Talk:Battle of Hollandia

Task Forces 74 and 75

AustralianRupert I am trying to sketch in the history of TF 74 and TF 75, and thus the United States Seventh Fleet. Can you describe how Morison refers to the two task forces, or, if there is a weblink that I have not found, point me to it? Cheers Buckshot06 (talk) 22:13, 24 July 2020 (UTC)

@Buckshot06: G'day, Buckshot. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the full book at the moment -- I am away from home with work and only have the brief description my wife has emailed me. She has provided the following text from p. 47 of New Guinea and the Marianas: "Allied Naval Forces Southwest Pacific Area were commanded by Vice Admiral Thomas C Kinkaid. His forces consisted in great part of the Seventh Fleet, United States Navy, elements of the Royal Australian Navy and a few small Dutch and French war vessels. In brief, this was his task organization: TF73 .[TEXT REMOVED].. TF74 Rear Admiral Victor A. C. Crutchley RN HMAS Australia and Shropshire with Australian and US destroyer screen; TF 75 Rear Admiral Russell S. Berkey USS Phoenix, Nashville and Boise with destroyer screen...TF 76... [TEXT REMOVED] ... TF70... [TEXT REMOVED]". Not sure if that helps you or not, sorry. If you remind me, I can look up other mentions in the book when I get home, but that is likely weeks away unfortunately. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 08:53, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

Great. That's just fine. That's all I need. The valka source provides some of the destroyer names, and I can cobble together the remaining reference. Don't bother yourself any more than you have. Buckshot06 (talk) 09:38, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

No worries, happy to help. All the best. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 09:47, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

Just keep your head down if you're in the sandbox. We don't need to lose you. All we have to worry about here is the borders, since I'm now home. Buckshot06 (talk) 09:51, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

Hawkeye7 are we now in a position, since we have detailed orders of battle for Allied Naval Forces Southwest Pacific Area, set it up as a separate page/article (analogous to Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe)? Surely there's a good deal extra other sources on top of Morison? Buckshot06 (talk) 09:51, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

The Australian official history should have good coverage of this topic, and is online [1]. If you can find copies in NZ, the Royal Navy series War with Japan which was published in 1995 is very handy (the copies I was relying on were destroyed when my local university's library flooded a few years ago though). Daniel E. Barbey's memoirs are also online [2]. Nick-D (talk) 10:07, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

It's a different kind of sandbox than one would think, but it is hard not to think of it as a canister-kill environment, unfortunately. Anyway, I'd best go to sleep now. Back at it early tomorrow. Take care. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 11:16, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

Nick-D I believe you must be talking of the relevant New Guinea volume of the Naval Staff Histories. Can you provide full bibliographic details? Better still, can we get a short article written about the Naval Staff Histories, explaining the circumstances? Buckshot06 (talk) 11:15, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

Ah, at least there's a list: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/RN.html. Eight are on the RAN site. Buckshot06 (talk) 11:23, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

@Buckshot06: Could you provide a link (or links) to the RAN site here? WorldCat also has bibliographic details and library holdings here - it looks like there's at least one set in NZ. Nick-D (talk) 11:27, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

I just searched "Naval Staff Histories". https://www.navy.gov.au/media-room/publications/world-war-ii-naval-staff-histories. Buckshot06 (talk) 11:35, 27 July 2020 (UTC)