War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945.

Abstract

Based on twenty years of research in formerly secret archives, this book reveals for the first time the full significance of War Plan Orange - the U.S. Navy's strategy to defeat Japan. Prior to World War II, the plan was formulated over forty years before the outbreak of war. It recounts the struggles between the 'thrusting' and 'cautionary' schools of strategy, the roles of outspoken leaders such as Dewey, Mahan, King, and MacArthur, and the adaptation of aviation and other technologies to the plan. Miller shows that the strategy of War Plan Orange was the basis of prewar U.S. naval development in training, ship and aircraft design, and amphibious and tactical thought. He ends by demonstrating how the grand strategy and key campaigns of World War II followed Plan Orange and its descendants.