- The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
Infobox Book
name = The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
image_caption =
author =James D. Hornfischer
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country =
language = English
subject =Military history ,World War II
publisher =Bantam Books
pub_date =February 3 ,2004
media_type = Print (Hardcover &Paperback )
pages = 512
isbn = ISBN 978-0553802573 (hc)
oclc =The nonfiction book "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour" is the first full narrative account of the
Battle off Samar , which authorJames D. Hornfischer calls the greatest upset in the history of naval warfare. Published byBantam Books in February 2004, the book won theSamuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature in 2004 from the Naval Order of the United States.A Main Selection of the
Book-of-the-Month Club and theMilitary Book Club , the book tells the story of the remarkable two-and-a-half-hour sea battle fought onOctober 25 ,1944 , in which ordinary sailors of Rear AdmiralClifton A. F. Sprague 's task unit, known as "Taffy 3 " (7th Fleet's Task Unit 77.4.3), of "jeep carriers" and their "tin can" escorts rose to the impossible challenge of beating back an overwhelming force of Japanesebattleship s andcruiser s under Vice Adm.Takeo Kurita . Survivors of the four U.S. ships lost in the battle — USS "Hoel" (DD-533), USS "Johnston" (DD-557), USS "Samuel B. Roberts" (DE-413), and USS "Gambier Bay" (CVE-73) — then struggled to survive a three-day-ordeal adrift at sea awaiting rescue. A fifth ship from Taffy 3, theescort carrier USS "St. Lo" (CVE-63), was sunk in akamikaze attack immediately following the Japanese withdrawal.Two TV documentaries based on Hornfischer's book have been produced. The first of them, produced by
Lou Reda Productions and premiering onThe History Channel onNovember 11 ,2005 , featured interviews with Hornfischer and veterans of the battle. It was followed by an episode of "Dogfights" on the History Channel, titled "The Death of the Japanese Navy," premiering onDecember 29 ,2006 , which featured a sophisticated CGI rendition of the sea battle. In another Program Called Battle 360, there were series of Episodes on the island hopping Campaign with USS Enterprise. One such episode dealt with the Battle of Leyte Gulf.External links
* [http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/events/2005-06-21-jamesHornfischer.jsp Interview] with James D. Hornfischer at the
Pritzker Military Library See also
* RADM
Clifton Sprague
* CDRErnest E. Evans
* LCDRRobert W. Copeland
* USS "Hoel" (DD-533)
* USS "Johnston" (DD-557)
* USS "Heermann" (DD-532)
* USS "Samuel B. Roberts" (DE-413)
* USS "Gambier Bay" (CVE-73)
* USS "St. Lo" (CVE-63)
*Battle off Samar
* [http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=57995&display_order=2&mini_id=57954 Battle 360 - BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF History Channel]
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