Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U. S. Navy's Finest Hour

From Publishers Weekly
One of the finest WWII naval action narratives in recent years, this book follows in the footsteps of Flags of Our Fathers, creating a microcosm of the war's American Navy destroyers. Hornfischer, a writer and literary agent in Austin, Tex., covers the battle off Samar, the Philippines, in October 1944, in which a force of American escort carriers and destroyers fought off a Japanese force many times its strength, and the larger battle of Leyte Gulf, the opening of the American liberation of the Philippines, which might have suffered a major setback if the Japanese had attacked the transports. He presents the men who crewed the destroyer Taffy 3, most of whom had never seen salt water before the war but who fought, flew, kept the crippled ship afloat, and doomed ships fighting almost literally to the last shell. Finally, Hornfischer provides a perspective on the Japanese approach to the battle, somewhat (and justifiably) modifying the traditional view of the Japanese Admiral Kurita as a fumbler or even a coward-while exalting American sailors and pilots as they richly deserve. (American admirals don't get off so easily.) Not entirely free of glitches in research, the book still reads like a very good action novel, indicated by its selection as a dual split main selection of the BOMC and History Book Club alternate. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From AudioFile
Hornfischer recounts the last Japanese attempt at a breakthrough in the Pacific in WWII, during which an American light carrier group miraculously held off a large contingent of warships, though outnumbered, outweighed, and out-gunned. The complex Japanese plan is too complicated to follow comfortably in audio; the battle itself is easier, but the multiplicity of players demands close attention. Grover Gardner reads with controlled emotion and good taste; his clarity and verbal facility keep the complex story moving forward, creating an exciting sea story of battle tactics and raw courage, punctuated by devastating accounts of the human cost. An addendum gives samples of Hornfischer's interviews with American survivors. W.M. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
This piece of World War II naval history reads like a particularly good novel. It is an account of the October 1944 battle off Samar, in which a force of American destroyers and escort carriers drove off a Japanese fleet at least 10 times its strength. The struggle was a part of the epic Battle of Leyte Gulf, which was the beginning of the campaign to liberate the Philippines. Hornfischer focuses on the men of the escort carrier unit Taffy 3 (the radio call signal for Task Unit 77.4.3 --easy to see why it is the preferred designation), who fought, flew, and fired to nearly the last shell in a battle that at least one commander commenced by saying, "Survival cannot be expected." Readable from beginning to end, this popular history magnificently brings to life men and times that may seem almost as remote as Trafalgar to many in the early twenty-first century. Of especial interest are its account of the process that turned civilians into sailors, and its carrying forward of those sailors' stories to the handful of aging survivors still gathering in commemoration today. One of the finest World War II volumes to appear in years. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


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A thrilling narrative of the Battle off Samar, a two-and-a-half-hour melee in which outgunned American sailors fended off a Japanese attack that could have stymied the invasion of the Philippines. In October 1944, with Gen. Douglas MacArthur preparing to assault the Philippine island of Leyte and choke off the Japanese empire, the Imperial Fleet formulated a desperate plan. Aircraft carriers would lure the impulsive Adm. William Halsey away from Leyte Gulf while two battleship groups fell on MacArthur's suddenly vulnerable force, including the ships guarding him. Part of the plan worked to perfection-Halsey dashed off after the decoy force-and on the morning of October 25, the American flotilla Taffy 3 awoke to face overwhelming odds. Their five destroyers and destroyer carriers, or "tin cans," stood against Japan's four fastest battleships (two being the largest on the seas), nine cruisers, and fourteen destroyers, the largest group of surface ships ever put to sea by the Land of the Rising Sun. Realizing that their own vessels were doomed, the unarmored but doughty Americans attacked a foe that enjoyed a 10-to-1 advantage in firepower-sinking or crippling four heavy cruisers, strafing Japanese gunners with air attacks, even bluffing with "dry runs" when ammunition ran out. The tin cans held out long enough for pilots from the two other Taffy groups to turn the tide of battle, but not before sinking and losing nearly 1,000 men (including more than 100 to exhaustion and shark attacks). The Japanese were never able again to mount a serious challenge to the US advance on Tokyo. Relying on interviews with aging, proud survivors of the flotilla, Hornfischer expertly conveys the sensoryexperience of warfare, its deafening roar and sickening stench, to produce a gripping minute-by-minute reconstruction of an engagement awful in cost but awesome in importance. Easily merits pride of place among the flotilla of books appearing in recent years on "the greatest generation." (B&w maps)


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