Blood on the Sea : American Destroyers Lost in World War II

Blood on the Sea: American Destroyers Lost in World War II "Seventy-one United States Navy destroyers were lost in the Second World War, sixty of them in battle, the other eleven to weather or mines. These 1000-ton vessels were fast, highly armed, and designed to seek out the enemy--a brave and dangerous task. In this meticulously researched book, Parkin describes the history of each individual ship from launch to its final hours. Through these stories we travel from the stormy North Atlantic to the calm Mediterranean, from the East Coast of the United States to the vast reaches of the Pacific, on destroyers from the USS Reuben James to the USS Callaghan. Seldom has a book so well depicted the enormous scale of our simultaneous war against Germany and Japan--and the dedication of the young fighting men who carried it out. We join these men as they engage the enemy and enact pitched battles with German submarines, Japanese kamikaze pilots, or long-range cruisers."--Page [4] cover Seventy-one American destroyers went down during World War II, and this meticulously researched book describes the history of each—from launch to the ship's final hours. Through these stories we travel from the stormy North Atlantic to the calm Mediterranean, from the East Coast of the United States to the vast reaches of the Pacific, on destroyers from the USS Reuben James to the USS Callaghan. We join them—and their crews of young soldiers—as they engage the enemy and do pitched battle with German submarines, Japanese kamikaze pilots, or long-range cruisers. Filled with eyewitness accounts, precise statistics, and historical contexts for each battle and each ship sunk, Blood on the Sea serves as both a tribute to these lost ships and a critical reference guide for historians and veterans alike. A veteran of the quasi-war with France (during which time he had been captured), James saved the life of his commanding officer, Captain Stephen Decatur, during the Barbary Wars when he interposed himself between a corsair's slashing scimitar and the unarmed captain. First time in paperback: A unique portrait of American military action through the stories of the seventy-one U.S. destroyers sunk in World War II.