Includes bibliographical references (p. 533-544) and index.

Prologue: The banks of the Severn -- Saturday, December 6, 1941 -- pt. 1. Sailors, 1897-1918 -- Leahy, "The Judge," Annapolis, Class of 1897 -- King, "Rey," Annapolis, Class of 1901 -- Halsey, "Pudge," Annapolis, Class of 1904 -- Nimitz, "Nim-i-tiz," Annapolis, Class of 1905 -- First commands -- Dress rehearsal -- pt. 2. Ships, 1918-1941 -- Battleships -- Submarines -- Aircraft carriers -- First stars -- Projecting power -- At war all but in name -- pt. 3. Admirals, 1941-1945 -- Searching for scapegoats and heroes -- Spread thin -- Deciding the course -- Fighting the Japanese and MacArthur -- From Casablanca to Teheran -- Take care, my boy -- Driving it home -- The crippling blow -- Halsey's luck -- Two typhoons and five stars -- Interim president -- Toward Tokyo Bay -- Measures of men -- Appendix A: Comparative ranks of commissioned officers in U.S. military services -- Appendix B: World War II-era general protocols for naming U.S. Navy ships -- Appendix C: Comparative tonnages and armaments of selected ships -- Appendix D: Chiefs of naval operations, 1915 to 1947 -- Appendix E: Commanders-in-Chief, U.S. fleet, 1922 to 1945 -- Appendix F: World War II-era U.S. battleships -- Appendix G: World War II-era U.S. aircraft carriers -- Appendix H: Ships named for the fleet admirals -- Appendix I: Major World War II conferences and operations with code names.

Evaluates the pivotal contributions of history's only five-star admirals and how their triumphs in World War II rendered the United States the world's dominant sea power.