[rktman]

Former DE and DD sailors know well what this article is about. Although, my first assignment was a DE out of Newport, it was nimble when turning but top speed was about 21 knots and when the fleet took off, we kind of got left in their wake. Also, 50 foot seas in the North Atlantic----------a little disconcerting. Thanks to those that gave all.

[A_Former_Democrat]

I know it was a cruiser and so off topic, but is anyone else watching this documentary on the USS Indianapolis? Includes both the event and the attempt to locate her

[reed13k]

Lot of advances since then all around. 20 - 30 knots back then was considered very fast.

Now 20 is a cruising speed for destoyers/frigates with gas turbines and the nuc carriers unclassified top speed is 30-35 knots with modern destroyers listed as the same.

The carriers can still leave their screens in the wake is my understanding.

[null and void]

I enjoyed Little Ship, Big War.

ISBN 0515084182

[Afterguard]

Last Stand com The Tin Can Sailors. Great book by James D. Hornfischer.

The invasion of Leyte, Philippine Islands, October 17-25, 1945.

This is also a must read if you’re a WWII Navy junkie like me.

[Politically Correct]

DD 786 USS Anderson. Spent a year aboard her. Mostly off the coast of Viet Nam.
Got sucked into a hurricane (Cyclone in that part of the world) Wondered if she would come apart in the storm. Green water at the bridge windows. One of the other destroyers with us had the storm rip off their 5” gun and almost sank.

[JoeFromSidney]

I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the tin cans. In the summer of 1949, my two weeks active duty cruise was on the Hank, DD 702. You could still see where the battle scars had been patched up.

Went off to college that fall and tried to sign up for Navy ROTC. Couldn't pass the eye test. Air Force ROTC was in its first year on campus and didn't yet have an eye test. They took me. I graduated with a Air Force commission, and made a career of it.

[jmacusa]

The Last Stand Of The Tin Can Sailors. This was truly one f the US Navy finest hours. It was a real “David vs Goliath’’ fight.

[VietVet876]

Haze gray and underway.

[kiryandil]

Happy Memorial Day to the sailors of Taffy 3!

[Taxman]

Taxman’s (tongue in cheek) Rule of the Sea: “Never get out of the sight of land if your ship is less than a thousand feet long!”

HST, I have spent time at sea on some “small boys,” and admire and respect tin can sailor’s sea legs and cast iron stomachs!

[ManOfLaMuncha]

Another great tribute to the Destroyer sailors: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/5400.The_Last_Stand_of_the_Tin_Can_Sailors “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors is a fresh look at the men, ships and events that shaped one of the U.S. Navy’s finest hours, the monumental naval engagements of October 23-26, 1944, known collectively as the Battle of Leyte Gulf.“ I’ve read this twice, listened to it once via CD when traveling. Check it out from your library, hard copy or digital. ✅ +

[TexasTransplant]

USS George K. Mackenzie, DD 836
She was my home for 3 years, I was a stupid teenager and in retrospect I know I served with some of the Finest
One Storm in the North Arabian Sea I remember actually walking on the Bulkheads (walls) we were rolling so much.
I always loved being at Sea unless we were pulling into Olongapo, I loved that better.

[BuffaloJack]

My father was on the USS Heermann DD532 during the Battle Off Samar.

[YogicCowboy]

My father always said that the torpedo was a main weapon of the destroyer, despite its primary association with submarines.

[Grimmy]

I don’t recall the name of the ship or the skipper, and no longer have the book, but recall from reading in With Utmost Savagery (the battle for Betio Island (Tarawa)...

There was a small rag tag group of “raggity a**ed Marines” that had made it in from the shoreline and were hard pressed by inter-lapping machine gun fire from several pill boxes close to their front.

A destroyer on the lagoon side could see the action, but with even the light wave action, couldn’t consistently put his 5” rounds that close “20 yards” to the Marines with any confidence.

So, he nosed his ship into the shore to stabilize it.

Purposely grounded his ship so he could provide the accurate direct gunfire support that small group of Marines needed to survive the fight for awhile longer.

And it worked. The bunkers were defeated. A beach head was established at that place and Marines gathered and made it through the night.

And keep in mind there was no guarantee that the rather significant Japanese Naval forces at anchor up in the Marshal Islands weren’t gonna come steaming over the horizon at any moment.

That destroyer crew would have been as screwed as the Marines ashore.

And the skipper could well have been courts martial’d for grounding his ship. Navy boards can be rather unforgiving of such things.

[W650]

Thanks for posting this. My father proudly served on DD465 USS Sauffley from Guadalcanal though the end of the war. It was a highly decorated ship. He was in the Navy before the war started and assigned to the USS Yorktown CV5 and was in the battle of the Coral Sea and Midway before being sent back to the states and assigned to DD 465. It had to be quiet a difference. He said he loved both ships.

Here is an interesting story.

http://www.dd-692.com/comdesro.htm