Thursday, August 22, 2019

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
by James D. Hornfischer

This is the third Hornfischer book I have read this year and in addition to a few other books about the U.S. Navy it describes the gallantry of the Navy. He mentions that unlike the ground soldiers Sailors had no foxhole to dive into during attack.

I wonder whether my generation and later appreciate the sacrifices made by the veterans of WWII. World War II was a war that needed to be fought. Japan and Germany were brutal regimes bent on destroying civilization. The United States responded in a gallant and admirable way. The veterans deserved to be saluted.

I did not enjoy reading about the survivors of the battle floating in the ocean for a few days and the troubles they had and I wish the Navy had devoted more resources to rescuing these survivors. I have read other accounts of the efforts by the Navy to recover pilots shot down and the efforts by submarines to rescue them. Also Hornfischer states near the end that the Navy and Nimitz played down the battle in order to save the reputation of Bill Halsey. This book is a testament to the bravery and actions of the sailors abroad these ships and is an ignoble testament to the actions of the Naval leaders.

I am not a fan of narrative history but this one worked for me. Hornfischer captures the heroism and terrifying moments of these battles.

One of the astounding things about this battle is that at this time in the war the United States had a vastly superior and more powerful Navy than the Japanese, but the last battle between theses 2 navies would pit small American Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts against the Battleships and Cruisers of Japan.

This book is an excellent addition to any reading list of the war in the Pacific during WWII.

Disclaimer: Please read my review in full to explain my rating. This book is about the Battle of Samar during World War 2- a battle in which American Destroyers ("Tin Cans")and Aircraft Carriers upset a large fleet of Japanese battleships.

My problem is with Hornfischer's writing style, but I am going to say that he shouldn't have changed a thing. Hornfischer puts in literally dozens of sailors' stories in this book; and that is awesome. That is awesome, because the people in this book are people's relatives. They are fathers and grandfathers, uncles, great uncles, great-grandfathers and so on. I think it is awesome that children, grandchildren, etc can read these stories.

That said, it is a tough read for someone who is not already familiar with this battle. We meet a ton of sailors. Also, there is not a lot of background on the other aspects of the battle. What were the political machinations, what was the environment of the battle and the surrounding area and so on. It made for a tedious read where I felt no real difference in the ships that were profiled.

The point being it is interesting to hear the stories of the men and how tough their situation is, but there is some real strategy in the ships maneuvering that is lost in the story. A combination of both would make for a great book. It is there, if you already know the story, I am sure, but it all blends together in the book.

Had I that background going in, my reaction might have been different. Had Hornfischer used the men's observations to propel a story and not as the whole story, it would have been better for the layreader.

It should also be commented that words like 'heroic' and 'patriotic' are thrown around cheaply and have been co-opted by right-wing radio. That is unfortunate because the men on this book are some of the most brave, most courageous, most patriotic men in this country's history in many, many aspects of that word. These are strong stories of bravery when they did not need to be brave, and when they needed to be brave the most. Incredible stories that remind why so many of our grandfathers did not talk about their WW2 experiences as much as we might wanted to hear of them.

Great men in this book. I will say it was dense enough that I considered giving up on it a few times,but someone with a good naval knowledge or real interest will find it worth it, I think. The last couple of chapters about the aftermath are pretty harrowing, and I would suggest if you do get bogged down like I did, to at least read those.

I can see the movie poster now "OUTGUNNED OUTNUMBERED CHANCES: NIL" this is the sequel to 'Midway'.

"Our schoolchildren should know about [this] incident, and our enemies should ponder it."

In late October 1944 the US Navy guarded the seas off the Philippines protecting the return of General MacArthur. With the 7th Fleet (Kinkaid) guarding from the south, and the 3rd Fleet (Halsey) guarding the north, those in the middle didn't expect to see much action. But Japan knew it's days were numbered and invented a daring plan to protect their position and resources in the Philippines by attacking from both sides. Kinkaid's troops soundly defeated Nishimura and Shima in the Surigao Strait, but Halsey abandoned the San Bernardino Strait in the north after a minor skirmish and took the bait offered by Ozawa and was drawn away to the north. This let Kurita through and left the small destroyers and carrier escorts of Taffy 3 to bear the full brunt of the largest ships to ever sail the seas.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the men put up a brave front against the monstrous Japanese ships, trying to protect the important small carriers. Between daring torpedo runs by the destroyer escorts (known to the sailors as "tin cans") and relentless attacks by those planes which were able to get airborne (almost all without proper armaments and some without any at all) the Americans put up such a fierce fight that Kurita was unsure of the true strength he faced, even thinking it was the absent Halsey. In the end he suffered serious losses and retreated, but not before sinking 3 destroyers and the only American carrier sunk by enemy surface fire. (The battle also saw the first sinking of an American ship by a feared new Japanese weapon - the kamikaze suicide pilot - when the St. Lo of Taffy 2 was sunk.)

This is an excellent and highly inspirational account of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, or more specifically the Battle off Samar, fought by the men of Taffy 3 Task Unit. While Halsey skillfully and unjustly took credit for the victory, the bravery of the men who fought it generally went unsung. They endured relentless pounding by far bigger ships with bigger bombs and many spent 48 hours floating in the wide ocean waiting for a rescue that came shamefully late. But this is a story of the kind of bravery that won the war in the Pacific - even retreating Japanese soldiers saluted the men in the water as they steamed by. It's the kind of story that makes you appreciate the incredible valor and sacrifices men made during the war.

I've seen a number of comparisons to Flags of Our Fathers, and while this book is every bit as good, I found it a bit more challenging to read due mainly to my unfamiliarity with ships and planes. But once I stopped worrying about trying to understand and remember all the technical details it became a lot more enjoyable. I *highly* recommend this book.