Iwo Jima Recon: The U.S. Navy at War, February 17, 1945

Iwo Jima, February 17, 1945: The mission: to scout the beaches for underwater obstacles and mines and determine whether the soil would support vehicles. Four Navy Underwater Demolition Teams (predecessor to the SEALS) and twenty-two Marine observers-backed by battleships Tennessee and Nevada, a cruiser, several destroyers, and twelve Landing Craft Infantry ships configured as gunboats proceeded with the operation. The story of what followed - the battle for Iwo Jima that no one knows - is fully told for the first time in this book, a heart-stopping account of ill-equipped but heroic forces under fire from an unexpected, overwhelming enemy. Drawing on first-person accounts, deck logs, and after-action reports, Dick Camp brings the action to harrowing life: the thin-skinned reconfigured LCIs fighting it out with the Japanese in a valiant effort to protect the swimmers caught five hundred yards off the beach; the battleship Nevada ignoring orders to withdraw and moving in to knock out the enemys heavy caliber guns; the devastating action - casualities of 40 percent - that very likely saved the actual landing on the 19th.

This book is the first to tell the story of the unknown battle for Iwo Jima?the heroic fight by the reconnaissance forces sent ahead to scout for underwater obstacles and mines and ascertain landing conditions. Drawing on first-person accounts, deck logs, and after-action reports, Dick Camp tells how four Navy Underwater Demolition Teams and twenty-two Marine observers?backed by battleships Tennessee and Nevada, a cruiser, several destroyers, and twelve Landing Craft Infantry ships configured as gunboats?battled it out against the heavy guns of the Japanese to save the actual landing on February 19, 1945.