Fast Oilers and Logistics in the Pacific War with Sal Mercogliano – Episode 545

The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War

Captain William Toti, USN

Naval History And Heritage Command, History, Imperial Japanese Navy, Sam Cox, Admiral King, Cruisers, Spruance, Fargo, Seth Paridon, Fighters, Pacific War, Stavridis, Cactus Air Force, December 7, Station Hypo, William Toti, Bombers, Bill Toti, Navy, Halsey, Submarines, Society & Culture, Education, Us Navy, Mush Morton, Cincpoa, Documentary, Guadalcanal, Imperial Japan, World War Ii, Midway, Aircraft Carriers, Cryptology, Wake Island, Nimitz, Cincpac, Macarthur, Pearl Harbor, Wahoo, Courses, Battleships, New Guinea

4.9 • 872 Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2026

⏱️ 109 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week Seth Paridon and Jon Parshall are delighted to welcome Sal Mercogliano from What’s Going on With Shipping to the show to discuss US Navy fast oilers and the logistic issues in the Pacific during 1942. Seth and Jon give Sal the wheel and he drives us through an absolutely fascinating presentation on the US Navy’s oiler situation in late 1941 and through 1942. You guys will be absolutely amazed at how much just a handful of oilers mattered when it came to the overall scheme of making war in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor through Guadalcanal. Sal expertly delivers this awesome presentation that will be sure to make all the logisticians and duly anointed members of the Nerderati gush with joy. This is the first, but certainly not the last time we will be yacking with Sal. Enjoy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The
0:23.6	The Hello and welcome to episode 545 of the unauthorized history of Pacific War podcast.
0:47.4	My name is Seth Peridon, historian and deputy director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum.
0:51.0	And with me as always is my co-host, author, historian, and I'd say
0:57.1	president of the NERDorati or chairman of the board of the NERDRAI?
1:00.8	I don't know.
1:01.9	John Marshall, how are you?
1:03.6	I'm very well, thank you.
1:04.9	It's balmy three degrees here in Minneapolis and yeah, sitting here my Hawaiian shirt.
1:11.7	And we have a very special guest with us today.
1:15.4	I'm just thrilled to have him joining us is Sal Mercagliano, who is the owner of the
1:24.6	What's Going On with Shipping YouTube Channel. Anybody out there who hasn't checked that out, you should because it's super cool. And I've shown up on there a couple of times. But Sal, just lovely to have you with us today. How you doing? John, Seth, I am so excited. I'm not going to lie. I'm bouncing off the while. It's a great place to be, man. I'm just so happy to be here. And I appreciate the invite to come join you guys today. I just hope I live up to the Naurati, Clem Fane.
1:52.9	I think you will. Sal is going to be talking with today about early war Pacific logistics. And he has a great presentation on his own channel.
2:04.4	And when I saw it there about a month ago, I was just like, oh my God, we have to have Sal on with us.
2:09.5	And so we're going to be going to be doing that today. Any other house? Oh, I'm going to, I'm going to
2:16.1	segue briefly. Just one thing for the NERDadi out there. Yesterday, a big package rolled into my door. It is the galley for...
2:27.3	Look at that monstrosity. Anybody who's been missing phone books, this, you know? So, yeah, like, yeah, that's the sound of scholarship there.
2:36.9	So anyway, I'm very pleased to have gotten that.
2:39.7	It means that the production process is just one step closer.
2:43.7	And, Sal, you're working on a book, too, aren't you?
2:47.1	I am.
	...

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