The book hits it's stride about 100 pages in and doesn't let up from there. The stories of courage and daring are so amazing if it were a novel it would seem over the top. Great history telling. ( )

With their chances of winning WW2 quickly waning, Imperial Japan hurls one last Pacific offensive against the US at Leyte Gulf. Devising a three-prong attack with top and bottom feints designed to draw US ships away from the center, Japan nearly pulled off a dramatic victory. Against all odds and logic, the center held. This story draws the focus of WW2 down to that center offensive through the San Bernardino straight—where dramatically over-matched US forces stymied what should have been overwhelming forces. There is some well-handled big picture stuff, but the guts and glory of this book is the staggering amount of detail about the American “oil can sailors” and their fate. Once it gets rolling the narrative will take your breath away. Shifting perspective from ship to ship during the course of the battle could have made the book uneven but the tempo never slows.So much is going on, and clearly related, that I kept being stunned when given a time check reminding me almost everything was happening within a 6am to 8am window. Because of the often staggering amount of detail, kept having flashbacks of the first time I saw SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and their assault on Omaha Beach. Even a watered down filming of this could have the same effect. If you love the sea and history, how people and rise and fall confronted by hell, then grab a copy of this and pull up a deck chair. ( )

Top account of Leyte Gulf fight in the Philippines when just a few small pocket carriers took on the last big Japanese fleet. ( )

I can see the movie poster now "OUTGUNNED OUTNUMBERED CHANCES: NIL" this is the sequel to 'Midway'. ( )

Six escort carriers and their escorts take on a Japanese force intent on bombarding the Philippines beachheads. 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 the book's author, James D. Hornfischer, calls the greatest upset in the history of naval warfare. ( )

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors is a story about extraordinary bravery in a bleak situation. Due to misunderstandings and personal pride the American Navy had opened up a big gap in their lines at Leyte during the invasion of the Philippines. This let the last remains of Japan's Imperial Navy, including the world's largest battleships, attack a group of Escort Carriers (budget carriers) and their weak escort outside the island of Samar. Instead of running, the escort Destroyers (and Destroyer Escorts; budget Destroyers) counter-attacked to win some time at a very high personal cost.

This book describes the battle from a number of angles letting you see many different aspects of the encounter and after reading this book, you are probably able to understand what happened much better than before.

Still, there is a number of weaknesses in the narrative that makes me stay at 3 out of 5 stars. It's an interesting book, but if feels incomplete, and it seems based too heavily on a few people's stories (which after all this time will be flawed due to human nature and imperfection).

The major gap in the story is the Japanese side. What did the Japanese ships see and do? Why did they do so much? Why did they keep missing? Did they keep missing? A lot of interesting questions that are barely touched, or analyzed. The first mention of this topic was at the very end where the author says it would be interesting to have more Japanese sources. Yes, it would.

Without "the other side" this book becomes too one-sided. There is too little contrast to weigh the extraordinary against, when everything is described as extraordinary. You can read it as a hero story, but I expected more. Less "we were so good", more "this guy really did something special, as you can see when you compare with these other guys that did differently".

There is also a long-time question about how come Admiral Halsey could leave Admiral Kinkaid's northern flank unprotected. The topic is touched in the book but there are no conclusions, and in general I think the author isn't interested in poking too deep in that failure, and any author that leaves out the failures exposes his full production to doubt. ( )

Great book about a lesser known but important naval battle during the Pacific Campaign of WWII. ( )

I am awestruck by the level of detail in this book. Very thorough as to the battle details and about the lives of the men in it. Some of the things I got out of it:
- The confusion of battle was very clearly shown. Not just in the early stages, but even later in the book even though details were known, the big picture was not grasped by anyone.
- Even without the big picture, commanders of the little tin cans knew what they had to do and did it, as did aircraft pilots.

It was an engrossing read, especially the last half of the book. I see many excellent reviews on this book already, so this suffices for me. ( )

An enthralling and wonderfully researched story about an unknown (to me) event during the war in the Pacific. Hornfischer does a great job of putting you on the ships involved, enough so that I felt as if I was dodging the incoming fire from the Japanese as these destroyers made their stand. ( )

A penetrative and well-done portrayal of a David beats Goliath Victory by the U. S Navy during WW2 ( )

I listened to this incredible David vs Goliath page-turner on CD and eventually realized that it was (horrors) an abridgement! Hey, now that I think of it, wasn't it Gladwell that wrote of that Biblical David's, actual advantages? The USN had several things going for them as well, including air power and some small but incredibly accurate naval guns. If anyone is interested in WW II books or fearless heroes, you've got to read this one. I'll be re-visiting the unabridged version, very soon. ( )

"Our schoolchildren should know about [this] incident, and our enemies should ponder it."

In late October 1944 the US Navy guarded the seas off the Philippines protecting the return of General MacArthur. With the 7th Fleet (Kinkaid) guarding from the south, and the 3rd Fleet (Halsey) guarding the north, those in the middle didn't expect to see much action. But Japan knew it's days were numbered and invented a daring plan to protect their position and resources in the Philippines by attacking from both sides. Kinkaid's troops soundly defeated Nishimura and Shima in the Surigao Strait, but Halsey abandoned the San Bernardino Strait in the north after a minor skirmish and took the bait offered by Ozawa and was drawn away to the north. This let Kurita through and left the small destroyers and carrier escorts of Taffy 3 to bear the full brunt of the largest ships to ever sail the seas.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the men put up a brave front against the monstrous Japanese ships, trying to protect the important small carriers. Between daring torpedo runs by the destroyer escorts (known to the sailors as "tin cans") and relentless attacks by those planes which were able to get airborne (almost all without proper armaments and some without any at all) the Americans put up such a fierce fight that Kurita was unsure of the true strength he faced, even thinking it was the absent Halsey. In the end he suffered serious losses and retreated, but not before sinking 3 destroyers and the only American carrier sunk by enemy surface fire. (The battle also saw the first sinking of an American ship by a feared new Japanese weapon - the kamikaze suicide pilot - when the St. Lo of Taffy 2 was sunk.)

This is an excellent and highly inspirational account of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, or more specifically the Battle off Samar, fought by the men of Taffy 3 Task Unit. While Halsey skillfully and unjustly took credit for the victory, the bravery of the men who fought it generally went unsung. They endured relentless pounding by far bigger ships with bigger bombs and many spent 48 hours floating in the wide ocean waiting for a rescue that came shamefully late. But this is a story of the kind of bravery that won the war in the Pacific - even retreating Japanese soldiers saluted the men in the water as they steamed by. It's the kind of story that makes you appreciate the incredible valor and sacrifices men made during the war.

I've seen a number of comparisons to Flags of Our Fathers, and while this book is every bit as good, I found it a bit more challenging to read due mainly to my unfamiliarity with ships and planes. But once I stopped worrying about trying to understand and remember all the technical details it became a lot more enjoyable. I *highly* recommend this book. ( )

A very easy book to read and an excellent account of a battle that's always interested me. I was compelled to read the book after watching a Military Channel program that featured the author. This book hit all the spots I wanted it to - both sides although naturally more the US side, the ships and planes covered, the actors very well covered, the human angle, and (if I may use the word) the romance of the place and time.

As a side note, I have a model of "The Gambier Bay" to make to which I've added "The Chikuma"! Both key vessels in the battle. ( )

Very good description of the ships and men who fought in the Battle of Samar Island in Oct 1944. The ships on the US side were all out gunned and outmanned by the Japanes ships. The bravery of these men was beyond description given the odds against them, but they prevailed. Listening to the description of the battle and the ships' size vs the larger and more powerful foes was somewhat lost because no maps or relative pictures were available,, which I assume is present in written volume. Four stars ( )

A great story about one of the greatest moments in US naval history. I'm glad I read it, but I really wish there had been more analysis, documentation and facts. This is the story of the sailors involved on that terrible day, not so much about the battle itself. A great tribute to those sailors. ( )

Not normally a huge fan of nonfiction history books because of the intense ratlling off of names, places, dates, and weaponry, I found this one a page-turner. It still served to increase my distrust of those in high military rank doing what it is right. Too many cover ups of those in charge at the expense of the "little guy." Halsey should have been court-martialed! To give him some credit, however, hindsight is always 20/20. Overall, a good read. It still had LOTS of names and places which made it hard to distinguish which ship sometimes, but it had a lasting impression of the horror of war and the isolation of fighting a battle on the sea. ( )

Very good, detailed account of the action of small carriers, ships and pilots against a big Japanese fleet towards the end of the war. ( )

For some time (encouraged by my WWII buff/hubby) I have been interested in Taffy 3. This is a wonderful and very detailed look at the battle off Samar, October, 1944. The essential information about Taffy 3's accomplishments is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_off_Samar. This book provides a lot more detail.

4363. The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, by James D. Hornfischer (read 22 Sep 2007) This is an exceptionally moving account of the naval action off the Philippine island of Samar in October 1944. While I have read lots re World War II the extraordinary drama connected to this battle never was brought home to me till I read this book. I found it a very emotionally moving book, even though my personal connection to the battle is confined to an undistinguished couple years in the Navy some seven or so years after the battle. ( )

Hornfishcher's stirring recounting of the desperate Battle off Samar during the Leyte Gulf battles was a page turner. Excellent, excellent retelling of this critical action between an overwhelming force of Japanese surface ships including the legendary Yamato, and a much smaller force American support ships including escort carriers, destroyers and destroyer escorts.

Hornfischer's account focuses on the desperate sortie of a handful of destroyers and escorts, their momentary success, and inevitable destruction. He relies on the accounts of mostly American survivors to weave together a wrenching narrative.

Though mostly focused on the sacrifice of the destroyers, their captains and crews, there are also accounts of the jeep carrier pilots, poorly armed to equipped to attack the heavily armored Japanese behemoths.

A must read for anyone interested in the naval war in the Pacific. ( )

Fascinating, educational, a quick read that painted a full picture of what the battle must've been like. I could really imagine being on the boat - and if a book transports me, I like it. ( )

The most dramatic account of any sea battle I have ever read. You get an up close and personal look at being on one of those destroyer escorts running into point blank range of the Japanese battleships and heavy cruisers. ( )