During the six months covered by volume five of Samuel Eliot Morison's magnificent history, the United States 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 ridgetops where the fate of thousands of soldiers and sailors was decided.

"You may search the seven seas in vain for an ocean graveyard with the bones of so many ships and sailors as that body of water between Guadalcanal, Savo, and Florida Islands which our bluejackets named Ironbottom Sound," writes Morison. His account of the action is both harrowing and inspiring, an insider's tribute to those who made Guadalcanal the proving ground of their resourcefulness, tenacity, and courage.