Update, its funny how one book effects another when you are reading history, I had finished “Devil Boats, the PT War Against Japan” where you learn just how vitally important those little plywood warships were to the US in the South Pacific right into the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

I am now reading “Japanese Destroyer Captain” by Tameichi Hara which is truly a fascinating history written from the other side of several instances included in “Devil Boats” but also in James Hornfisher’s “Neptune’s Inferno”, and “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors”.

Hara was in the “Tokyo Express” the night JFKs PT109 was rammed, and participated in many of the battles around the Solomon Islands campaign in Hornfishers book, it is really eye opening to read his perspective, especially on why the Japanese eventually lost naval battles so badly, rigid hierarchical command structure, dogmatic planning, and a complete failure to comprehend the vast industrial capacity and ever growing technological supremacy of the USA and their own fall off of seasoned veterans as the war went on. Early in the war Japanese relied on their vastly superior night-time action capabilities to surprise allied forces but radar and radar directed gunfire changed that overnight. He was also responsible for organizing Japans own PT boat training program, but far too late in the war to be effective.

I highly recommend this book for any WW2 history aficionado

Steve I still have Samurai on my to read list

Still reading Mitch Rapp series. Good stuff!

Vic Smith said:

I highly recommend this book for any WW2 history aficionado

Vic,

One that I found very interesting:

Operation Drumbeat: Germany’s U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II

Amazon has it for 99 cents for the Kindle Edition. A good read.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YCOP5M/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title

Bruce Chandler said:

Vic Smith said:

I highly recommend this book for any WW2 history aficionado

Vic,

One that I found very interesting:

Operation Drumbeat: Germany’s U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II

Amazon has it for 99 cents for the Kindle Edition. A good read.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YCOP5M/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title

Can anyone say “Long Beach Island” ?

Ric Golding said:

Bruce Chandler said:

Vic Smith said:

I highly recommend this book for any WW2 history aficionado

Vic,

One that I found very interesting:

Operation Drumbeat: Germany’s U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II

Amazon has it for 99 cents for the Kindle Edition. A good read.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YCOP5M/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title

Can anyone say “Long Beach Island” ?

Or “Indian River, DE?”

Back in July, while we were on the Yukon/Alaska trip, I came across the Martin Beck series. Except for one (the library hasn’t replaced the ruined copy yet) I read all of the series and I didn’t recognize the Sweden I seem to remember from '66/'67.

Vic Smith said:

Update, its funny how one book effects another when you are reading history, I had finished “Devil Boats, the PT War Against Japan” where you learn just how vitally important those little plywood warships were to the US in the South Pacific right into the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

I am now reading “Japanese Destroyer Captain” by Tameichi Hara which is truly a fascinating history written from the other side of several instances included in “Devil Boats” but also in James Hornfisher’s “Neptune’s Inferno”, and “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors”.

Hara was in the “Tokyo Express” the night JFKs PT109 was rammed, and participated in many of the battles around the Solomon Islands campaign in Hornfishers book, it is really eye opening to read his perspective, especially on why the Japanese eventually lost naval battles so badly, rigid hierarchical command structure, dogmatic planning, and a complete failure to comprehend the vast industrial capacity and ever growing technological supremacy of the USA and their own fall off of seasoned veterans as the war went on. Early in the war Japanese relied on their vastly superior night-time action capabilities to surprise allied forces but radar and radar directed gunfire changed that overnight. He was also responsible for organizing Japans own PT boat training program, but far too late in the war to be effective.

I highly recommend this book for any WW2 history aficionado

Steve I still have Samurai on my to read list

I remember my Naval History prof telling me that since all of our Battleships were on the bottom of Pearl Harbor, during the early days of WWII, we used our PT Boats as Destroyers, our Destroyers as Cruisers, and our Cruisers as Battleships. This probably lasted until mid 1943, when the BB’s wear re-floated and refitted.

LCDR Bluckley, the Naval Officer who ran the PT boats in the Philippines in late '41 and early '42, and evacuated MacArthur from Corregedor to Mindinao where he (Mac) then caught a plane to Australia, stayed in the Navy, and served into the 1980s. When he retired, he was the President of the Board of Inspection and Survey, the dreaded INSURV, the only Naval Inspection mandated by Congress. It is that Board that inspects Navy ships as they are being built, just prior to being accepted by the Navy, and periodically during the ship’s service life. Woe be unto a crew that fails to live up to INSURV standards.

I had the honor of meeting Admiral Blukley, under unusual circumstances. This was just a day or two prior to Acceptance Trials (read INSURV Inspection) aboard USS MCCLUSKY). I was in Main Engine Room (MER) Number 2, inspecting one of the First Aid Boxes, double checking that everything was ready for the upcoming Acceptance Trials. Since we were not yet in commission, and the ship still belonged to the shipyard, none of our crew were in the engine room, and, it being late in the day, there were no yard birds, either, or so I thought. Just as I finished my inspection and inventory of the First Aid Box, I heard a noise behind me, and being curious, I went to see what it was.

What I found was this really old guy, in dirty coveralls, with no identification badge, and a pair of channel locks in his hand. I asked him to identify himself, and explain what he was doing in the MER. In rather salty language, he told me to preform an anatomical impossibility. In response, I politely informed him in my best chiefly manner that we were going topside, and get to the bottom of this. Being three inches taller than him, out weighing him by a few stone, and being probably 40 years younger than him, he decided to comply.

As we approached the Quarter Deck, imagine my surprise when the Prospective Commanding Officer of MCCLUSKY saluted the old man and said, “Good evening, Admiral, how can I help your?” I knew then that I was going to jail.

The Admiral said, “You can introduce me to this Chief Petty Officer,” and then proceeded to tell the Skipper what had happened in MER No. 2. Apparently, I had done a good thing, challenging an intruder, which was just what the Admiral wanted to see if I would do.

That was my introduction to Vice Admiral Blukley.

Bad news. Tom Clancy died today.

Sic Transit Gloria.

RIP

Thats a great story

Sad about Clancy, not much of a fan of the fiction stuff but a massive fan of the Sea Hunters series

Steve I am almost done with Japanese Destroyer Captain, I really think you would find the story compelling, particularly Hara’s opinions on why Japan failed in the South Pacific, he point out Japan hoarding its big guns safely at truk while piecemealing small warships like destroyers to the Solomons not allowing the largest warships to participate until near the very end (Leyte) all the while blatantly ignoring that they had lost air supremacy so when they were committed they were often sunk by airpower before they even got anywhere near close to US forces.

I think you’d also get a kick out of Devil Boats, interesting tidbit, who shot down the first Japanese airplane of WW2, it was from a PT boat stationed in Pearl, just minutes after the attack began. Two of the crew had been doing maintenance on the twin 50’s when the attack began, they were firing within a minute after they saw the bombs dropping and bagged at least 2 planes.

Vic Smith said:

Thats a great story

Sad about Clancy, not much of a fan of the fiction stuff but a massive fan of the Sea Hunters series

Steve I am almost done with Japanese Destroyer Captain, I really think you would find the story compelling, particularly Hara’s opinions on why Japan failed in the South Pacific, he point out Japan hoarding its big guns safely at truk while piecemealing small warships like destroyers to the Solomons not allowing the largest warships to participate until near the very end (Leyte) all the while blatantly ignoring that they had lost air supremacy so when they were committed they were often sunk by airpower before they even got anywhere near close to US forces.

I think you’d also get a kick out of Devil Boats, interesting tidbit, who shot down the first Japanese airplane of WW2, it was from a PT boat stationed in Pearl, just minutes after the attack began. Two of the crew had been doing maintenance on the twin 50’s when the attack began, they were firing within a minute after they saw the bombs dropping and bagged at least 2 planes.

Interesting that a PT boat crew bagged the first kill on Japanese aircraft. I’m sure you know that it was a Reserve Tin Can, that had flunked its Refresher Training and was doing penance just outside the mouth of Pearl Harbor, that fired the first shot of the battle, and bagged a midget sub. That wasn’t confirmed until 2005 or so when somebody finally went down and took a look.

I think the Japanese lost their Mojo at Midway, when they lost those 4 carriers. Yeah, that was a setback, but one they could have recovered from, I think. Loosing Yamamoto a few months later just sealed the deal. After they lost him, they had no great strategic thinker. That’s when the Army started to run the Navy, with disastrous results. Its been said that by shooting him down, we might have extended the war by at least 18 months, because Yamamoto probably could have replaced Togo as Prime Minister, and sued for peace in early '44. We’ll never know.

USS Ward. A midget also got into Pearl and managed to its torpedoes. PBS did an excellent show diagramming all the evidence. It was either Nova or Secrets of the Dead.

I’m taking a break from WW2 to read “The Box, How the shipping container made the world smaller and the world economy bigger” on how a simple concept to streamline shipping time and costs effected pretty much the whole world, millions of people livelihoods and changed the way we produce and sell products from local sources to a global scale, it also explains how centuries old ports became obsolete with the advent of the new idea, which was fought tooth and nail BTW by both labor (understandably) but also by old established ship owners

Finished “The Box” a short time ago, I can highly recommend this if you have ANY interest in how the cargo container came to dominate world trade and effectively change the world of manufacturing as we know it. Good easy to read, no dry academic reading, but alot of cool history. BTW RRs were the LAST to get on board, despite it being the predominate part of their business today

I am now reading “Dead Funny”, very surprising and scary insight into just what people in Germany were thinking, and how much they really knew about what was going on, being reflected in the jokes, in nutzie Germany.

Vic, since you’ve finished Last Stand ofthe tin Can Sailors, here’s one that you might be interested in: **For Crew and Country, The Inspirational True Story of Bravery and Sacrifice Aboard the USS Samuel B. Roberts .** I especially like the Skipper’s Battle Cry, “Men,” he said over the intercom, “we are about to go into a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected.” The Lakota had a shorter phrase, “Today is a good day to die.”

I have to get through Neptune’s Inferno and Tin Can first, but it is on my Droid.

Thanks Steve, be sure to read “Neptune’s Inferno” first, I wish I had. “Tin Can” dovetails into it chronologically. Reading Neptune first gives insights into the harsh learning curve the US Navy went thru that later shows how much they had learned by the time of the Leyte Gulf battles.

I finished Dead Funny and a small book about Hitlers planned attacks on the US East Coast, very interesting to see how far they and what fantastical plans they had proposed. Everything from ultra long range bombers that never got funded, Dr Sangers Silverbird rocketplane, to submersible V2 silos towed behind U boats, all a day late and a dollar short.

I am currently reading K-19 The Widowmaker, about the Ruskies nuclear missleboat program and how insanely dangerous the early boats were to the their crews

Just finished A History of Howard Johnson’s by Anthony Michael Sammarco

My parents loved HoJo’s - I was most likely in Junior High before I realized there were other restaurants in existence -

I read “The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce, so it was almost a given to read “Perfect” by the same author. Both are somewhat quirky books, but interesting. And … I got a refresher course in English terminology.

Since around the first of 2014, I’ve been reading the Brad Thor’s Series, suggested by Ken and as good as he said it would be.

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series… first time since I was 14 or so. Checking them for appropriateness for my grandson. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I am currently reading “The Way of a Ship” by John Lundy, which is a semi-biographical story of one of his ancestors who crewed on a large four masted sailing iron barque from Ireland around Cape Horn to South America in the 1880’s, its a wealth of history of how these massive ship were handled using nothing but wind and current to get halfway around the world.

This is a “must read” for any fan of sail.