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Kamikaze hit on
aircraft carrier Essex
(November 25,
1944)
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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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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)
- Brown and Anteau, Historical
Review: U.S.S. Drexler DD-741 (destroyer)
- Burt, Kamikaze Nightmare
(escort carrier Ommaney Bay)
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Charney,
USS Ingraham DD694: 1944-1945 (destoyer)
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Cline, Escort Carrier WWII: War in the Pacific
on the Aircraft Carrier USS Petrof Bay
- Fillmore, War History of USS Leutze (DD-481)
(destroyer)
- Foster, The Last Destroyer: The Story of the
USS Callaghan
- Harper, Too Close for Comfort
(hospital ship Comfort)
- Lott, Brave Ship Brave Men (destroyer
minelayer Aaron Ward)
- 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)
- Rielly, Mighty Midgets At War: The Saga of the
LCS(L) Ships from Iwo Jima to Vietnam
- Rooney, Mighty Midget U.S.S. LCS 82
- Samuels, War Patrol of the PCE(R)852
- Stone, "My Ship!" The U.S.S. Intrepid
(aircraft carrier)
- Streb, Life and Death Aboard the U.S.S. Essex
(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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