Includes bibliographical references and index.

List of Maps -- Prologue: The Banks of the Severn -- Saturday, December 6, 1941 -- pt. 1. Sailors, 1897-1918 -- Leahy, "The Judge," Annapolis, Class of 1897 -- King, "Rey," Annapolis, Class of 1901 -- Halsey, "Pudge," Annapolis, Class of 1904 -- Nimitz, "Nim-i-tiz," Annapolis, Class of 1905 -- First Commands -- Dress Rehearsal -- pt. 2. Ships, 1918-1941 -- Battleships -- Submarines -- Aircraft Carriers -- First Stars -- Projecting Power -- At War All But in Name -- pt. 3. Admirals, 1941-1945 -- Searching for Scapegoats and Heroes -- Spread Thin -- Deciding the Course -- Fighting the Japanese and MacArthur -- From Casablanca to Teheran -- Take Care, My Boy -- Driving It Home -- The Crippling Blow -- Halsey's Luck -- Two Typhoons and Five Stars -- Interim President -- Toward Tokyo Bay -- Measures of Men -- Appendix A: Comparative Ranks of Commissioned Officers in U.S. Military Services -- Appendix B: World War II-era General Protocols for Naming U.S. Navy Ships -- Appendix C: Comparative Tonnages and Armaments of Selected Ships -- Appendix D: Chiefs of Naval Operations, 1915 to 1947 -- Appendix E: Commanders-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet, 1922 to 1945 -- Appendix F: World War II-era U.S. Battleships -- Appendix G: World War II-era U.S. Aircraft Carriers -- Appendix H: Ships Named for the Fleet Admirals -- Appendix I: Major World War II Conferences and Operations with Code Names.