I have always appreciated and tried to emphasize the strong link between history and geography. It is difficult for me to write about events without having experienced their physical locations. Admittedly, with this book the vast stage of the seas played a large role, but that did not stop me from visiting the shore locations central to this story. Among them were the United States Naval Academy; Pearl Harbor; the Washington Navy Yard and Arlington National Cemetery; Hyde Park, New York; Newport, Rhode Island; and the Nimitz family home in Fredericksburg, Texas. Standing before the graves of my subjects always provokes a slight shiver.
As far as physical visits to the sea locations, the best alternative is to visit the ships on which these men sailed. All four Iowa-class battleships have been preserved and are open as museums in Los Angeles (Iowa), Camden (New Jersey), Pearl Harbor (Missouri), and Norfolk (Wisconsin). King’s old flagship from the Atlantic squadron, the battleship Texas, is a memorial at San Jacinto, Texas. Sadly, the aircraft carriers that Halsey commanded and that stemmed the Japanese tide in 1942 were all sunk or later scrapped, including the venerable Enterprise. But the second Yorktown and the Intrepid are memorials at Charleston, South Carolina, and New York City, respectively.