Battle 360 The Grey Ghost (2008– ) Online

In this episode, the USS Enterprise loses one of its escorts, the cruiser Chicago, and after months of combat and jury rigs is sent back to the US for refitting. Among other improvements, the ship is given a longer deck, hydraulic catapults, more anti-aircrafts guns, and radar-guided fire control. And she carries the new F6F Hellcat fighter instead of the obsolescent F4F Wildcat. Then the Enterprise returns to the Pacific and participates in the softening up of Makin Island in the Carolines, with special attention to the main island of Butaritari, where my anthropology professor did his field work. Just thought I'd throw that in.

Makin Island (pronounced something like Muggin) is next door to Tarawa, which was a terrible slaughterhouse for the Marines who had to wade through hundreds of yards of chest-deep water will full packs while under fire from shore. The thought is particularly distressful when you consider how much water resistance you run against in wading through a swimming pool. Then add sixty or seventy pounds of gear and clothing.

The episode doesn't mention it but the aircraft attacks on Tarawa and Makin were probably much more effective than the days-long bombardment from sea that took place at the same time. It's difficult to land a shell on an atoll. Atolls are not much more than a necklace of coral islands, mostly a few feet above sea level, and narrow. Later studies showed that many of the shells landed in the sea beyond the islands and in some cases actually seem to have bounced off the sand because of the acute angle at which they hit.

The producers and the rest of the crew continue to present little-know aspects of the war in the Pacific in a way that might appeal to a child in a game gallery. And the narration continues to sound like bragging. I think I must be getting used to it because it doesn't irritate me the way it initially did. I resigned. I've achieved that level of resignation by adopting the role of a ten-year old.