An enthralling and wonderfully researched story about an unknown (to me) event during the war in the Pacific. Hornfischer does a great job of putting you on the ships involved, enough so that I felt as if I was dodging the incoming fire from the Japanese as these destroyers made their stand.

As a WW-II history buff, I had read long ago about the part played by Taffy 3 in the overall Battle of Leyte Gulf. Even a "mundane" report of the incredible heroics sent chills up the spine, and brought tears -- and this wonderfully-researched account is far, far beyond mundane. As a writer, I know how difficult it is to move smoothly between viewpoints when the action is widespread and changing fast, and author Hornfischer does a fine job. (That's one of the many strengths of this book.)
An added bonus, for me, was the author's more nuanced description of the pressures that plagued the Japanese commander, Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita. Many accounts paint Kurita as a boob or a coward -- however unlikely that seems given his fine record earlier in the war. Hornfischer's more balanced explanation makes Kurita's decision to withdraw much more understandable.

My only slight quibble is with the search and rescue efforts after the battle. That began to feel somewhat repetitious, and might been tightened up a bit. (Of course, having interviewed these men, and basically "lived" with them for awhile, he no doubt wanted to give each his due.)
The closing chapters, where he shows what happened to many of these men after the war, were also wonderful. It provides perspective as to who these men really were -- "ordinary" guys who rose to extraordinary heights of valor and determination.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf is by far the greatest example of David vs. Goliath. David of course wins the day. Goliath is badly mauled and retreats to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The battle illustrates the desparate gamble of destroyers against the entire IJN Center Force. I can only imagine the sickening feeling the sailors had when the pagoda style masts of battleships and cruisers came over the horizon. I only wish there was more included from the Japanese side of the battle. A great book.

Overall the book is excellent. There’s a lot of technical stuff that may not be so interesting, but it’s necessary to tell the story. Otherwise a fantastic accounting of WW2 navies at their finest

My own rating is probably closer to 3 stars, but I have a very strong feeling that is simply because I am so familiar with this story from other sources that little in the book felt fresh or interesting to me. So I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt of an extra star, since I'm inclined to think anyone who was not so already well informed would be duly impressed and fascinated by this account of what is probably the definitive American naval action. Midway gets the glamour and the fame, and it's easy to understand why, and Midway is indeed a remarkable story. But to me, no story of the war so captures it as the action off Samar between the Japanese high seas surface fleet in all it's might, and some forgotten working class elements of the American third line sailors aboard their tiny mass manufactured tubs and tin cans.

This is the story of the greatest naval battle in human history, and the most remarkable victory a fighting force ever earned. History is filled with stories of the badly outnumbered making a heroic last stand for the ages in places that will always be remembered like Thermopylae and The Alamo. This story is more remarkable yet.

This should be required reading for all those who serve in the Navy--on or above the sea. It is the story of Taffy 3, a WWII force of America's smallest ships--Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts. Tasked with protecting the carriers that were part of MacArthur's return to the Philippines, they ended up the front line against Japan's largest collection of battleships and the island nation's last gasp to turn the tides of WWII. No one expected these tiny ships--therein lies the name, 'tin cans'--to face down Japan's massive force of light cruisers, heavy cruisers and carriers. In fact, one of the Destroyer captains said, "This will be a fight against overwhelming odds, from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can."

And damage they did. They flitted in, their tiny guns booming and flashing. When they had no more torpedoes (each only carried 10), they charged anyway, shooting their small caliber deck-mounted guns. Wave after wave of aircraft buzzed the Japanese ships, American pilots continuing to attack even when their bombs ran out, hoping to frazzle and frighten the enemy. Despite the bravado, the sailors knew they had no chance to stop such a superior force. They could do little but pray for the best, understanding if the enemy got past them, they would get to the carriers.

But this isn't as much an historic account of the Battle of Leyte Gulf--that can be found in other books--as it is the story of the men who fought, their all-American roots, their unquestioning commitment to fight the good fight, their bottomless courage. They joined the war in response to Pearl Harbor, giving their brains and muscle to defend what was most important to them, and ended up giving their lives.

Hermon Wouk wrote of this battle, "The vision of Sprague's (the commander of Taffy 3)three destroyers--the Johnston, the Hoel, and the Heermann--charging out of the smoke and the rain straight toward the main batteries of Kurita's battleships and cruisers, can endure as a picture of the way Americans fight when they don't have superiority. Our schoolchildren should know about that incident, and our enemies should ponder it."

When the battle ended, Japan lost almost 10,000 men while America lost 800+ brave sailors, three of the tin cans and only one of our carriers--the only American carrier ever sunk in a naval battle. When the tiny ships sank and the sailors tredded water, fought off the sharks who smelled their blood, one incident stood out: A Japanese heavy cruiser approached. The stranded sailors didn't know if they'd be killed or captured. Instead, as the ship sailed by, the Japanese lined the side and saluted the bravery of their enemy.

If you are an American soldier or the parent of one, read this to see what will be expected of him or her. If you are our enemy, read this and beware.

This book is like making love in a temporary outdoor shelter: it's fucking intense

In October 1944 the littler ships, Destroyers and Destroyer escorts were left to guard the Army's invasion of the Philippines while the larger aircraft carriers went hunting for the main Japanese navy. Instead the Japanese navy found the remaining ships. In an epic day of battle, these little ships attacked with what torpedos they had (just 10 per ship) and their smaller guns against a battleships with larger guns and farther reach. And when they had exhausted their weapons they continued to attack, bluffing their way to a costly victory.

Why I started this book: It's on the Navy's recommended reading list and I borrowed the audio from the library.

Why I finished it: Hornfischer did an excellent job in describing not only the battle itself but also life as a crew member before, during and after the battle to someone without a naval background without losing the pacing of the story. This is how history should be written. I was especially fascinated with why we don't know more about this battle and it's amazing courage and consequences for the rest of the war in the Pacific.

The Battle of Samar (Leyte Gulf) in the Philippines is a classic, celebrated engagement in United States naval lore. On the morning of October 25, 1944, facing overwhelming firepower and with no prospect of reinforcement, thirteen American warships began a fight with the Japanese they couldn’t win – and fought it to the death. “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” is a rousing story of heroism on the high seas – unbelievable, unforgettable, and all true. Weaving together extensive interviews with veterans, unpublished eyewitness accounts, and declassified documents, Hornfischer brings to life one of the most harrowing sea battles ever fought, superbly describing how certain defeat turned into legendary victory. This one’s a solid 5-star read for military history buffs. The author of “Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal” and other military classics, Hornfischer, an outstanding Naval historian, will be sorely missed. He died on June 2, 2021, at the age of 55.

This is a superb book, recommended to me by an old sailor. He suggested it to me around Memorial Day and I kept putting him off. Why did I want to read another book about WWII? I was already familiar with the Battle of Samar, or so I thought. In any case, I am glad to read something a bit outside my regular reading.
What happens in this book is difficult to follow without a map handy or great familiarity with the South Pacific, but the story brings to light something which inspires me greatly. More than anything, this is a story about heroism and unquestionable valor. Yes, it deals with mistakes and egos also, but the way in which these men stood up in the face of death is remarkable, if only because it is so difficult for us to understand. I was musing the other day that the mere concept of valor is difficult perhaps because of our displaced modern values. Perhaps, we can never understand how these men might have acted this way, but that discussion is best left for another time.

How is it that men do what they do when they understand the greater good? Is this just a line of hogwash or is there something that belongs in common to the human spirit worth defending? This book is about the last stand of the Japanese in the Pacific, more or less, and its desperate careful plans to maintain footholds. This included restricting Allies from establishing those same footholds by which they might attack Japan more effectively. You read this book and marvel at some of the decisions which were made and how some plans simply went awry, but more than anything this is the story of the Samuel B Roberts, a destroyer escort, which took on a Japanese heavy cruiser...and won. However, more than this, we learn about the people behind the story and realize that they really ARE the story if there is one at all. It is the same epiphany as when one learns that history is not about dates, but about people who performed courageous acts on such dates.
This forces a few glances in the mirror, reading this book. You ask if you have this kind of courage or could you EVER have this kind of courage. Of course, you could just think they were all pretty stupid for getting into such a fight in the first place. There will never be any final answer for such issues, at least barring God's return, but there are reasons why people sacrifice themselves for others. Perhaps some of it is glory, misplaced or real or perhaps it is just through ignorance and lack of an alternative plan. You will excuse me if I want to think that some believed that their dedication to God and country was the supreme importance of their existence. This book honors that spirit greatly.

A raw and visceral account of one aspect of the massive Battle of Leyte Gulf - the last great battle of surface to surface ships. Hornfischer describes the unequal struggle of a small task force of destroyer escorts and jeep carriers - Taffy 3 - forced to face the entire Japanese navy. The account becomes very real because of all the individuals named in the battle and their stories. The details of the horrors experienced by sailors whose ships were sunk and who had to battle the elements as well as the Japanese as they waited for rescue in an unforgiving sea filled with sharks were chilling - reminiscent of the terrifying story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis on its way home after delivering the atom bomb.

My dad read this book probably around the time it came out nearly 20 years ago. He gave me his copy and said it was a pretty good book. My dad wasn't much of a reader and I'm not all that interested in WWII history for reasons I've mentioned in other reviews. So I took the book and put it on a shelf and forgot about it. In the course of several moves to new residences the book was either lost or given to charity but I no longer had it and never missed it until recently. The review of a GR friend was so good that it made me curious and piqued a desire to read the book that I was sure I still owned. A thorough search revealed otherwise and I was forced to buy a new copy. Now I know why my dad, the non-reader, thought it was a good book. The book is about a naval battle that took place off the island my father was stationed on during the war. He was in the navy but I know he could not have been involved in this battle since he was a diver on a minesweeper and no such vessel was involved in the events depicted in this book. Another reason he probably thought the book was good was because it was about a naval battle of immense significance that received very little notice or historical attention.

I have read about the naval engagements surrounding the invasion of the Philippine Islands in several books. In those previous readings the navy task forces known as Taffy 1,2, and 3 were mentioned but never in the detail and depth of this book and that is more than simply a shame it is almost a crime. As the author indicates it would seem that to have placed the events of this battle before the public would have made the navy and a particular "naval hero" look like a bunch of incompetents and showboaters. The engagement depicted in this book involved 6 escort carriers, CVEs, which are smaller and less armored than fleet carriers and the 7 destroyers and destroyer escorts assigned to protect these "jeep carriers". Jeep carriers are support ships and as such are usually held in the rear and away from frontline activity. These 13 ships were designated as Taffy 3 and they were part of the rear element of the Third Fleet. The Third Fleet had just handed the Central Force of the Japanese Navy a devastating blow in their attempt to attack the American invasion force landing at Leyte Island in the Philippines. after being seriously mauled the Japanese Central Force apparently decided to retreat and turned away from the American Fleet. Seeing this reversal the commander of the American Third Fleet, Admiral Halsey, learned of another Japanese force coming from the North with the remainder of the Japanese carrier force. Unknown to Halsey this was a decoy fleet whose purpose was to lure Halsey away from Leyte. The decoy worked. The retreating Japanese fleet was then given orders to turn around and continue its mission. Halsey left no ships to guard the northern approach to the invasion force. With the way cleared of the opposing fleet Admiral Kurita, commander of the Japanese fleet, sailed to stop the invasion. Enroute Kurita ran into Taffy 3, 6 lightly armored jeep carriers with 7 small destroyers and destroyer escorts. Kurita's force contained 2 of the largest battleships on the planet at the time as well as an assortment of heavy and light cruisers and destroyers. Every sailor in Taffy 3 knew that they had a snowball's chance in hell of surviving the impending battle. What happened before, during, and after this battle is what this book is about.

As for the book I have to say my ignorance of the plight of Taffy 3 made me less tolerant of the first part of the book. When a book is titled The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors you expect the book to be about destroyers and their crews. The first 140 pages are more about naval aviation, aircraft carriers, and thumbnail biographies of what I assumed were major players in the events of the story. There was very little about destroyers if anything. Then you have part two and it is realized that part one was merely setting the stage for a naval engagement likes of which I have never read before except in the fictions of naval engagements of the Napoleonic Era. If you would like to gain some idea of the horror of a modern naval engagement then this book is a must. This battle wasn't merely a David vs Goliath event it was more like Goliath and David's baby brother and the results were horrendous and should have been far worse. So after the the first part of the book the story becomes a page turner with many very short chapters that makes the reading pace even faster. The third and fourth parts of the book are about what happened after the shooting stopped and what happened to the survivors and their after war lives. This is a sensational book about a naval event that the author correctly ranks with the major naval battles of history but because of a PR decision it is unknown. Sad.