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Rating: 
Summary: Be mindful of the subtext
Review: "A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy" will make a fine and intellectually stimulating addition to a military history collection. A veritable compendium of surface naval engagements that have been revisited by Mr. Dull using Japanese-language sources, it is not, however, the most comprehensive source of information and insight about the role of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War. Other sources, for instance, that greatly complement this book include "Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941" and Prange's seminal books on Pearl Harbor and Midway.The book has some noticeable quirks too for the non-initiated. For instance, was there ever a pink-painted Japanese cruiser? The book does not dwell on the minutiae of the warships involved, so it is rather surprising to encounter an odd little detail such as the cruiser Haguro's paint scheme. What makes the book especially valuable to me is the subtext: the Japanese Navy had in essence intensely prepared for the wrong war to fight. Deeply absorbed in the Mahan doctrine of the decisive naval battle--a principle that emphasized destroying an enemy fleet in a grand engagement that effectively ends the conflict--Nihon Teikoku Kaigun was, by the outbreak of the Second World War, ready to confront the US fleet within the context of a short yet decisive campaign. Then, after helping Japan secure access to the mineral resources of Southeast Asia, the navy would have been instrumental in safeguarding the perimeter of the newly-won oceanic empire. It didn't quite turn out that way. As Dull's book elucidates in meticulous detail, the Japanese Navy was forced to fight practically to the last ship. Having lost the initiative midway through the conflict, a once-powerful armada that helped subdue one-third of the globe was to all intents and purposes wiped out by the end of the war.
Rating:
Summary: Be mindful of the subtext
Review: "A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy" will make a fine and intellectually stimulating addition to a military history collection. A veritable compendium of surface naval engagements that have been revisited by Mr. Dull using Japanese-language sources, it is not, however, the most comprehensive source of information and insight about the role of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War. Other sources, for instance, that greatly complement this book include "Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941" and Prange's seminal books on Pearl Harbor and Midway. The book has some noticeable quirks too for the non-initiated. For instance, was there ever a pink-painted Japanese cruiser? The book does not dwell on the minutiae of the warships involved, so it is rather surprising to encounter an odd little detail such as the cruiser Haguro's paint scheme. What makes the book especially valuable to me is the subtext: the Japanese Navy had in essence intensely prepared for the wrong war to fight. Deeply absorbed in the Mahan doctrine of the decisive naval battle--a principle that emphasized destroying an enemy fleet in a grand engagement that effectively ends the conflict--Nihon Teikoku Kaigun was, by the outbreak of the Second World War, ready to confront the US fleet within the context of a short yet decisive campaign. Then, after helping Japan secure access to the mineral resources of Southeast Asia, the navy would have been instrumental in safeguarding the perimeter of the newly-won oceanic empire. It didn't quite turn out that way. As Dull's book elucidates in meticulous detail, the Japanese Navy was forced to fight practically to the last ship. Having lost the initiative midway through the conflict, a once-powerful armada that helped subdue one-third of the globe was to all intents and purposes wiped out by the end of the war.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful, rare account
Review: A great book, written about the Japanese navy mainly from Japanese records. A must-have for any WWII-Pacific scholar or enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent complement to "At Dawn We Slept"
Review: Extremely detailed and factual. An excellent complement to Gordon Prange's historical overview of the before and after issues. Excellent maps regarding various Japanese battles including the day before Pearl. For the true Pearl Harbor buff. A must for your WWII collection. JJR,M.A. Phoenix AZ.
Rating:
Summary: A particularly well research account of the IJN's war.
Review: Paul Dull was the first historian to write about the Japanese side of the Second World war, from the perspective of the Imperial Japanese Navy. He did so with skill, using the Japanese records to their fullest, and managed to write a book which encompasses the campaigns of the IJN and illustrates them perfectly with track charts, orders of battle, and some of the finest prose I have yet read. With his work, Dull set the stage for more fine books, but his will remain the measure of all later accounts
Rating:
Summary: Great book. but a 'surprise' ending
Review: This is an EXTREMELY comprehensive and detailed book, written from the IJN perspective. It gives excellent details of Japanese planning, tactics, training and ship losses (in an appendix). My only problem(s) with it are that it basically 'ends' about mid-1943, and from reading the book, you really wonder how did the Japanese LOSE if they had such great ships, men, tactics, etc?? When you read only about successes, you lose out on the lessons that can (or should) be learned from failures. The Americans learned from their mistakes early in World war II --- Dull doesn't cover how, or if, the IJN learned from theirs.
Rating: 
Summary: Swill
Review: This is one of many books claiming to be "based on hitherto unreleased Japanese documents" it purports to be told from the Japanese side which increases it's propaganda value but it's all so crudely done that only a U.S. Marine cadet and other mentally uncomplicated people could see it as anything but tiresome american chest beating. This book is just more sickly solipsism for the kind of grubby folks who hang around gun shows and keep fading foot-ball trophies on their mantelpiece. Just read the front cover flap and you can see how clichéd this garbage is.
Incidentally the Japanese navy didn't somehow begin in 1941 it's just convenient for the double speak of Dull to begin there. Where's the Japanese defeat of Czarist Russia, or the absurdly biased quotas at the London & Washington naval conferences?
Rating:
Summary: Essential companion to Morison and stands alone great, too
Review: This is THE book that validates Morison and makes his work truly useable. It is well known that Morison is full of errors, and how could it not be, since it used so few Japanese sources? Still, too many people rely on Morison, even big-shots like John Keegan who totally ruins his description of Midway in Price of Admiralty by ignoring readily-available Japanese sources. This book pulls those sources together with much more obscure ones into a history of the battles of the IJN. The author is fluent in Japanese and also a professional historian. It is well-written enough, if too concise in parts. Be mindful of its limited scope. Do not look for biography, politics, etc. In fact, the scope may be too limited, as many battles are left out or abridged that deserve better treatment. The Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse, and the neutralization of Truk are three truly seminal battles that fail his criteria of ship-vs-ship and thus get glossed over. There is also next to nothing about the submarine war, which was certainly ship-to-ship. This is the only quibble and is not enough to bring it down to 4 stars. How could this important a book not get 5 stars?
Rating:
Summary: Essential companion to Morison and stands alone great, too
Review: This is THE book that validates Morison and makes his work truly useable. It is well known that Morison is full of errors, and how could it not be, since it used so few Japanese sources? Still, too many people rely on Morison, even big-shots like John Keegan who totally ruins his description of Midway in Price of Admiralty by ignoring readily-available Japanese sources. This book pulls those sources together with much more obscure ones into a history of the battles of the IJN. The author is fluent in Japanese and also a professional historian. It is well-written enough, if too concise in parts. Be mindful of its limited scope. Do not look for biography, politics, etc. In fact, the scope may be too limited, as many battles are left out or abridged that deserve better treatment. The Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse, and the neutralization of Truk are three truly seminal battles that fail his criteria of ship-vs-ship and thus get glossed over. There is also next to nothing about the submarine war, which was certainly ship-to-ship. This is the only quibble and is not enough to bring it down to 4 stars. How could this important a book not get 5 stars?
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