Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Movie, Book, and Music Review The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors

Just read it

Holy Crap........about the Battle of Samar
The Yamato at 72,000 tone and three other Battle Ships. Not to mention
6 heavy cruisers
2 light cruiser
11 destroyers
Against

The US
4 destroyers 2,300 tons
3 escort destroyers 1,300 tons
Protecting 6 small carriers.
Halsey had left the San Bernardino Straights unguarded.......Japanese headed for US troops going ashore........
With no gun bigger than 5 inch
A 2 hour battle.......the Japanese left.

I can in no way do justice to this book with any description.......so well written
The US Navy at its best


You get choked up reading it.

https://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/swmag/Pages/Surface-Warrior.aspx

True Warriors.

During the Oct. 27, 1943, commissioning ceremony of Johnston, Commanding Officer Evans made his mission clear to the Sailors assigned to the ship: “This is going to be a fighting ship. I intend to go in harm’s way, and anyone who doesn’t want to go along had better get off right now.” No one did.

Evans was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for his actions at the battle of Samar. He and the other ships' captains somehow convinced the Japanese commander that he'd run into the U.S. main battle fleet. You cannot read this book without being amazed at the kind of courage those ships' companies demonstrated, charging again and again into the teeth of overwhelming odds.

EVANS:

This will be a fight against overwhelmingly odds from which survival cannot be expected....we will do what damage we can

Evans was half Cherokee.....part Creek......and 110% Ninja.....

Destroyers were aptly named. They punched way over their weight class.