Thank you for downloading this Simon & Schuster eBook. Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Simon & Schuster. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP or visit us online to sign up at eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com CONTENTS Note on Distances and Aircraft Code Names Prologue: Kearny, New Jersey, 1958 1. “I Have Done the State Some Service” (1938–41) 2. “Keep Cool, Keep Your Heads, and Fight” (December 1941–May 1942) 3. “Revenge, Sweet Revenge” (June 1942) 4. “We Didn’t Know a Damned Thing” (August 1942) 5. “A Fighting Chance” (October 1942) 6. “The Most Exciting Part of Your Day” (November 1942–January 1943) 7. “A Long and Teedjus Journey” (February–December 1943) 8. “If Any of Them Lived, It Wasn’t Our Fault” (January–June 1944) 9. “Vector Two-Seven-Zero” (June–July 1944) 10. “Only Human” (August–December 1944) 11. “Live with Great Enthusiasm” (January–May 1945) 12. “The Enterprise Has a Soul” (1945–58) Appendix 1: American Aircraft Appendix 2: Japanese Aircraft Photographs Acknowledgments About Barrett Tillman Notes Index H H H To the carrier aviators, aircrewmen, and sailors of the U.S. Navy who fought and won the Second World War. Eternal father, strong to save, Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Who bid’st the mighty ocean deep Its own appointed limits keep; O hear us when we cry to thee, For those in peril on the sea. Lord, guard and guide the men who fly, Through the great spaces of the sky; Be with them always in the air, In dark’ning storm or sunshine fair. O hear us when we lift our prayer, For those in peril in the air. —“THE NAVY HYMN” Note on Distances and Aircraft Code Names Though naval usage employs nautical miles (1.15 statute miles), throughout the text distances are rendered in statute miles for a general readership. Japanese aircraft code names appear throughout the book for the convenience of many readers. “Zeke,” “Betty,” “Val,” and other Allied names were assigned in late 1942 but are employed anachronistically here from Pearl Harbor onward. H H H