James Bassett writes a follow up to his highly acclaimed novel IN HARMS WAY. This offering, COMMANDER PRINCE, USN deals with a career naval officer forced to face his fears during the opening year of WWII. The book takes the reader from the Philippines prior to the Japanese invasion through the naval battle for the Solomon Islands.
Bassett tells the story of the Asiatic Fleet as it is intermeshed with the ABDA (American-British-Dutch-Australian) Forces in their fatalistic defense of the Dutch East Indies. The naval battle of Balikpapan, the battle of Bali at Sanur, and the fighting in the Java Sea are covered as battles predestined to defeat, yet the professional military men did their duty, as they were trained to do, while looking down the barrel of imminent death.
