Many have argued that World War II was dominated by naval operations; few have shown and how and why this was the case. Presenting a cohesive chronology of the world's navies, from the London Conference of 1930 to the surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945, Symonds combines precision with story-telling verve, expertly illuminating not only the mechanics of large-scale warfare on (and below) the sea but offering wisdom into the nature of the war itself.