy; 2. Torpedoes, destroyers, and samurai of the seas; 3. Oil empire and Japan's southern advance; 4. Conquest of the south seas; 5. Escorting catastrophe at Midway; 6. Barroom brawl at Guadalcanal; 7. Defending the Solomon Sea and Bismarck Barrier; 8. Mariana Islands and the collapse of Japan's defensive sphere; 9, Leyte Theater; 10. Dangerous homewaters and Shinano destroyed; 11. Yamato and the specter of history; 12. Surrender and the enduring dangers of Yukikaze's haunt.

Editorial Reviews

'This lively tale is a classic strategy-and-battles military history, buttressed by keen insights into the role of technology, Japanese aesthetics, and brilliance wrapped in stupidity. Yukikaze was blessed with excellent leadership, brave, skilled sailors, and good fortune but while those qualities explain the ship’s rare survival through 1945, they could not compensate for the cascade of fundamentally reckless and callous decisions that characterized Imperial Japan’s war. The book reads like a romp but it is an elegy.' Laura Hein, Harold H. and Virginia Professor of History, Northwestern University

'Brett Walker’s imaginative, absorbing biography of the celebrated destroyer Yukikaze tells the story of Japan’s war in the Pacific from eye-opening new perspectives. At turns exhilarating and heartrending, this fast-paced narrative compellingly reframes the political dynamics, technological innovations, environmental implications, and profound human tragedy of the greatest naval conflict in history.' William M. Tsutsui, Chancellor and Professor of History, Ottawa University

From the Publisher