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Ship history about
destroyer Laffey
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Books - Ship Histories
Many Pacific War veterans have written books about U.S. Navy ships on which
they served. These books often combine the ship history with a personal memoir.
The accounts included in these books provide extremely valuable sources of
firsthand accounts by Navy crewmen who experienced Japanese kamikaze crashes on
their ships, shot down suicide planes, and witnessed kamikazes crash into other
ships.
Although professional writers did not write many World War II ship histories,
the realism of accounts by eyewitnesses makes these books very helpful in
understanding the thoughts and emotions of men who lived through kamikaze
attacks. The authors range from ship commanders to enlisted men, and the ships
range from aircraft carriers to smaller auxiliary ships designed for tasks such
as rescue or minesweeping. Authors often include accounts of their shipmates, so
readers can take into account multiple perspectives to piece together what
actually happened during kamikaze attacks.
Several histories begin in 1943 or 1944, when the U.S. Navy commissioned many
new warships. Most books, especially those about ships involved in both the
fighting in the Philippines and Okinawa, also include general information about the
course of the war and kamikaze attacks.
This section contains reviews of the following ship histories:
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Acord and Holbrook, Hell and High Water in the
Pacific: The Story of the USS Lowry, DD 770 (destroyer)
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Andersen, Three Minutes Off Okinawa
(destroyer Mannert L. Abele)
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Arnold, Standby Arnold (destroyer escort Swearer)
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Ball, Fighting Amphibs: The LCS(L) in World War II
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Becton, The Ship That Would Not Die (destroyer
Laffey)
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Billingsley, The Emmons Saga: A
History of the USS Emmons (DD457-DMS22)
(destroyer, later converted to high-speed minesweeper)
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Blanton, Boston——to Jacksonville (41,000 Miles by
Sea) (LCS(L)(3) 118)
- Bonner
and Bonner,
USS Missouri at
War (battleship)
- Brown and Anteau, Historical
Review: U.S.S. Drexler DD-741 (destroyer)
- Burt, Kamikaze Nightmare
(escort carrier Ommaney Bay)
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Bustin, Humble Heroes: How
the USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII
(light cruiser)
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Calhoun, Tin Can Sailor: Life Aboard
the USS Sterett, 1939-1945
(destroyer)
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Charney,
USS Ingraham DD694: 1944-1945 (destroyer)
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Cline, Escort Carrier WWII: War in the Pacific
on the Aircraft Carrier USS Petrof Bay
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Crew, Combat Loaded: Across the Pacific on the
USS Tate (attack cargo ship)
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Dennis, The Destroyer U.S.S. Flusser DD368: Her Life of Service
- Dennis, U.S.S. Frustrate: "The Luckiest
Ship in the Navy" (destroyer Flusser)
- Duffy, The Wonderful World of John Duffy: An
Autobiography (heavy cruiser Louisville)
- Fillmore, War History of USS Leutze (DD-481)
(destroyer)
- Foster, The Last Destroyer: The Story of the
USS Callaghan
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Griggs, Preludes to Victory:
The Battle of Ormoc Bay in WWII (high speed transport Kephart)
- Graves, Men of Poseidon: Life at Sea Aboard
the USS Rall (destroyer escort)
- Harmon, U.S.S. Cassin Young (DD-793)
(destroyer)
- Harper, Too Close for Comfort
(hospital ship Comfort)
- Jackson, Lucky Lady: The World War II
Heroics of the USS Santa Fe and Franklin (light cruiser and aircraft
carrier)
- Kalosky, Harm's Way—Every Day: The
Book of Destroyer (Tin Can) at Okinawa (destroyer Sproston)
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Kennedy, Danger's Hour: The
Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her
(aircraft carrier)
- Lott, Brave Ship Brave Men (destroyer
minelayer Aaron Ward)
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Lott and Sumrall, USS Ward—The
First Shot (also has title of USS Ward Fires First Shot WWII)
(destroyer)
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Mair, Oil, Fire, and Fate: The Sinking of
the USS Mississinewa (AO-59) in WWII by Japan's Secret Weapon
(auxiliary oiler)
- Malott, "If We Save But One"
(PCE(R) 852)
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Monsarrat, Angel on the Yardarm
(light aircraft carrier Langley)
- Oberg, Lucky Sweetbrier
(Coast Guard cutter Sweetbrier)
- Olson,
Tales from a Tin Can: The USS
Dale from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay (destroyer)
- Payne, H.M.A.S. Australia 1928-1955
(heavy cruiser)
- Phelan, Tin Can 367
(destroyer Lamson)
- Rielly, Mighty Midgets At War: The Saga of the
LCS(L) Ships from Iwo Jima to Vietnam
- Ronck, Battleship Missouri
- Rooney, Mighty Midget U.S.S. LCS 82
- Samuels, War Patrol of the PCE(R)852
- Stafford, Little Ship, Big War: The
Saga of DE343 (destroyer escort Abercrombie)
- Staton, The Fighting Bob: A Wartime History
of the USS Robley D. Evans (DD-552) (destroyer)
- Stillwell, Battleship Missouri: An
Illustrated History
- Stone, "My Ship!" The U.S.S. Intrepid
(aircraft carrier)
- Streb, Life and Death Aboard the U.S.S. Essex
(aircraft carrier)
- Sumrall,
USS Kidd (DD-661) (destroyer)
- Surels,
DD 522: Diary of a Destroyer (destroyer Luce)
- White and Gandt, Intrepid: The Epic
Story of America's Most Legendary Warship
(aircraft carrier)
The following book contains a ship history, but it has been
included in this web site's section on "Books - General" because
much of the book deals with the general history of kamikazes.
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