Dead in the Water (Book excerpt re: Battle of Leyte Gulf)

Newsweek vis MSNBC ^ | November 13 Issue | Evan Thomas

[Ready4Freddy]

In an excerpt from 'Sea of Thunder,' a new book about Leyte Gulf, the largest naval engagement in history, men pay the human price of war. A true sea story.

Nov. 13, 2006 issue - During the Second World War, it was very unusual to be standing on the deck of an American warship and actually see a Japanese vessel. Most sea battles in the Pacific War were fought at night or from great distances¡ªby carrier-based planes flying many miles from their ships. But shortly after dawn on the morning of October 25, 1944, the men of the USS Johnston, a destroyer patrolling near Leyte Gulf in the Philippine Islands, saw something the survivors would never forget.

There, rising over the horizon out of the morning mist, were the distinctive pagoda-shaped superstructures of a dozen battleships and cruisers of Emperor Hirohito's Imperial Japanese Navy. The men on the Johnston could see the great guns of the Japanese warships flashing in the distance, and see and hear the giant shells tumbling towards them. The shells made a sound, some recalled, like a passing freight train. On the bridge of the Johnston, one sailor ducked. "Don't duck, son," said the destroyer's captain, Cmdr. Ernest Evans. "The ones you hear have already missed you."

The Americans had been caught by surprise. In a last-gasp effort to stop the U.S. invasion of the Philippines, the Japanese Navy had devised an elaborate ruse, using a decoy to draw away the mighty American carrier task force that was guarding the invasion fleet. Adm. William F. ("Bull") Halsey fell for the trick and went steaming north with his fast, heavy carriers, leaving Gen. Douglas MacArthur's support ships undefended. The way was open for Japanese battleships and cruisers to fall upon much weaker prey...

[neodad]

One of the greatest stories of an outgunned, outnumbered force fighting off a vastly superior Japanese fleet and preserving the invasion of the Philippines.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

The way the MSM and the Democrats are now, they would have given away the USA to Hitler and the Japaneses.

[Buffalo Head]

Excellect post. Thank you.

[jwh_Denver]

Great article. Thanks

[Thud]

"Hang on, boys, we're sucking 'em into 40mm range!"

[GATOR NAVY]

Not to complain about a book that may excite interest in naval history, but what new insights to Leyte Gulf does this book bring? The excerpt reads a lot like a tag-along of "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors".

[willk]

My father was there on a destroyer (DD377 Perkins).
Sure wish I would have asked him a lot more about those times while he was still alive.

[John Carey]

USS Perkins, a 1480-ton Mahan class destroyer built by the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, was commissioned in September 1936.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-p/dd377.htm

[T'wit]

I read "Last Stand" too. Fascinating!

[camle]

I have a friend who was there. he said that the charge of the Johnston was the most stirring thing he ever saw. His name was Johnson, BTW. He was a steersman, or whatever they call the guy at the wheel. Had six ships shot out from beneath him. Crusty old coot -blass him!

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Wasnt the name of the task force called Taffy 3?We almost got em in 40 mike mike range, i love it.