The first definitive account of one of the most critical naval battles of World War II in the pacific. Spring 1942: Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, America was reeling under the successive Japanese victories at Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines and more. Desperate to stop what was seen as an inexorable Japanese advance toward Australia, the weak U.S. Navy intercepted the large Japanese fleet in the Coral Sea. The Battle of the Coral Sea ushered a new era in sea warfare. For the first time ever opposing fleets used carrier-launched aircraft to fight each other. It was a fight that would determine the future of the war. Few writers can sustain the kind of exciting narrative that distinguishes this account of brave men fighting each other to the death. Edwin P.Hoyt is one such writer. In BLUE SKIES AND BLOOD you hear the frightening roar of the dive-bombers' engines, feel the concussions of explosions that ripped apart the mighty aircraft carriers from stem to stern, and smell the acrid odor of cordite and terror as tonnes of sea water rush into ruptured smoke-filled hulls. About the Author Edwin P.Hoyt is an eminent authority on naval history. He is a former Army Air Corps flying in World War II, a war correspondent and television producer.