- Author
- Captain James M. Steele
- Date
- Volume 1 · 7 December 1941–31 August 1942
- Passage
- May warning and preparation records · printed pp.496, 499, 540, 543–544; June entries pp.569–572, 575, 584 and 594; printed pp.573–575, including 9 June prisoner recovery
What has been checked
Selected digitised pages inspected, including PDF pp.502, 505, 546, 549–550, 578, 581, 590 and 600. May warning and preparation passages visually checked on 18 October 2026. For First Contacts, PDF pp.575–577 / printed pp.569–571 visually checked; the chapter uses the 2–3 June entries on pp.569–570. PDF pp.579–583 / printed pp.573–577 visually inspected for aftermath context; the people chapter uses printed p.574. Cruiser-profile review, 18–19 October 2026: PDF p.580 / printed p.574 visually rechecked for Trout’s recovery of two prisoners on 9 June.
How to read it
Not Nimitz’s personal diary. Early combat claims and estimates reflect the information then available. The entire 874-page volume has not been read. The brief prisoner entry and M45 come from the same headquarters record environment; they are not two independent survivor testimonies. The 9 June entry does not itself identify the prisoners as Mikuma survivors; that identification comes from M45.
Open the Gray Book · PDF page 600 ↗