Rating: 
Summary: A Gripping Read...I felt I was there
Review: I don't normally read books on war or military actions. I originally started to read this book because my mother's brother is Paul Henry Carr. He died in this battle.
I remember hearing stories about him almost the whole time I was growing up. My grandmother would every once in a great while bring out his medals and show them to us grandkids. I think it made her proud and sad all at the same time. I remember a comic book about the battle that I believe was published by the Navy that she kept around the house. His sisters talked about him for many years like he had taken a trip to the coast and would be back soon. My Uncle Carr and the Battle of Samar is part of our family lore.
Until I read the book "The Battle of Leyte Gulf" I had no idea of the importance of this naval battle.
After reading "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" I have an additional appreciation of its value. I began the book for the reasons listed above. I finished the book for its gripping narrative. The author gives the reader a wonderful appreciation of the strategy and reasons for the battle. He gives an all too vivid description of the reality of modern naval warfare. His descriptions made me feel I was there and gave me new admiration for the "boys" who fought this battle and the willing sacrifices that they made. Much like "Jaws" his account of the time the survivors spent in the sea before being rescued will make me think twice before going into ocean.
I did not realize the politics that kept this battle from being a bigger part of Naval and WW II history until I read this book. That part I found sad and disturbing.
I would heartily recommend this book for understanding the historical value of this battle, the horror and heroism of war, and an understanding the personal sacrifice made by our relatives 60 years ago. Or just because it is a good read.
Rating:
Summary: In the Greatest Tradition of American War Literature
Review: I picked up "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" warily, wondering what more could possibly be said about American valor in World War II after 60 years of nonstop books. Three hours and several lifetimes later, I put it down again, exhausted with excitement, terror, sadness, the weight and roar of epic battle, and the sense that the heroes of the Battle Off Samar were my brothers. Thank you, Mr. Hornfischer, for restoring these forgotten warriors to their rightful place in our national legend.
Rating:
Summary: Heroism! Plain and Unadulterated
Review: I read this book with breathless enthusiasm. Having been a lifetime military professional I found this book to be a wonderfully inspiring and highly accurate account of a decisive and important naval engagement. The Captains of these out gunned and outnumbered destroyers willingly subjected themselves to almost certain annihilation in orderr to save the escort carriers of Taffy-3. This inspiring narrative of American heroism at all levels of rank and rating on these ships made me proud to be an American fighting man. The questions remain about FADM Halsey's command relationships during this action. Who actually dropped the ball ? The manner in which FADM Nimitz re-directed Halsey's attention is an interesting study in command leadershipe at the highest level.The fact that my father was making the invasion landing that might have been repulsed with thousands of casualties had not Taffy-3 steadfastly and determinedly fought the Japanese to a standstill and retirement was exceddingly interesting to me...I might not be here if not for these gallant sailors. In closing I am not ashamed to say that on more than one occasion, the book brought tears to my eyes. READ THIS BOOK
Rating: 
Summary: The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
Review: I recently read The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors; it is the story of the battle of Samar in the invasion of Leyte in the Philippines. Halsey was supposed to be covering the invasion ships, but was suckered off by a Jap carrier group (whose carriers were out of planes). This was the first of his three major foulups in the Pacific. It's a good thing hw wasn't in command at Midway. He was supposed to be, but had a disabling case of some skin affliction. Two large Jap battle forces approached the landing. The southern group coming through Surigao Strait was wiped out by our destroyers and our old battleships, raised from Pearl Harbor. The northern group got through unscathed and descended on the escort carriers and their feeble screen of destroyers and destroyer escorts. Two FLETCHER-class DDs and one DE charged the Jap battleships,
cruisers, and destroyers suicidally. They did considerable damage with their torpedoes and 5" guns before they went down. This all happened in late October, 1944. A little over a month later, I was on temporary duty in San Diego as a newly-minted CIC officer only 4 months out of civilan life. I read the action reports of the ships at Samar and Surigao Strait as part of my job, but didn't see the reports of the escort carriers and their air groups. The author combined them all and went into the prewar lives of various crew members. It is quite a story, marred by a good many errors about the ships and their equipment. He says the escort carriers were built on Liberty ship hulls. Nonsense, though they were all built at a Kaiser yard in WA. He has them powered by Skinner uniflow turbines, though Skinner uniflow engines are reciprocating steam engines. He names the radars wrong and says of the destroyer CICs that they had a 12-man surface search radar crew and a 12-man air search radar crew. The CIC I was in charge of on JOHN RODGERS (DD574) was the largest WW II version for those ships. The total crew there at GQ was not more than 12; with all the gear, you couldn't get 24 men into the compartment, let alone have them do anything. Then he has a crew member a merchant sailor on Liberty and Victory ships before the war. Those ships didn't exist before the war; a Hog Island WW I ship would be more likely. Gunnery department shipmates from the RODGERS tell me his claim of sustaine fire by the 5" guns of 18-22 rounds/minute is ridiculous. They once did 18 rounds for one minute. On Destroyer Squadron 25's 31 Jul 1945 sweep of Suruga Wan, the deepest penetration of Jap waters by U.S. surface ships before the end of the war, JOHN RODGERS averaged about 8 rounds/minute, and we were in a hurry to complete our assigned mission and get the hell out of there. It is a good story, though not in the league with Flags of Our Fathers, to which it has been compared. We can only echo Paul Fussell's eloquent essay, "Thank God For The Atom Bomb".
Rating: 
Summary: Incredible detail of the US Navy's greatest, battle...
Review: I wanted to give this book five stars but I will get into why I had to give four. I really reserve the 5 star rating for the best books I have ever read. The last half of this book fits this description but the first half falls short.
What I mean by this is the level of detail and the number of people described in the first half of the book, before the battle scenes. I found myself struggling to remember all the names because I knew I would want to remember them when the battles were described. I really wish the author would have developed the people when they were in action. I found it to be very difficult to remember the characters' previous development when the real action of this unbelievable story was described.
One more gripe...I feel I have to describe these gripes because the story is really incredible and I want whoever reads this to understand why I didn't give the book 5 stars. There are many awesome pictures in the book. Some of them are of people who don't figure in the story, or at least I couldn't remember where they were. I mention this because Bud Walton's picture is featured. I thought 'whoa I've missed something about him' but I couldn't find the detail. You see, Bud Walton is a huge figure where I'm from. The basketball arena here (for the Arkansaa Razorbacks) is named Bud Walton Arena and he was also the brother of Sam Walton (founder of Walmart).
Anyway, let me get into what is so incredible about this book. The sailors who put their lives on the line against seemingly unsurmountable odds were all heroes. I wonder if men comparable to them exist today. Would men charge into battle knowing they would probably die? We live in different times now but we should not ever forget the great sacrifices that the greatest generation gave in defense of our nation.
For many years the battle described in this book (the Battle off Samar) was not mentioned by the Navy. The author gets into these details and sheds a different light on some of the admirals who were perceived to be great, but may not deserve the accolades they received.
The book is incredible. I really liked it. I recommend it to any WWII buff like me or to anybody who wants to read about inspirational sacrifice and men who realized a sense of duty for their country.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best World War II books in some time
Review: In the last months of World War II, when the naval portion of the conflict in the Pacific was going very well for the United States Navy, the Japanese Navy contrived to attack one of American Navy's carrier groups with the one portion of the Japanese Navy which, though weakened, was still able to inflict some serious damage: their surface ships.
The target was one of three groups of small carriers that were intended primarily to provide anti-submarine and ground attack support for the invasion fleet and the troops that were carried on the ships. These three groups were codenamed Taffy One, Two, and Three. It was Taffy Three that was closest to the Japanese fleet, and consequently received the brunt of the Japanese attack.
Since the American carriers were small and intended for rear area service, their escort was provided by ships that were primarily intended to fight submarines: three destroyers and four destroyer escorts, the latter even smaller than the former. The Japanese, in contrast, deployed four battleships, eight heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and almost a dozen destroyers. This confrontation should have resulted in the destruction of the American fleet, but things didn't go just exactly the way they should have. Instead, the American escorts improbably counterattacked, and the carriers launched all of their remaining planes and counterattacked the Japanese fleet. Even more improbably, the American fleet survived, and mostly escaped to fight another day.
James Hornfischer does an excellent job of recounting the battle off Samar, though his account is almost completely from the American side. He concentrates especially on the three destroyers who made their near-suicidal attack (two of them were sunk, the third damaged) on the Japanese fleet, and on the one destroyer escort (USS Samuel B. Roberts) that participated in their attack and was sunk as a result. The account of the battle itself occupies the middle half of the text, and is frankly very well-written and suspenseful.
The author also does a decent job of placing the battle in context, avoiding the cultural-relativist silliness of "Flyboys" and by contrast spending a good deal of time discussing the veterans groups that contain the survivors of these vessels. The book does a very good job of recounting everything involved in the battle, using a series of intentionally drawn maps and some good illustrations, including the one that shows a Japanese cruiser shooting at the carrier USS Gambier Bay.
This is a very good book, marred very slightly by some technical and historical errors. I don't have any qualifications to discuss most of the technical errors (I wouldn't know one steam engine from another) but I did catch a few of the historical ones. For instance, the author repeats the statement that the Gambier Bay was the first aircraft carrier sunk by surface gunfire, when of course HMS Glorious was sunk by the Scharnhorst and Gneisnau off Norway in 1940. Frankly, small errors like that don't detract from the narrative that much, though you have to wonder why they didn't have a fact-checker read the manuscript before publication to catch such things.
That being said, this is one of the best accounts of a World War II surface battle that I've read in a long while, and I would heartily recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A Thrilling Story of Courage and Heroism
Review: James D. Hornfischer has vividly brought to life one of the shining moments of the U.S. Navy in World War II in this excellent book. In October, 1944, the Americans began landing at Leyte Gulf to begin their push to re-take the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur's vital transport ships were unloading men and supplies, but the Japanese had devised a plan to trap the lightly-armed transports in a pincher movement, destroy the American beachhead, and deal a devastating blow to the invasion plans.
The success of the Japanese plans hinged on Admiral William Halsey, commander of the mighty 3rd fleet, taking the bait that the Japanese had left for him. Japanese Admiral Ozawa had positioned his carriers north of the Philippines with the hope of drawing Halsey and his fast carriers and battleships away from Leyte so two other powerful Japanese fleets approaching through Surigao Strait and San Bernadino Strait could link up and destroy the now unprotected American beachhead. Halsey, always hungry for a fight, fell for the trap and sped north to attack the Japanese flattops. Unknown to him, the Japanese had flown virtually all of their planes off the carriers, leaving them virtually empty and of little value anyway. Halsey's terrible blunder left San Bernadino Strait wide open for the hard-charging Admiral Kurita and his battleships and cruisers. The only American ships in his way were six "jeep" carriers, along with some destroyers and destroyer escorts. But these brave little ships would put up a fight the likes the navy had never seen before and save MacArthur's beachhead in the process.
For over two hours, the tiny American armada slugged it out with the vastly superior Japanese force. Surviving by improvisation, the Americans attacked with makeshift weapons and uncommon valor. The brave little destroyers and destroyer escorts charged unafraid into the teeth of the enemy fleet to get close enough to launch their torpedoes at the enemy. Under the brilliant guidance of Admiral Clifton "Ziggy" Sprague, the Americans held off the Japanese fleet while the escort carriers made good their escape. The cost of this battle was high, as the Americans lost five ships and over one thousand sailors, but their heroic actions saved MacArthur's vital beachhead from Japanese attack.
This is an excellent book, and the battle is described in very vivid detail. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and interviews from both American and Japanese sources, as well as many declassified documents, James Hornfischer puts the reader right in the heart of battle. The uncommon valor of these heroic men is etched on every page, and the action is non-stop. I highly recommend this fine work of naval history. Read it and get an idea of what it was like to charge headlong into battle against overwhelming odds as well as capturing the true essence of heroism, loyalty, and honor.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Stand was a Proud One
Review: James D. Hornfischer has written a superb book on a little known naval battle that may stand as one of the most heroic efforts by the United States Navy in it's long and illustrious history. The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors focuses on a period of a few days in October 1944, during a time when the invasion of the Philippines was just underway and the Japanese Navy was doing all it could to hurl the American invasion back into the sea. Early on the morning of October 25, 1944 Taffy 3, made up of six U.S. escort carriers and a screen of eight destroyers stumbled into a vastly superior Japanese naval force made up of four battleships, eight cruisers, and eleven destroyers. The Japanese fleet was within range of the American force virtually before either group was aware of the presence of the other. The Japanese began bombarding Taffy 3 almost immediately. To save the carriers, the small force of American destroyers and destroyer escorts throw themselves at the Japanese task force believing that by sacrificing themselves they can buy precious time for the American carriers and allow them to flee southward toward another grouping of friendly ships. Naval aviators from Taffy 3 also do all they can to thwart the on rushing Japanese, but many planes are launched quickly from the carriers armed with the wrong type of ordinance. Still, between the attacking aircraft and destroyers, they manage to slow, at least temporarily, the Japanese fleet. In the end three American destroyers are sunk and nearly 1000 sailors and airmen die. Though the battle was small two huge firsts took place on October 25, 1944. The first and only American aircraft carrier was sunk by enemy naval surface gun fire. Also, October 25 marked the first successful kamikaze attack of World War II. Well written and well researched The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors will be an easy read...it is gripping and a page turner. One aspect that Hornfischer is clear on is the cause of the battle. He clearly feels that Halsey must bear most of the blame for this near disaster. Halsey was guarding the northern flank of Taffy 3. Though the attack that nearly distroyed Taffy 3 came from the West, Halsey was not in position to give assistance since he had run off to the north looking for a rumored grouping of Japanese aircraft carriers. Disaster was averted to be sure, but only because of the heroism of the skippers of three destroyers and their crews. If you're a history lover then you'll love this book.
Rating:
Summary: The real face of battle...
Review: Jim Hornfischer has put together a magnificent story of a battle which has generally received too little attention. The Battle of Samar, one of four major naval actions in the Leyte Campaign, has been somewhat obscured because of errors made by two high-ranking admirals, Halsey and Kinkaid.
In short, Samar is the battle resulting when Halsey headed north with his fast carriers, allowing the Japanese Admiral Kurita to get into the small task groups of "jeep" carriers, which were protected only by small screens of destroyers and destroyer escorts. These little escort carriers were mostly assigned anti-submarine duties in covering McArthur's landings on Leyte.
Thanks to nearly suicidal attacks by destroyers Hoel, Johnston, and Heermann, and the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts, Kurita's cruisers were badly battered, and Kurita himself was demoralized, so he retreated. The escort carriers Gambier Bay and St. Lo were lost, as well as the Hoel, Johnston, and Roberts. Over 800 American sailors died, compared to thousands of Japanese.
Many blame the American admiral, Kinkaid, for the much delayed rescue effort which could have saved many more surviving U. S. sailors.
This is a very well-written and researched history, which puts a most human slant on the horrors of war. Hornfischer's prose will bring tears to your eyes.
Rating:
Summary: Edge-of-Your-Seat History
Review: Only once in a great while does a book come along that manages to combine the authentic historical detail with the fast pace of the thriller. Many good books have been written on the subject of the Battle off Samar from the perspective of the Japanese admirals who led the attack, from the point of view of the American commanders who fought against them, and by those who showed us the valiance of the escort carriers. What has been missing was a view of the fighting as it was experienced by the tin cans. Jim Hornfischer has filled that void with a book filled with personal detail yet told in an edge-of-your-seat fashion that will hold the reader's attention page after page.
Hornfischer shows us rather than tells us of the saga as it unfolds and he provides insights into the lives and backgrounds of those who fought and those who died in what many call the most valiant battle in naval history. He analyzes the strategy and tactics, when right and when outguessed, and presents us with a vista of action as though we were there on deck ourselves, adrenaline pumping as our ship dodges shells and maneuvers to attack Imperial Japanese Naval Forces many times our own size. He depicts the courage and dedication of the defenders in the face of impossible odds and the valor they showed as the destroyers HOEL, HEERMAN, and JOHNSTON, and the destroyer escorts SAMUEL B ROBERTS, DENNIS, RAYMOND and JOHN C BUTLER gave as good as they got.
This is an important book and one that everyone interested in naval history should read and one that every destroyer veteran should have in his personal library. If you read only one destroyer book about the war in the Pacific, The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors should be that book.
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