Volume 12: Leyte, June 1944-January 1945, is a dramatic retelling of the greatest naval battle of all time, the Battle for Leyte Gulf. The Allied victory at Leyte enabled the U.S. Navy to transport troops and base long-range bomber planes in positions so close to Japan that victory was all but assured.

Each of these 15 volumes covers a period and campaigns in the Pacific, Atlantic and North African waters during World War II. It was Morison's aim to show what the U.S. Navy accomplished in the greatest of all wars and how it was done. The story, in the main, is one of fighting; that is what the Navy is for and what its entire effort was directed toward. But the author included enough space to strategic discussions, planning, organization, and logistics to explain the end product -- the naval operations. And when other armed services of the United States and her allies participated, he brought them in too, although not in so great detail. Filled with many maps, a number of them larger fold-outs, and black and white photos of the ships, personnel and operations.

"Samuel Eliot Morison was commissioned into the United States Naval Reserve in 1942. During his time in the reserves he began writing the 'History of United States Naval Operations in World War II', a work in fifteen volumes that covers strategic planning, battle tactics, and technological advances used during America's war at sea, as well as the heroic actions of many of the participants. In this volume on the Battle of Leyte, Morison found that supurb skill, heroism, and aggressiveness, including confusion, surprise, and faulty assumptions were significant factors in the outcome. The victory enabled the U.S. Navy to move troops and long-range bomber planes into positions so close to Japan that defeat was almost inevitable. Morison's account includes major engagements surrounding the taking of Leyte: the U.S. Navy's extraordinary display of "gallantry, guts, and gumption" at the Battle of Samar and the extraordinary execution of action and battle plans that took place during the Battle of Surigao Strait."--Back cover.

Covers the taking of Mindoro as a stepping stone to Luzon, the major landings on the shores of Lingayen Gulf, and the amphibious landings that wrested Borneo from the Japanese, as well as the series of short, swift operations that liberated Palawan, Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, and Mindanao

During the six months covered by Volume 5: The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, the U.S. Navy fought six major engagements in waters surrounding Guadalcanal, more bitter and bloody than any naval battle in American history since 1814. From the Solomon Islands campaigns to the courageous action of Edson's Raiders at the Battle of the Bloody Ridge, from the great three-day Naval Battle of Guadalcanal to the Battle of Tassafaronga, Morison describes the events of these excruciating months in thrilling, heartbreaking detail from the shipdecks, cockpits, and exposed ridge-tops where the fate of thousands of soldiers and sailors was decided.

"This final narrative volume of Morison's history recounts the infamous campaigns for Iwo Jima and Okinawa, two of the most bitterly contested campaigns of the war.When the U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima, they expected to secure it within a few days. No one had anticipated Japan's determination to defend the island to the last man. Morison describes the Japanese defense system of camouflaged rifle pits and fortified gunning positions that held the Allies at bay and the heavy and continuous cover of naval gunfire that prevented even greater losses. As it was, the securing of Iwo Jima cost the United States more casualties than had been incurred in taking any other island in the Pacific. On Okinawa, the conflict stretched over six long, bloody months.As land forces struggled for every inch they took on the islands, the U.S. Navy faced the desperate fury of the kamimaze corps and its harvest of flaming terror: explosions, burning and flooded ships, searing injuries and death. Fierce weather, logistical complexities, Japanese submarines, and the unexpected death of President Roosevelt also took their toll. Morison concludes his epic account with the final skirmishes of the war, the fateful decision to drop the atomic bomb, and the delicate negotiations leading to Japanese surrender."