US Navy Destroyer Escorts of World War II
US Navy Destroyer Escorts of World War II

Author: Mark Lardas

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-11-26

Total Pages: 49

ISBN-13: 1472839757

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The Destroyer Escort was the smallest ocean-­going escort built for the United States Navy – a downsized destroyer with less speed, fewer guns, and fewer torpedoes than its big brother, the fleet destroyer. Destroyer escorts first went into production because the Royal Navy needed an escort warship which was larger than a corvette, but which could be built faster than a destroyer. Lacking the shipyards to build these types of ships in Britain, they ordered them in the US. Once the US unexpectedly entered World War II, its navy suddenly also needed more escort warships, even warships less capable than destroyers, and the destroyer escort was reluctantly picked to fill the gap. Despite the Navy's initial reservations, these ships did yeoman service during World War II, fighting in both the Atlantic and Pacific, taking on both U-boat and Japanese submarines and serving as the early warning pickets against kamikazes later in the war. They also participated in such dramatic actions as the Battle of Samar (where a group of destroyers and destroyer escorts fought Japanese battleships and cruisers to protect the escort carriers they were shielding) and the capture of the U-505 (the only major naval vessel captured at sea by the US Navy). The destroyer escorts soldiered on after World War II in both the United States Navy and a large number of navies throughout the world, with several serving into the twenty-first century. This book tells the full story of these plucky ships, from their design and development to their service around the world, complete with stunning illustrations and contemporary photographs.

The Buckley-class Destroyer Escorts
The Buckley-class Destroyer Escorts

Author: Bruce Hampton Franklin

Publisher: US Naval Institute Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13:

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The text describes the development of the class, armament, major conversion programs, differences between the American and British ships, and the operational history of Buckleys in the U.S. and Royal Navies. Throughout the book, recollections and contemporary observations from the men who served aboard these ships are used to provide a personal touch to the history of these "Little Wolves."

Atlantic Escorts
Atlantic Escorts

Author: David Brown

Publisher: Seaforth Publishing

Published: 2007-11-15

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1844157024

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Winston Churchill famously claimed that the submarine war in the Atlantic was the only campaign of the Second World War that really frightened him. If the lifeline to north America had been cut, Britain would never have survived; there could have been no build-up of US and Commonwealth forces, no D-Day landings, and no victory in western Europe. Furthermore, the battle raged from the first day of the war until the final German surrender, making it the longest and arguably hardest-fought campaign of the whole war. The ships, technology and tactics employed by the Allies form the subject of this book. Beginning with the lessons apparently learned from the First World War, the author outlines inter-war developments in technology and training, and describes the later preparations for the second global conflict. When the war came the balance of advantage was to see-saw between U-boats and escorts, with new weapons and sensors introduced at a rapid rate. For the defending navies, the prime requirement was numbers, and the most pressing problem was to improve capability without sacrificing simplicity and speed of construction. The author analyses the resulting designs of sloops, frigates, corvettes and destroyer escorts and attempts to determine their relative effectiveness.

Tin Cans and Greyhounds
Tin Cans and Greyhounds

Author: Clint Johnson

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2019-02-12

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1621577678

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For men on destroyer-class warships during World War I and World War II, battles were waged “against overwhelming odds from which survival could not be expected.” Those were the words Lieutenant Commander Robert Copeland calmly told his crew as their tiny, unarmored destroyer escort rushed toward giant, armored Japanese battleships at the Battle off Samar on October 25, 1944. This action-packed narrative history of destroyer-class ships brings readers inside the half-inch-thick hulls to meet the men who fired the ships' guns, torpedoes, hedgehogs, and depth charges. Nicknamed "tin cans" or "greyhounds," destroyers were fast escort and attack ships that proved indispensable to America's military victories. Beginning with destroyers' first incarnation as torpedo boats in 1874 and ending with World War II, author Clint Johnson shares the riveting stories of the Destroyer Men who fought from inside a "tin can"—risking death by cannons, bombs, torpedoes, fire, and drowning. The British invented destroyers, the Japanese improved them, and the Germans failed miserably with them. It was the Americans who perfected destroyers as the best fighting ship in two world wars. Tin Cans & Greyhounds compares the designs of these countries with focus on the old, modified World War I destroyers, and the new and numerous World War II destroyers of the United States. Tin Cans & Greyhounds details how destroyers fought submarines, escorted convoys, rescued sailors and airmen, downed aircraft, shelled beaches, and attacked armored battleships and cruisers with nothing more than a half-inch of steel separating their crews from the dark waves.

Destroyers At Normandy: Naval Gunfire Support At Omaha Beach [Illustrated Edition]
Destroyers At Normandy: Naval Gunfire Support At Omaha Beach [Illustrated Edition]

Author: William B. Kirkland

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2015-11-06

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 1786257653

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Includes numerous maps and illustrations. This monograph provides first-hand accounts of Destroyer Squadron 18 during this critical battle upon which so much of the success of our campaign in Europe would depend. Their experience at Omaha Beach can be looked upon as typical of most U.S. warships engaged at Normandy. On the other hand, from the author’s research it appears evident that this destroyer squadron, with their British counterparts, may have had a more pivotal influence on the breakout from the beachhead and the success of the subsequent campaign than was heretofore realized. Its contributions certainly provide a basis for discussion among veterans and research by historians, as well as a solid, professional account of naval action in support of the Normandy landings.

Shepherds of the Sea
Shepherds of the Sea

Author: Robert F Cross

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2010-05-15

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1612512720

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This compelling tale of courage, heroism, and terror is told in the words of ninety-one sailors and officers interviewed by the author about their World War II service aboard fifty-six destroyer escorts. They reveal many never-before-told details of life at sea during wartime and, along with information found in secretly kept war diaries and previously unpublished personal photographs, add important dimensions to the official record. Unseasoned teenage recruits when they first went to sea, these sailors were led by inexperienced college boys more accustomed to yachts than warships. Their ships were untested vessels, designed by a man with no formal training in ship design, and which many viewed as a waste of money. Yet, as Cross points out, these men are credited with helping turn the tide of the war in the Atlantic as they singlehandedly sank some seventy U-boats and captured U-505, the only German submarine taken during the war and the first enemy vessel captured by Americans at sea since the War of 1812. In the Pacific, the destroyer escorts fought in every major battle, side-by-side with Allied battleships and destroyers. But this story is not just about battles. It is also about American genius, hard work, honor and growing up in the Great Depression. The author provides eyewitness details about the historic first step taken to end racial discrimination in the military as African-Americans stepped aboard the destroyer escort USS Mason as full-fledged sailors for the first time and earned a Navy commendation of heroism in the Battle of the Atlantic presented to the surviving crewmen fifty-one years later. Readers also learn about an ingenious invention when a sailor breaks his silence about a secret weapon tested aboard his destroyer escort that rendered a new German radio-controlled glide bomb useless.

Antisubmarine Warrior in the Pacific
Antisubmarine Warrior in the Pacific

Author: John A. Williamson

Publisher: University Alabama Press

Published: 2005-03-06

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13:

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"The author details the challenges of communal life aboard ship and explains the intense loyalty that bonds crew members for life. Ultimately, Williamson offers a portrait of himself, an inexperienced naval officer who, having come of age in Alabama during the Depression, rose to become the most successful WW II antisubmarine warfare officer in the Pacific."--Jacket.

Fleets of World War II (revised Edition)
Fleets of World War II (revised Edition)

Author: Richard Worth

Publisher:

Published: 2021-01-28

Total Pages: 778

ISBN-13: 9781608882250

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Caught up in global chaos, the navies of World War II had to fight campaigns that rarely matched prewar planning. Each country found itself adapting its fleet compositions, ship designs, personnel training, and weaponry to ever-changing circumstances and ever-fluctuating resources-with varying degrees of success.An understanding of the successes and failures requires an uncompromising critique of the tools of war. Fleets of World War II pins down the warships' actual qualities, a nation-by-nation survey covering everything from the mightiest battlewagons to modest patrol craft.After fifteen years as a staple of naval research, Fleets of World War II now appears in this updated edition with expanded text and more than 150 photographs.Praise for the first edition: "With a substantial library of good books on the fighting ships of the last century and a half, I am glad to add Richard Worth's Fleets of World War II to my collection." -Frank Uhlig, Jr., U. S. Naval War College"This one book contains a perfect distillation of facts, theory and application on almost any ship that saw use in World War II." -Wargamer.com"Fleets of World War II probably represents the best single-volume comprehensive treatment of World War II warships available today." -William J. Jurens, Warship Internationa