Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas talked about his book Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign, 1941-1945, published by Simon and Schuster. He described the Pacific naval campaign of World War II, focusing on American naval officers Admiral William Halsey and Commander Ernest Evans and Japanese officers Admiral Takeo Kurita and Admiral Matome Ugaki. Those four commanders confronted one another for four days in October 1944 in the pivotal naval engagement in and around the Philippine Islands known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf. This battle was the death knell for the Imperial Japanese Navy and marked the end of an ancient mode of ship-to-ship fighting rendered obsolete by modern weaponry and communications. Mr. Thomas responded to audience members' questions. close