most Americans are familiar with the Battle of Midway, June 1942, the famous cryptological decrypts; the US aircraft carrier rushed to repair; the 4 Japanese fleet aircraft carriers caught at the vulnerable moment as they switch from land bombs to ocean torpedoes-- and Pearl Harbor is avenged. lesser known is the last fleet-on-fleet battle in history, the Battle off Samar 25 October 1944 in which due to Japanese decoy action, the US Navy Task Force 3 ("Taffy 3") comprising 'jeep carrier' escort aircraft carriers and destroyers under Vice Admiral 'Ziggy' Sprague faced the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Yamato, and other major battleships. the central point of the drama (although historians disagree) was that if IJN Admiral Kurita could break through US lines, vulnerable transport ships including many packed full of Marines would have become sitting ducks. faced with the absolute need for defense, the US Navy started to put up a spirited defense, even firing handguns from planes that had already dropped their bombs or torpedoes... and the reviewer will stop here to prevent the need for well we won

Hornfischer's account is very tersely written, without ornament or unnecessary detail. he keeps up the tempo, and the action/excitement doesn't flag, through the battle and aftermath, and dashing from pilot's eye view to admiral's eye view to ordinary gun crew's viewpoint. his vivid, exciting prose brings the battle to life, and indeed, as mentioned, some historians are now struggling to point out that, well actually, there was another destroyer task force between Kurita and the vulnerable transports so disaster was not quite so imminent. however, just about all historians agree Kurita could have bagged all 6 escort carriers, instead of the two he did sink

4/5 very high quality military non-fiction, a-list, and in some circles a legendary work

I found this quote explains why it's important to read history, even the history of sad events.

"Legend, tradition, history can drive a commitment to excellence that raises people and has them perform at a level above everything they ever dreamed they could do. And it makes all of us realize the potential that everbody has....".

I fell in love with this book about 6 years ago. It is the most enthalling account of a battle that I have ever read. The depiction of courage and heroism in the face of hopeless odds is inspirational, and quit astounding for having actually happened. It was the kind of stuff that would make a novel seem phony for being so far from normal expectation.

History buffs know of the Battle off Samar on October 24, 1944 (aka The Defense of TAFFY-3), but I find the general public seems largely unaware of it. It was rather hushed-up by the navy in order to spare the reputation of a current hero, Admiral Halsey, who by being bamboozled by a Japanese ploy was maneuvered out of position. This resulted in a battle between 13 of the smallest ships in the US navy and a major wing of the Japanese fleet, and a near catastrophe for our invasion of The Philippines.

It was a battle the US could not possibly win. Pitted against 6 liberty ships (cheap, disposable transports) converted to carry a dozen planes each, and their screen of three destroyers and four destroyer escorts were eleven Japanese destroyers, six assorted cruisers, and four battleships, one of them being the Yamato, the biggest battleship ever built.

The converted liberty ships, known too grandly as excort carriers, did what they could: they ran for it. Well, waddled for it considering the speeds they could reach. Their screen of destroyers and destroyer escorts, in order to buy them time, charged headlong into the Japanese! The events that followed were amazing. One ship, the Samuel B. Roberts, earned its place as a naval legend.

If an account of a destroyer running so close to a battleship that the battleship cannot depress its main guns low enough to hit it interests you, then you might like this book. Ditto accounts of fighter pilots who after their bombs are gone return to strafe enemy ships until their machinegun ammo is gone, then make another pass with cockpit open inorder to empty their pistols at the ship, and then keep coming after they are empty to draw flack away from other pilots who still have something to shoot. You would not believe this stuff in a novel.

One thing I guarantee is that you will have a hard time putting this book down once you reach that moment when TAFFY-3 sees the Imperial navy bearing down on it.

This book documents a highly improbably WW II US naval victory – at GREAT cost. The Battle off Samar was part of MacArthur’s strategy to re-capture the Philippines and Hornfischer provides detail worthy of a Chernow biography. It is, most certainly, COMPREHENSIVE.

While I found the beginning to be a little tedious (and somewhat boring), the reader should NOT BE DETERRED. The author provides the necessary background for the reader – the purpose/use of battleships, carriers, escort carriers, destroyers, destroyer escorts, etc., as well as the strategic purpose of the ‘task force’. This was a time of change in naval history and its understanding is important to fully appreciate the valor of the US combatants. At a time when the enemy was on the downhill slide – the US Industrial capabilities had simply taken over the war – Japan was making its final effort. In this, probably history’s last major sea battle, the author recounts unimaginable courage of the US men (some as young as 17).

The battle started so suddenly that carrier planes were launched whether they were armed or not! (In the midst of battle, US planes made ‘dry runs’ attacking the enemy without bombs or ammunition of any kind – just as diversions!! … And I’m talking 10 dry runs out of 20!) Most dramatically, a single – ONE – destroyer took on four enemy battleships and heavy cruisers. There are also, very sadly, truly terrible scenes of war – heroic yet HORRIBLE. Thousands of men were involved. Even after the battle, the horror continued as survivors in the water fought off sharks.

Talk about an upset victory against overwhelming odds!!! Yet for many years, the Navy did not publicize this battle. (Could it be that the Navy was protecting the celebrated Admiral Halsey who might have made a strategic mistake?) Well written, I would recommend this book to any WWII buffs – or, for that matter, any patriot.

An exhaustively detailed and well-researched story of the desperate battle between a powerful Japanese naval force and a task force of U.S. light carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts off the Philippines in 1944. The engagement occurred only because Admiral Halsey took his main fleet north in an ill-advised pursuit of a small Japanese carrier force, leaving the other group of ships unprotected. No one saw the Japanese force coming. Outgunned, the U.S. force fought valiantly and inflicted enormous damage on the more powerful Japanese force. Nevertheless, four U.S. ships were sunk, with huge loss of life, including losses incurred when many survivors were not located by rescue ships for a number of days. Hornfischer laces his account with eyewitness quotes from surviving sailors. Long, but gripping.

Reread in 2020. Still an absolutely perfect military history of one of the greatest underdog victories in naval history.


****

There are moments in history of transcendence, of courage and duty that lifts men and material out of this world and into another. The Battle off Samar was one such moment, when the men of Taffy 3 faced a Japanese fleet containing the super-battleship Yamato with nothing more than a handful of destroyers, destroyer-escorts, and escort carriers, and through gumption, gunnery, and the grace of god, won. Hornfischer chronicles every minute of the battle in this tale, writing a grand tale of heroism and sacrifice. Something of the true character of men can be seen when their backs are against the wall, and for the men of the navy in 1944, on ships designed for economy and production rather than fighting power, that character is an unhesitating courage in the attack, unstinting in duty, and willing to spend their lives dearly to defend their comrades in arms. Simply a fantastic work of military history.

Another of his superb works of naval history, the late James Hornfischer's tale of the Battle of Leyte Gulf concentrates its sights on the Battle Off Samar on October 25, 1944. As part of 7th Fleet, which was supporting the invasion of the Philippines, a 13-ship US Navy task force of fragile escort carriers and the small ships of their screen (code name: Taffy 3) were forced to face an enormous Japanese fleet of battleships, heavy and light cruisers, and many more destroyers ships than the Americans possessed (Japanese code name: Center Force) and fight them to the death. Like many last stand situations, the battle was a result of someone's blunder, the blunderer, in this case, being Admiral William Halsey, who failed in his duty to keep watch over the route that the Japanese Center Force under Kurita was bound to take. Having been "pump-faked" out of position by a practically airplane-less carrier force, Halsey's mighty 3rd Fleet sailed off and left Taffy 3 to its fate. That the crews of the destroyers and destroyer-escorts fought magnificently is beyond debate, but the original snafu was compounded by the failures of Admirals Sprague and Kincaid (the commanders of Taffy 3 and the 7th Fleet respectively) to properly organize the search and rescue efforts after the battle, leaving hundreds of men to face the perils of the ocean for three days and two nights, resulting in the death of many of them from drowning, exposure and shark attacks. Nonetheless, Leyte Gulf in general and the Battle Off Samar, in particular, are rightly considered one of the US Navy's finest hours, and Hornfischer walks us through this huge and complicated sea battle with a deft touch and an engaging writing style. Hornfischer passed away in 2021 at the age of 55. I strongly recommend his books on modern naval history.

Just an unbelievable story. Hornfischer is an incredible author, and writes naval actions in such a visceral and beautiful way. I think that in this book Hornfischer is better able to emphasize those elements than he was in Neptune’s Inferno. I was more interested in the history that book was covering, but the Battle of Samar works better as a narrative book. We have a smaller cast of characters to follow than in Neptune’s Inferno, a smaller number of ships to get invested in. And he uses that smaller scope incredibly. You get very invested in the desperate struggle of Taffy 3’s DDs and DEs. Only thing it lacked was the Japanese perspective, but as Hornfischer mentions we just don’t have much to go off of. Great read, and a moving story about how Americans fight when their back is against the wall. These are the stories that motivate and inspire excellence.

There are just some books that sweep you up into their embrace and drag you helplessly through their tale until the conclusion is reached. "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" is just such a book, and should be required reading for all members of the sea services. I was aware of the circumstances of the Battle off Samar --- Halsey gorging on the bait of the decoy carrier fleet to the north and moving his fleet to attack; the undersized U.S. fleet that was left behind to face the mighty Japanese Center Force; and the desperate charge that a motley fleet of destroyers and destroyer escorts led against the flower of the Japanese surface navy in a valiant defense of the approaches to Leyte and MacArthur's invasion force. But I hadn't had the chance to read the details behind this incredible display of heroism and duty.

The story whisks you along at a brisk pace, and the tension is ratcheted up from the very first instant the ships of Taffy 3 spotted the Japanese behemoth approaching them. Outclassed in terms of ship number, armament, size, and speed, the ships of Taffy 3 had no chance to outrun their foe, couldn't outshoot their foe, and had no business trying to outfight their foe. But fight it they did. The combination of lunacy and courage that led the captains of destroyers and destroyer escorts to hurl their overmatched ships at destroyers, heavy cruisers, and battleships again and again, when their torpedoes were gone and their ships were battered and their men were slaughtered and all they had left were naval guns inferior to everything the entirety of their foe possessed, was both awesome and excruciating to behold. You couldn't help but cheer for men you got to know through the previous pages, and mourn when so many of them were lost. By rights, Taffy 3 should have been annihilated. But pushing themselves beyond all hope, beyond all endurance, and beyond all reasonable expectation of the suppression of mortal fear, these Pygmies refused to bow to the power of Goliath. They fought with their hearts and souls and grit and helped win the final naval battle in the war, which proved to be the last time the naval forces of opposing sides met in concentrated surface combat. Exhilarating and draining, this is a must-read for all aficionados of naval warfare, or for anyone who enjoys tales of how indomitable will and sheer guts can make ordinary men rise to accomplish the most extraordinary of feats.

Review is for audiobook. This book was painful to listen to due to the suffering and loss of life. It also made me even more grateful for so many who sacrificed to keep the world free. Book was dense in places.

If you like reading history books about World War II, the Navy or military subjects in general, this is a well written, gripping book worth reading. It's about a single naval battle toward the end of WWII off the coast of the Philippines, A tiny group of small US ships managed to survive (mostly) an intense onslaught by a huge group of Japanese vessels through a combination of luck, determination and strategy, with help from the "fog of war." The author interviewed many of the survivors of the battle and interweaves the narrative with their personal stories and recollections. Warning: the battle scenes are described with intense, brutal detail. There can't be many things worse than being on a WWII ship that's been hit by a large shell. Think 900 degree super-heated steam, a lot of darkness, shrapnel, shock waves, and, if you made it through that, sharks.

Exceptional story of courage

My father served in the Navy in World War II. Reading this gave me an idea of what he faced as a 17 year old shipped out to the Pacific. Well worth the time to read and appreciate