Even while criticizing the book's overall interpretation, the review values its primary-source passages. Admiral James Somerville describes a fleet larger than anything his staff had yet handled and admits that many officers were still green. The operational account then follows sweeps intended to create a moonlit opportunity for carrier aircraft to make a night torpedo attack. Formidable and Indomitable possessed capable but insufficiently practiced air groups, while Hermes's Swordfish lacked air-to-surface radar. Somerville's private letters reveal both his desire to engage and the practical limit imposed by waiting indefinitely for an enemy whose location remained uncertain.
Chapter · 1:47:12-1:48:36
Somerville's green staff and the Eastern Fleet's night-strike plan
The Eastern Fleet book's strongest evidence shows Somerville managing an inexperienced staff while preparing moonlit carrier torpedo attacks against the Japanese force.