Attack Transport: USS Charles Carroll in World War II (review)

It is hard to reflect upon World War II without visualizing its hallmark offensive technique—the amphibious assault. Some of the most dramatic accounts of that conflict are those describing the landings on the invasion beaches of Europe and the Pacific. The collective literature of this subject is rich with battle histories and unit level accounts of the soldiers and marines who clawed their way ashore to engage an often well-prepared and determined enemy. Yet, after over sixty years there remains a dearth of historical literature addressing the naval forces that carried these troops into battle and then supplied them with the combat cargo needed to carry the fight inland. Kenneth Goldman's Attack Transport: USS Charles Carroll in World War II is an authoritative ship history representative of the over 230 attack transports (APA class) that served in World War II. Moreover, while Goldman's choice of the Charles Carroll (APA-28) is due to his father having been an officer on that vessel, it is hard to imagine a better ship to describe the role of an attack transport. Charles Carroll took part in assaults on three continents, landing troops in Morocco, Sicily, Salerno, Southern France, Normandy, and Okinawa. The wealth of primary source material garnered from Goldman's father and his shipmates as well as the National Archives provides a rich fabric for a deck plate view of what it was like to serve aboard an amphibious assault ship in World War II.

The author's style is not what one expects from an academic press. There are frequent jumps in chronology and some unorthodox references designed to support an analogy to a stage play. Yet, Goldman's story telling is effective due to a balance of big picture scene setting and the raw impact of frequent first person accounts, suggesting that when art imitates life it can miss the day-to-day trivial realities that often define our existence. That this drama was played out on the largest of stages and with the highest of stakes makes the smaller imbedded human events all the more relevant. Complementing this creative narrative are numerous maps, illustrations, and photographs that in themselves make this book a valuable resource to students of amphibious operations. The period sketches, tactical plots, and amphibious assault charts help put the reader directly in the wheelhouse of an attack transport and add significantly to the impact of the story. The one place where this technique does come up short is in the book's ending, which is abrupt and provides negligible postwar context.

The Foreword written by James C. Bradford and Gene A. Smith, states that of the numerous books about naval operations, "none tell the story of the men, tankers, and supply vessels of the fleet train or those of the transports of the amphibious fleets," and that along with its prevailing enlisted perspective, this book is "unique" (p. xvii). Indeed, while little has been published on this subject, the main title has actually been used twice before in Lawrence A. Marsden's Attack Transport: Story of the USS Doye (University of Minnesota Press, 1946) and Robert E. Witter's Attack Transport: The USS Zeilin in World War II-An Oral History (Infinity, 2001), but neither book approaches the impressive scope of Goldman's work. Another similar book is the reviewer's Combat Loaded: Across the Pacific on the USS Tate (Texas A&M University Press, 2007), which addresses the closely related attack cargo ships that served alongside the attack transports.

While not unique as claimed, Attack Transport does provide a definitive cradle to grave academic account of a frontline World War II attack transport. That it is richly illustrated and told in a warm and inviting style using a chorus of veteran voices, will further enhance its stature in the...