The Japanese rampaged throughout the Pacific where their Navy defeated five fleets of three nations in five months without losing a single ship. Until they met Fletcher The book on aircraft carrier-on-carrier warfare had not yet been written when Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher made the first attack where opposing ships never saw each other. He was the man on the spot who had to invent that book.After stopping the advance on Australia in the Battle of Coral Sea, he led two task forces at the crucial Battle of Midway where the overwhelming superiority of Japan's navy was reduced, and then he covered the invasions at Tulagi and Guadalcanal and saved that beachhead in the Battle of Eastern Solomons. In eight months of continuous combat, Fletcher sank six enemy carriers with the loss of only two in a near perfect balance of aggressiveness and caution. Fletcher deserves far more attention than he has been given in the public history of the Pacific War. This book helps spread the word while providing a rich reference to help understand that war. "Fletcher, Task Force Commander" is in three parts. The first is about the early life of Fletcher raised in a small town in Iowa to an entrepreneurial family. The second part summarizes the naval battles of the first year of the war that starts with the Japanese winning and has the appropriate title "Till they met Fletcher". The third part is a reference with hard to find lists, comparisons, specifications, photos, time-lines and discussions on various topics about that first year of the war. Some myths of that period are exploded including some that are embedded in popular culture. This is information you need to understand the naval war in the Pacific.
About the Author: James Bauer grew up during the war where an uncle served to inspire intense interest in the naval aspects of the early years of the Pacific War. After service in the submarine and destroyer fleets, he pursued a career in engineering systems. On retiring to a farm in Iowa, he discovered the boyhood home of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher and recognized him as the key figure of that period of his studies of the Pacific War and finding that, even in his hometown, the Admiral is little known. Bauer set out to tell of his accomplishments. This expanded to display other lesser known aspects of that war that had been gleaned over the years and is told for a new generation that may know of the great victories, but does not know of the early years when we were losing. It was in those early years where Fletcher with skill, courage and more than a little luck was able to shortened that war and save thousands of lives. Fletcher deserves a book to spread the word and Bauer has done it.