Posted on 10/31/2019 8:26:12 AM PDT by Constitution Day
Were you WestPac?
I read where one GI on shore used a WWI signal lamp and acted as a forward observer for the DDs - one of them Polish. Some got in so close their hulls were scraping bottom.
One vid on YouTube showed a large hole in a German casement (direct hit) and by triangulation, were able to identify the DD who fired that killer shot.
They really did save the day.
You are correct, very good read! The Johnston and the other small boys put up such a hell of a fight the IJN turned away with victory easily attainable.
There is a book out there and for the life of me I cannot think of the title and author but it tells of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal Nov. 13 1942. It gives a running commentary of the battle from men on both sides. Destroyers and heavy and light cruisers on the US side against the same and two Japanese battleships. It was nothing but a knife fight where ships were so close the battleships could not depress their big guns enough to hit the US ships and US ships were raking the bridge and topsides of the heavy Japanese warships. Very good read!
Check out the link I supplied above. Hornfischer's book Neptune's Inferno is the one about Guadalcanal. It's another superb book by this great author and you can find his other books here.
Are you thinking of Hornfischer’s Neptune’s Inferno.
Neat factoid from the book. The US Navy lost almost 3 times the number of men than the Marines on The Canal!
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Halsey was the closest thing the Navy had to Patton. Both made mistakes and were perhaps over-aggressive at times, but they each got the job done when there seemed to be no-one else to do it. Decades later we have the luxury to armchair quarterback these officers.
Off Samar the destroyers & DE’s of Taffy 3 managed to destroy the upper works of a couple of Japanese heavy cruisers by rapid, accurate 5” fire. It wasn’t nearly enough to sink them — really only a torpedo could have done that — but it did perform what has since been termed a “mission kill”.
My dad was on a DE, picture looks just like his boat. USS Lewis. I need to read that.
No worries...A double mention of that book is deserved...One great read...
At 0300 on the 25th, the USS Melvin DD-680 was occupied launching a torpedo attack on the IJN battleship Fuso, which slit in two, rolled over and sank 40 minutes later...
My Dad was a 19 yo radioman aboard the Melvin...Her skipper CDR Barry Atkins was awarded the Navy Cross for that action...
Ed
I have an old copy from the 60s, held together with a rubber band. I didn’t know it was reprinted. Great read.
Another good one is Saburo Sakai’s “Samurai”. The top surviving Zero Ace of the war.
correct. a V2 is pretty much useless against a million and a half really mad soviet soldiers and about 900,000 really mad Americans, Brits, and Canadians.
My dad was a machinist mate on West Virginia. She fired 81 rounds of 16 in 45 AP at Fuso’s sister ship Yamashiro. Supposedly hit her 8 times
I have Sakai’s book. Very interesting.
Great scene, regardless of my distaste for Bladwin. Sean Connery stole yet another movie.
You’re very welcome, and it’s good to see you again.
As an old Tin Can sailor, QM2, USS AULT, DD-698, The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, is a great read.
Amazing that these guys can find debris at these depths.
Also, ships changed their paint patterns...I have old WWII photos of the Ault in haze gray and a camo pattern. When I served aboard her, she was haze gray.
Proud ship with a great crew...loved being at sea on her.
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