Annapolis Goes to War: The Naval Academy Class of 1940 and Its Trial by Fire in World War II

Naval historian Symonds (Nimitz at War) focuses here on the World War II experiences of newly graduated young men who had just spent four years at the United States Naval Academy before serving on the front lines. These young men from the class of 1940 graduated into a country that would soon be at war all over the globe. Told in four parts—“Midshipmen,” “Junior Officers,” “On the Offensive,” and “Valediction”—the story begins with the class members as midshipmen and their lives at the naval academy. After graduation, a number of these men were at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Ten of the 1940 Naval Academy graduates died there, and several are still entombed in the USS Arizona. Others went on to serve in Europe and Japan, where they worked on destroyers, submarines, and other ships. Some were captured and became prisoners of war; in total, 56 men from the class of 1940 died in service of their country during World War II.