Download or read book The Fleet the Gods Forgot written by Walter G. Winslow and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic tale of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet in World War II received little attention prior to the publication of this book in 1982, when Winslow chronicled their short and tragic story of heroism and defeat.Greatly outnumbered by vastly superior forces, and saddled with defective equipment; a lack of supplies, reinforcements, and air cover; and, towards the end, an incompetent and bungled Allied combined command, the Asiatic fleet met the Japanese head-on. Within a matter of three months, however, the beleaguered ships were totally wiped out. Captain Walter Winslow, a naval aviator on board the USS Houston, flagship of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, was in a unique position to tell the riveting story. As an active participant in all the major battles the fleet engaged in, he had an intimate understanding of the calamities that befell it. In addition, he drew upon the his own extensive notes he kept from a POW camp while interviewing other American, British, Dutch, and Australian prisoners from the Allied fleet. Winslow also painstakingly tracked down war documents and battle reports from all the ships assigned to the fleet to paint a complete picture filled with graphic details of the fleet’s only victory at Balikpapan; the disastrous Battle of the Java Sea that broke the back of the combined Asiatic fleet; the ghastly spectacle at Sunda Strait where the Houston struggled to survive; the suspenseful episode in the submarine Perch trapped in the mud at the bottom of the sea; and the daring escape from Corregidor of eighteen crewmembers from the USS Quail who refused to surrender to the Japanese forces.
Download or read book The Fleet the Gods Forgot written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Playing for Time written by Lodwick Houston Alford and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subtitled: War on an Asiatic Fleet Destroyer. The author's memoir of his service as an officer on board the destroyer USS Stewart (DD-224) of the Asiatic Fleet from before the war through its abandonment in a dry dock in Java in February 1942, also serving as a history of the ship's wartime service, including as a patrol boat in the Japanese Navy. The author also provides a history of the Asiatic Fleet during that time period when it was part of the naval forces that stopped the Japanese juggernaut on their southward expansion in the Pacific. 302 pages, 37 photos, bibliography.
Download or read book In the Highest Degree Tragic written by Donald M. Kehn and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2017-08 with total page 795 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Highest Degree Tragic tells the heroic story of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet's sacrifice defending the Dutch East Indies from the Japanese in the first three months of the Pacific War. Donald M. Kehn Jr.'s comprehensive narrative history of the operations involving multiple ships and thousands of men dramatically depicts the chaotic nature of these battles. His research has uncovered evidence of communications failures, vessels sinking hundreds of miles from where they had been reported lost, and entire complements of men simply disappearing off the face of the earth. Kehn notes that much of the fleet went down with guns blazing and flag flying, highlighting, where many others have failed to do so, the political and strategic reasons for the fleet's deployment to the region in the first place. In the Highest Degree Tragic rectifies the historical record, showcasing how brave yet all-too-human sailors and officers carried out their harrowing tasks. Containing rare first-person accounts and anecdotes, from the highest command echelons down to the lowest enlisted personnel, Kehn's book is the most comprehensive and exhaustive study to date of this important part of American involvement in World War II.
Download or read book Escape from Java written by John J. Domagalski and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2022-03-24 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The harrowing, triumphant true story of an antiquated light cruiser and its crew suddenly under fire in the Pacific as WWII erupted: “An engrossing tale.” —Naval Historical Foundation The old light cruiser Marblehead was living out her final years of naval service as a member of the United States Asiatic Fleet in 1941. The small group of mostly antiquated ships based in the Philippines sailed the waters of East Asia to show the American flag in places like China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. Then the sudden eruption of World War II in the Pacific put the warship on the front lines of the conflict as Imperial Japan unleased a series of devastating attacks across the region. On the morning of February 4, 1942, the warship was surprised by Japanese planes northeast of Java. Two large bombs slammed into Marblehead, causing fires and casualties and knocking out her steering gear. A third bomb exploded close by underwater. The near miss ripped a large gash into her hull, allowing a torrent of water to rush inside the ship. Escape from Java takes us throughout the ship as the story unfolds—next to gunners toiling to keep their guns firing, with medical staff tending to the wounded, and alongside damage control sailors working in flooded compartments. The Japanese confidently radioed that they had sunk the ship—but through courage, sacrifice, and superhuman effort, Marblehead would set out on a harrowing 13,000-mile journey back to the US . . . “An engrossing tale of an obsolescent ship’s survival amid great odds set against the brutal early fighting of the Pacific War. This book will appeal to a wide audience not only as high wartime adventure but simply as a story of gritty perseverance when the odds are heavily against.” —Naval Historical Foundation
Download or read book Rear Admiral Herbert V Wiley written by Ernest Marshall and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2018-09-25 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is, simultaneously, a biography of Admiral Herbert Victor Wiley and a history of the U.S. Navy’s lighter-than-air program. As tensions rose between Japan and the U.S. over control of East Asia and the Pacific Ocean, the prospects of war between the two nations increased. The Navy tracked the Germans’ use of zeppelins during the First World War and saw in them an aircraft with the potential to conduct long-range reconnaissance over the oceans – something that could not be achieved by airplanes or surface ships. While rapid progress was being made in manned flight, it was still young enough that the future of LTA vs. HTA flight was unknown. At the time, however, airships had a much greater range than airplanes making them suitable for reconnaissance. In its history, the Navy had four great airships – the U.S.S. Shenandoah, the U.S.S. Los Angeles, the U.S.S. Akron, and the U.S.S. Macon. Wiley served on all four of these airships and the history of these vessels is covered through the career of Wiley. Three of the airships ended in disaster and Wiley survived the crash of two of them. The book explores in detail the events leading to the crash of each airship through examination of the records of the Navy’s Courts of Inquiry that investigated the cause of each crash. The book also tracks issues surrounding the use of non-flammable helium as a lifting gas instead of highly explosive hydrogen used by the Germans. The U.S. had a monopoly on the supply of helium. While Germany sought to purchase helium from the U.S., the government board governing the sale of helium blocked is availability to Germany on the basis it might be used for wartime purposes. Dr. Hugo Eckener had run the Zeppelin works in Friedrichshaven since the end of WWI and he had a vision for LTA flight that was peaceful, including international transoceanic passenger and freight services. The outbreak of WW II ended the zeppeling industry and dashed all of Eckener’s dreams. Following the crash of the Macon, Wiley returned to the surface fleet, eventually becoming Commander of Destroyer Squadron 29 in the Asiatic Fleet shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Download or read book W F Matthews written by Travis Monday and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2004 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of a God-and-Country American.
Download or read book Under a Blood Red Sun written by John J. Domagalski and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 523 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of Into the Dark Water “balances scholarly research with accessible storytelling” to tell the heroic WWII account of Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 (Midwest Book Review). During the opening days of World War II in the Pacific, a small group of American sailors in the Philippines were propelled into the forefront of the fighting against the navy and air power of Imperial Japan. They were manned with six small, wooden PT-boats and led by a courageous, larger-than-life character in Lt. John D. Bulkeley. As America’s defense of the Philippines crumbled under the weight of a massive Japanese assault, the courageous activities of Bulkeley’s Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 made headlines across the United States—often as the only good news coming from the bleak Pacific front. The unit achieved everlasting fame by evacuating Gen. Douglas MacArthur from the front. Then, the squadron continued to fight on until all six of its torpedo boats were lost under fire. The fate of the doomed American defenders was sealed when the Japanese won the battle for the islands in the spring of 1942. The exploits of the unit were immortalized in the blockbuster 1945 movie They Were Expendable, starring John Wayne and Robert Montgomery, but since then, the saga of Bulkeley and his men has slipped into history. Under a Blood Red Sun revives the story of the Philippine PT-boats through the intertwined accounts of Bulkeley and his subordinate officers and men. It is a story of the courage and sacrifice of men thousands of miles from their homeland, representing American gallantry and fighting prowess, giving the Japanese a taste of what was to come their way.
Download or read book Ship of Ghosts written by James D. Hornfischer and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2009-03-25 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Son, we’re going to Hell." The navigator of the USS Houston confided these prophetic words to a young officer as he and his captain charted a course into U.S. naval legend. Renowned as FDR’s favorite warship, the cruiser USS Houston was a prize target trapped in the far Pacific after Pearl Harbor. Without hope of reinforcement, her crew faced a superior Japanese force ruthlessly committed to total conquest. It wasn’t a fair fight, but the men of the Houston would wage it to the death. Hornfischer brings to life the awesome terror of nighttime naval battles that turned decks into strobe-lit slaughterhouses, the deadly rain of fire from Japanese bombers, and the almost superhuman effort of the crew as they miraculously escaped disaster again and again–until their luck ran out during a daring action in Sunda Strait. There, hopelessly outnumbered, the Houston was finally sunk and its survivors taken prisoner. For more than three years their fate would be a mystery to families waiting at home. In the brutal privation of jungle POW camps dubiously immortalized in such films as The Bridge on the River Kwai, the war continued for the men of the Houston—a life-and-death struggle to survive forced labor, starvation, disease, and psychological torture. Here is the gritty, unvarnished story of the infamous Burma–Thailand Death Railway glamorized by Hollywood, but which in reality mercilessly reduced men to little more than animals, who fought back against their dehumanization with dignity, ingenuity, sabotage, will–power—and the undying faith that their country would prevail. Using journals and letters, rare historical documents, including testimony from postwar Japanese war crimes tribunals, and the eyewitness accounts of Houston’s survivors, James Hornfischer has crafted an account of human valor so riveting and awe-inspiring, it’s easy to forget that every single word is true. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from James D. Hornfischer's Neptune's Inferno.
Download or read book The Philippines in World War II 1941 1945 written by Walter F. Bell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1999-12-30 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Because of their strategic location, the Philippines exercised a profound influence in the thinking of both Japanese and American strategists before and during World War II. A number of controversies surrounding the preparations for war, the initial defense of the islands, the Japanese occupation, the conduct of guerrilla operations, and the 1944-1945 American campaign to retake the islands still draw the interest of students and scholars. This work provides a finding aid for individuals seeking to deal with these issues. A bibliographic overview of available periodical and book literature in English, this book is multidimensional, encompassing all aspects—military, political, economic, and social—of the Pacific War as it relates to developments in the archipelago. The book is an essential source for those looking for insights into the war's impact on Philippine society and also into military operations in and around the islands. With a chronological summary of wartime events in the islands as well as the bibliography, the work constitutes a major contribution to the furtherance of historical inquiry on World War II in the Philippines.
Download or read book Fremantle s Submarines written by Michael Sturma and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From unpromising beginnings in March 1942, the Allied submarine base at Fremantle on the west coast of Australia became a vital part of the Allied offensive against Japan. Pushed back from the Philippines and the Netherlands’ East Indies, American submariners, accompanied by a small group of Dutch forces, retreated to Fremantle as a last resort. The location was chosen for its good harbor and the fact that it was outside the range of land-based Japanese aircraft. Unfortunately the base was also far from their patrol areas and supply lines, and it was difficult to reinforce should the enemy attack. Thanks largely to a welcoming civilian population, morale quickly improved. The hospitality and sense of belonging fostered by Western Australians became legendary among Allied submariners and remains central to their wartime memories. Perhaps as a result of such a positive experience, the Allied forces became much more successful in combat. Intertwining social and military history, Fremantle’s Submarines relates how courage, cooperation, and community made Fremantle arguably the most successful military outpost of World War II from the standpoint of troop morale.
Download or read book The USS Swordfish written by George J. Billy and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-01-17 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the more than 260 American submarines that patrolled the Pacific during World War II, the USS Swordfish in 1941 was the first to sink a Japanese armed merchant ship, marking the beginning of the submarine's colorful history. A series of seven commanders led Swordfish's 13 war patrols. Each skipper had a distinct leadership style. Some were successful in sinking enemy ships; others returned to port empty-handed. Yet all patrols risked dangerously close encounters with the enemy and the unforgiving nature of the open sea. Drawing on archival sources and interviews with veteran sailors, this first full-length history of the Swordfish provides detailed accounts of each patrol and covers the mysterious disappearance of the legendary submarine on its final mission.
Download or read book Escape from Bataan written by Ross E. Hofmann and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-07-25 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: U.S. Navy Supply Corps Ensign Ross Hofmann had no idea what was in store for him when he arrived at Cavite Naval Base in October 1941. Two months later, Japanese forces struck the Philippines, destroying the base and forcing U.S. personnel to retreat to Bataan. There, Hofmann joined a makeshift unit of Army Aircorps ground personnel, U.S. Marines, U.S. sailors, U.S. Naval ground battalions and Filipinos to fight a Japanese force that landed nearby. In March 1942, with the fall of Bataan imminent, he traveled to Cebu to run supplies through the blockade of Bataan and Corregidor. Soon after his arrival, the Japanese landed on Cebu, forcing the Americans to retreat again. Hiking through jungles and crossing dangerous waters in barely seaworthy vessels, Hofmann avoided capture and reached an American base in Mindanao. He received orders to establish a seaplane base on Lake Lanao. As Japanese troops landed nearby, two seaplanes returning from Corregidor stopped to refuel, one of them hitting a submerged rock on take-off. In a harrowing race against the enemy advance, Hofmann and others worked feverishly to fix the plane and escape before the Japanese converged on Lake Lanao. This memoir recounts Hofmann's experiences in vivid detail. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Download or read book The A to Z of World War II written by Anne Sharp Wells and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2009-09-28 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World War II dominates world history today as it dominated world attention over 60 years ago. In spite of the alliances that bound many of the same participants, the war was essentially two separate but simultaneous conflicts: one involved Japan as the major antagonist and took place mostly in Asia and Pacific; and the other, initiated by Germany and Italy, was contested mainly in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic. The A to Z of World War II: The War Against Japan traces the brutal conflict from Japan's seizure of Chinese territory in 1931, through the onset of war with the Western Allies in 1941, to the use of atomic weapons by the United States in 1945. It also addresses the aftermath of the war including the formation of the United Nations and the American occupation of Japan. As the first of two volumes covering World War II, this volume concentrates on the war in Asia and the Pacific so the user benefits from the comprehensive explanations of the people, places, and events that shaped much of that region's 20th-century history.
Download or read book You Run the Show or the Show Runs You written by J.D. Crouch and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-12-28 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over forty years professor Harold W. Rood developed provocative theories in strategy, international relations, diplomacy and military power, and American foreign policy. Rood’s teaching and corpus of original writing greatly influenced generations of students who would go on to play key leadership roles in government and the public policy community. This book synthesizes Rood’s core teachings to preserve them for future generations and to stimulate new thinking in his intellectual legacy.
Download or read book The Battle to Save the Houston written by Estate of John G. Miller and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2013-01-15 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A World War II adventure story of epic proportions, this book tells the heroic tale of a dedicated band of men who refused to let their crippled ship sink to the bottom of the Pacific in late 1944. Based on over seventy eyewitness accounts and hundreds of official documents and personal papers, it records in rich detail the USS Houston's 14,000-mile perilous journey home to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Part of Bull Halsey's famous Pacific Task Force 38, the Houston's had been supporting air strikes as a prelude to the Battle of Leyte Gulf, when she took an aerial torpedo hit that caused serious flooding. Nearly two-thirds of the crew abandoned ship before the damage-control officer convinced the captain she might be saved. Another torpedo hit two days later complicated the crew's desperate fight. Surrounded by death, floodwaters, and fire, stalked by enemy subs, threatened by air attack, and running from a typhoon, the men of the Houston's remained towers of strength while knowing their ship was never more than minutes away from breaking apart. John Miller's action-packed account gives insights into the nature of heroism and leadership that remain valuable today. Exceptional photographic documentation accompanies the text.
Download or read book A Blue Sea of Blood written by Donald M. Kehn and published by Quarto Publishing Group USA. This book was released on 2009-01-15 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the morning of March 1, 1942, the WWI-era destroyer USS Edsall—under orders to deliver some forty Army Air Force fighter crews to the beleaguered island of Java—split off from the USS Whipple and the tanker Pecos and was never seen again by Allied forces. Despite the later discovery of bodies identified as Edsall crew members near a remote airfield on the coast of Celebes, what happened to the ship remains a matter of mystery and, perhaps, deliberate obfuscation. This book explores the many puzzling facets of the Edsall’s disappearance in order to finally tell the full story of the fate of the vessel and her crew. Based on exhaustive research of the historical record—including newly deciphered Japanese documents and previously unrevealed material from the crew’s family members—A Blue Sea of Blood offers a painstaking reconstruction of the ship’s history. The book investigates not only the Edsall’s mysterious final action, but also her wide-ranging pre-war career and the curious uses to which her story was put—generally under false pretenses—first by the pre-war US Navy and then by the Japanese wartime propaganda machine. And finally, military historian Donald Kehn considers the circumstances surrounding the curious obscurity of the Edsall’s heroic service and final battle in American histories. Redressing six decades of official indifference, Kehn’s account recovers a significant chapter missing from the history of World War II—and tells a long-overdue story of courage and tragic loss.
