Tin Can Sailors

[Renegade One]

After a bit of summer reading...some P.T. Deutermann novels...the latest of which was "Pacific Glory"...focusing mainly on the destroyer actions during the battle off Samar, I kind of got a bug in my ass about small-boy actions in WWII. Currently binge-watching the best movies that I know of..."The Cruel Sea", "The Enemy Below" and "Greyhound". Are there others?

I also wonder if today's "Tin Can Sailors"...e,g., today's CRUDES SWOs...understand and appreciate the legacy that is theirs to continue and uphold. Any SWOs here who can comment? I know (or at least think) that AEGIS and TLAM dominate all thinking ...but it there an appreciation of the small-boy legacy of taking it in-close to the enemy when the chips are truly down?

 

[Gatordev]

but it there an appreciation of the small-boy legacy of taking it in-close to the enemy when the chips are truly down?

Just as long as they don't break CPA in the standing orders.

 

[Griz882]

If you are looking for a great read, try “A Measureless Peril: America in the fight for the Atlantic, the longest battle of World War II” it is a genuinely solid history yet well written for easy reading. I’ve been reading an old set of “Battle Reports,” a five volume series written by the U.S. Navy while WWII was underway. It is interesting to see what the Navy thought happened at some early battles as opposed to the facts of the matter learned after the war was over.

As for your question, it is a great one. When I read some of the comments posed on AW by SWOs it makes me sad to see how little they relate to that vast and magnificent history. A genuine failure by the navy in training their officers.

 

[Randy Daytona]

After a bit of summer reading...some P.T. Deutermann novels...the latest of which was "Pacific Glory"...focusing mainly on the destroyer actions during the battle off Samar, I kind of got a bug in my ass about small-boy actions in WWII. Currently binge-watching the best movies that I know of..."The Cruel Sea", "The Enemy Below" and "Greyhound". Are there others?

I also wonder if today's "Tin Can Sailors"...e,g., today's CRUDES SWOs...understand and appreciate the legacy that is theirs to continue and uphold. Any SWOs here who can comment? I know (or at least think) that AEGIS and TLAM dominate all thinking ...but it there an appreciation of the small-boy legacy of taking it in-close to the enemy when the chips are truly down?

USS Laffey (DD-459 a Benson class destroyer) engaged the battleship IJN Hiei at night less than 100 yards “too close for torpedoes, switching to guns”. The Laffey was so close that the Hiei coild not depress either its main guns or its secondaries to engage.

 

[GroundPounder]

USS Laffey (DD-459 a Benson class destroyer) engaged the battleship IJN Hiei at night less than 100 yards “too close for torpedoes, switching to guns”. The Laffey was so close that the Hiei coild not depress either its main guns or its secondaries to engage.

The USS Laffey is part of the museum at Patriots Point in Charleston, you can walk through the ship. I went with my Father in Law and he had served on a sister ship in the late 50s and showed us all the places they would hide things they were not supposed to have. The ship seems really small when you are on it, I can't imagine how small it felt whilst being engaged with the IJN.

If you make it to Patriots Point, the USS Yorktown is open as well.

 

[Duc'-guy25]

The USS Laffey is part of the museum at Patriots Point in Charleston, you can walk through the ship. I went with my Father in Law and he had served on a sister ship in the late 50s and showed us all the places they would hide things they were not supposed to have. The ship seems really small when you are on it, I can't imagine how small it felt whilst being engaged with the IJN.

If you make it to Patriots Point, the USS Yorktown is open as well.

View attachment 38467

Different LAFFEY, but same valid point (it’s predecessor was smaller).

 

[GroundPounder]

Different LAFFEY, but same valid point (it’s predecessor was smaller).

Thanks for the knowledge.

If the original was smaller, those guys were even more impressive.

 

[Randy Daytona]

The USS Laffey DD-724 in Charleston is an Allen M Sumner class destroyer: 376 ft in length, max gross of 3,500 tons. It mounted 6 (3x2) 5”/38 caliber guns as well as 12 40mm Bofors and 10 torpedo tubes. The Laffey that is a museum ship in Charleston is famous for surviving the most concentrated kamikaze attack of the war.

DD-459 USS Laffey mentioned earlier was a Benson class destroyer. 348 ft in length, it weighed 1/3 less at 2,474 tons. Armament was 4 single 5”/38 caliber guns, four 40mm Bofors and only half as many torpedo tubes (5). Although sunk in its engagement on 13 Nov 1942 with the battleship Hiei and Japanese destroyers ((Long Lance torpedo strike), it managed to inflict substantial damage on the Hiei at point blank range, wounding Vice Admiral Abe and killing his chief of staff on the bridge of the battleship.

 

[Gatordev]

The Laffey that is a museum ship in Charleston is famous for surviving the most concentrated kamikaze attack of the war.

Also, the development of stealth technology and time travel.

 

[Randy Daytona]

After a bit of summer reading...some P.T. Deutermann novels...the latest of which was "Pacific Glory"...focusing mainly on the destroyer actions during the battle off Samar, I kind of got a bug in my ass about small-boy actions in WWII. Currently binge-watching the best movies that I know of..."The Cruel Sea", "The Enemy Below" and "Greyhound". Are there others?

I also wonder if today's "Tin Can Sailors"...e,g., today's CRUDES SWOs...understand and appreciate the legacy that is theirs to continue and uphold. Any SWOs here who can comment? I know (or at least think) that AEGIS and TLAM dominate all thinking ...but it there an appreciation of the small-boy legacy of taking it in-close to the enemy when the chips are truly down?

If you want to go smaller, there are a couple of movies about PT Boats:

“They Were Expendable” with John Wayne

“PT-109” with Cliff Robertson as John F. Kennedy

 

[Griz882]

If you want to stick with the destroyer theme, however, try to catch “Okinawa” on one of the old movie channels. It is a bit formulaic, but has loads of WWII footage spliced in.

Okinawa (1952) - Plot - IMDb

Okinawa (1952) - Plot summary, synopsis, and more...

www.imdb.com

 

[Renegade One]

If you are looking for a great read, try “A Measureless Peril: America in the fight for the Atlantic, the longest battle of World War II” it is a genuinely solid history yet well written for easy reading.

Thanks for the recommendation. Reading it now, and very much enjoying it.