Reading the Royal Navy battle summary of Okinawa

The book reproduces the Admiralty battle summary for Operation Iceberg, the assault and capture of Okinawa. Its contemporary assessment counts Japan's remaining battleships and carriers while emphasizing that oil shortages and missing air groups had immobilized much of the fleet. Allied planners still expected submarines, suicide boats, and hit-and-run surface raids, and sometimes accepted movement without adequate escort rather than cancel operations. The summary records that countermeasures sharply limited suicide-boat results despite their large numbers. Hand-drawn damage sketches and operational tables also show how working analysis entered the official record.