About this item
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.
About the Author
Born in Florida before it was ruined by Disney; back when you could find cypress bayheads, cows, cow catchers, and orange groves. A native of The South with a 350 year family history in the region, Clint Johnson (the one in North Carolina) specializes in American history, particularly Southern history.
