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A Legacy Forged in Steel and Sacrifice

Throughout history nations used the restless sea as their platform for greatness as humanity displayed courage in wartime battles. The naval battles of World War II occupy a unique position in history because of their exceptional intensity and brightness. Navy sailors from the United States and their allied partners battled through every part of the world's seas against formidable foes to create a lasting freedom legacy through the clash of titanic steel warships and unyielding human resolve. The Fleet of Freedom collection within the Charles Jones archive provides historical insights into World War II sailors and ships that helped defeat tyranny. The USS Indianapolis achieved a notable mission by transporting atomic bomb parts to Tinian before meeting its tragic fate due to a Japanese submarine attack in 1945 where sharks and exposure killed 880 crewmembers out of 1,195 aboard the ship. In 1944 the Fletcher-class destroyer Johnston charged a Japanese fleet near Samar while its 5-inch guns fought against battleships ten times its size to help carriers break free and its captain received the Medal of Honor after his death.

Through his work Sir Charles Jones ensures that World War II remains in our collective memory by emphasizing that the war now exists only in history and its survivors grow fewer each passing year. The dwindling number of surviving World War II veterans shows the passage of time which echoes through his voice. The stories from World War II survive through the spoken accounts of the men who served on different naval vessels and faced dangerous situations without giving up. Their sacrifice reshaped the world by transforming a “very painful loss” into a hard-earned victory through perseverance. The Charles Jones Collection functions as both an homage to their courage by including carefully selected volumes such as Aircraft Carriers by Roger Chesneau, Battleships of World War Two by M.J. Whitley, The Rising Sun in the Pacific by Samuel Eliot Morison and others while bridging past historical events with today’s students. As described by Chesneau, the Wasp transported Spitfires to Malta while enduring continuous Luftwaffe assaults in 1942, which made its deck vital for the island under siege. Bagnasco’s Submarines details the Tang submarine which destroyed 33 ships during five patrols despite facing depth-charge attacks in the Pacific and Jones maintains these resilient stories in his collection.

To comprehend the naval challenges of World War II one must study its precursor World War I which Jones contrasts clearly. Jones argues that the first World War featured limited international scope because it mainly emerged as a maritime conflict between Britain's Royal Navy and Germany's High Seas Fleet. Britain's Royal Navy maintained dominance over dreadnought battleships against Germany thanks to its fleet of 26 ships which outnumbered Germany’s High Seas Fleet of 17. London gained an unshakeable lead over Berlin in the war outcome. Jones explains that the warships which dominated the North Sea from 1914 to 1918 transitioned into the next war as transformed steel structures that facilitated more destructive combat. M.J. Whitley's Battleships of World War Two provides a detailed account of major warships from the British Hood to the American Iowa class and examines their evolution from symbols of imperial power into essential instruments of global defense. The Bismarck destroyed the Royal Navy’s pride, The Hood, in 1941 when shells penetrated its magazine creating an explosion that killed all but three of the 1,418 crew members onboard. In 1945 the Iowa’s 16-inch guns devastated Iwo Jima’s defenses while its 2,700 crew applied World War I dreadnought principles to contemporary combat situations to provide critical support for Marines fighting on land.

The conclusion of World War I sparked significant changes in naval power structure. Globally recognized naval powers gathered in Washington D.C. in 1921 to sign a treaty that demonstrated their mutual weariness and pragmatic requirements. Jones states that the United Kingdom reached near bankruptcy after exhausting its resources because of war losses which included the national trauma of losing 20,000 soldiers at the Somme in a single day. The British Expeditionary Force battled together with the French from their muddy trenches before achieving victory through devastating losses. Across the Atlantic Ocean the United States rose to power while its military forces acted as a dynamic entity that changed the existing power dynamics. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1921 served as a crucial intervention to avoid economic collapse due to the ongoing weapons competition between all nations involved in the war. The international community agreed to stop building new dreadnought battleships for ten years between 1921 and 1931 during the “battleship holiday.” Tonnage limits were set: The Washington Naval Treaty set identical battleship tonnage limits for Britain and the United States but assigned Japan, France, and Italy inferior status. The treaty served only as a brief interruption before the world resumed its path toward chaos. The treaty provoked tension because Japan was restricted to 60% of Anglo-American tonnage capacity which led to their naval expansion as Stille documented. When the treaty ended its restrictions in the 1930s the U.S. rebuilt its South Dakota class ships by launching the massive North Carolina which fired at Okinawa while its crew transitioned into a new age of naval warfare.

The eruption of chaos displayed unprecedented levels of ferocity beyond anyone's imagination from the year 1921. By the late 1930s naval powers resumed rearmament as treaty restrictions weakened and their constraint period concluded. Mark Stille’s Japanese Combined Fleet illustrates how Japan developed a naval force with remarkable goals where its carriers and battleships achieved readiness to dominate the Pacific. The Rising Sun in the Pacific by Samuel Eliot Morison opens with the Pearl Harbor attack of December 1941 and follows the extensive military operations through 1942. The United States Navy demonstrated resilience by developing its naval forces into the world's most powerful fleet despite its initial unpreparedness. Roger Chesneau’s Aircraft Carriers captures this pivot: The carrier turned into the main attraction when its deck became a launching point for steel-winged aircraft that transformed the sea into a war zone of flight and destruction. The Shokaku launched aircraft that sank the Lexington according to Stille but was destroyed by Yorktown’s retaliation at Midway. According to Chesneau, the Intrepid endured kamikaze attacks near Leyte Gulf in 1944 while its crew rushed to extinguish fires beneath planes taking off from its damaged deck which demonstrated the carrier's dominance.

During this period the Pacific Theater became the proving ground for the Fleet of Freedom while it observed numerous significant historical events. In The First South Pacific Campaign John B. Lundstrom explores the initial intense months after Pearl Harbor demonstrating how American carriers like Enterprise and Hornet fought back against significant obstacles. The U.S. Navy achieved a decisive victory in June 1942 at Midway by destroying four Japanese carriers which delivered a blow that the Imperial Japanese Navy never recovered from. Whitley’s Cruisers of World War Two and Destroyers of World War Two spotlight the unsung heroes of these engagements: Destroyers served as guardians for the fleets advancing ahead while cruisers poured relentless firepower onto enemy shores. Erminio Bagnasco's Submarines of World War Two examines how American submarines such as the Gato class conducted stealth missions underwater to attack Japan's supply lines using their quiet but persistent torpedoes. The Hornet's aircraft managed to destroy the Hiryu during the Midway battle while its Japanese crew observed the flames engulfing their remaining top-tier carrier ship. The Helena illuminated Guadalcanal’s night skies with 6-inch shells during 1942 according to Whitley before it sank at Kula Gulf with its crew surviving on rafts. The Barb's crew grinned while firing its deck gun at a Japanese factory thus creating a new chapter in submarine history according to Bagnasco.

The Fleet of Freedom serves as a tribute to sailors since it represents more than just naval vessels. Sir Charles Jones portrays resilient people who make their environment change as these individuals originated from small towns and large cities where they worked as farm boys and factory workers before being pushed into a challenging war. Battleship crew members like those aboard the USS Missouri maintained their posts through both storms and shellfire while this ship served as the site where World War II ended in Tokyo Bay. Submarine crews showed remarkable bravery even though they operated inside confineda spaces beneath the ocean. The USS Yorktown launched aircraft into the flak-filled skies knowing that many planes would not return safely. The Charles Jones Collection shows their stories where rugged determination and elegance illustrate how freedom demanded bloodshed at sea through sacrifices. The gunners aboard Missouri who fired upon Kyushu in 1945 began the path toward peace while the crew of Trigger sank 18 ships before their submarine disappeared in 1945 and both were commemorated by Bagnasco. According to Chesneau the Saratoga endured seven bombing attacks near Iwo Jima while its crew managed repairs during combat to execute a final assault which showed the United States Navy's tenacity.

As the fleet crossed the Atlantic Ocean they faced another powerful adversary. Germany's reduced Kriegsmarine sent U-boats through sea lanes to bring Britain to surrender by executing wolfpack tactics to cut off supplies. Whitley’s Battleships of World War Two recounts epic sea battles that culminated in the Allied naval forces defeating the Bismarck. Whitley’s companion volume shows destroyers in pursuit across the ocean using depth charges to target underwater threats. The Battle of the Atlantic saw the Fleet of Freedom fight an attritional war through ceaseless convoy operations to preserve the vital supply line for freedom. The Prince of Wales met its demise with 327 men when Japanese aircraft attacked it near Malaya in 1941 which sharply differed from how the Ark Royal's Swordfish planes destroyed the Bismarck using torpedoes launched from aging biplanes. In 1943 when the destroyer Gleaves sank U-128 its crew ventured through freezing waves to save those who survived marking a moment of compassion during a savage conflict.

Japan’s Naval Ascent

The Japanese naval path toward World War II represents an epic saga of ambition and defiance as described by Mark Stille in Japanese Combined Fleet. By the 1930s, Japan chafed under the Washington Naval Treaty’s 5: The 5:3 ratio imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty restricted Japan's battleship tonnage to just 60% of Britain and the United States, and Stille explains how this perceived insult led Japan to exit the treaty in 1936 which initiated a dramatic naval expansion that shocked the global community. The modernized Nagato, which featured 16-inch guns according to M.J. Whitley’s Battleships of World War Two, represented Japan’s naval resurgence with its speed reaching 25 knots. According to Collins Jane’s Warships of World War II Japan concentrated on carrier ships including the Kaga which originated from a battleship hull during the 1920s and held 90 aircraft by 1941 before the Pearl Harbor attack. As Erminio Bagnasco details in his book Submarines of World War Two, Japan's submarine fleet included the I-19 that managed to sink the Wasp with one salvo in 1942 demonstrating their strategy of decisive attacks. Emerging from the bitterness after World War I and through battles like the 1931 Manchurian invasion the Japanese fleet sought Pacific domination which threatened America's growing power.

According to Roger Chesneau’s Aircraft Carriers the Fleet of Freedom’s carriers functioned as the Navy’s beating heart while serving beyond their role as floating runways. The Ranger transported aircraft to North Africa in 1942 while avoiding U-boats to support Torch's landings and its crew faced storms to deliver hope. Despite losing 389 crew members from kamikaze attacks off Okinawa the Bunker Hill continued fighting while its pilots destroyed 475 enemy aircraft throughout the war which Chesneau describes as a remarkable achievement. Stille’s Japanese Combined Fleet accounts of the Zuikaku’s last battle at Leyte Gulf combined with these carriers emphasize the intense naval and aerial conflict where pilots played crucial roles. Through his skillful execution of the “Thach Weave” tactic during the Midway battle John Thach changed the war's direction at a great cost to himself.

Erminio Bagnasco’s Submarines of World War Two reveals the silent defenders who served on the Fleet of Freedom. Commanded by “Mush” Morton the Wahoo submarine destroyed 19 enemy vessels in 1943 and endured depth-charge attacks until it went down near Japan. The Flasher destroyed 100,000 tons of Japanese shipping while its crew faced 51 depth-charge attacks during one patrol that disrupted Japan's oil supplies. The submarines hidden beneath the battles described by Morison weakened Japan’s war capabilities while their crews displayed bravery that remains overshadowed by the fame of carriers yet proved essential to achieving freedom.

Jones identifies the defining aspects of World War II as its enormous magnitude along with its pivotal importance. The war covered every continent and ocean which sets it apart from World War I because battles were fought from the Arctic Ocean all the way to the Coral Sea. Iowa-class battleships and Fletcher-class destroyers formed the Fleet of Freedom which showed outstanding engineering achievements but required human spirit for successful operations. The Charles Jones Collection captures this duality: The vessels listed by Chesneau, Whitley, and Bagnasco reveal engineering excellence while Morison and Lundstrom’s accounts show human experiences. The collaboration between human sacrifice and technological advancements drives forward to achieve a greater objective. Chesneau documented the Essex launching 96 planes each day from Saipan which rendered World War I's dreadnoughts obsolete while according to Bagnasco the Silversides sank 23 ships demonstrating the tactical power of submarines guided by human control toward victory.

The year 2025 represents the moment when the Fleet of Freedom moves beyond its memory status and becomes a symbol for remembrance. The physical ships have been admitted and preserved in the United States Navy Museum, but their enduring legacy continues to manifest itself through the freedom we experience today. Charles Jones shares his collection by telling stories that take us aboard historical ships where we experience salt spray and gun roars while honoring those who charted their paths through history. He shows us their revolutionary actions because their influence transformed everything. The Tennessee while shelling Okinawa's cliffs and the Tautog which sank 72 targets according to Bagnasco remain in these narratives as remnants of a United States Navy that changed the world reminding us of the importance of remembrance. The Fleet of Freedom functions beyond naval operations as it symbolizes a wartime promise that freedom at sea will eventually succeed. The website Fleetoffreedom.com honors that pledge by offering an online exploration of the Charles Jones Collection which connects the voices from history with modern-day listening experiences and instructs future generations.