From Publishers Weekly
Seventy-one American destroyers were lost during WWII, 60 of them in confrontations with enemy ships, planes, shore batteries and mines, the other 11 to accidental groundings, friendly mines or severe storms. Parkin (Under the White Ensign) here compiles sketches of each destroyer's career from launch to destruction and a detailed description of the ship's final hours. He begins with an account of the sinking of the Reuben James in 1941 off Iceland, a U-boat victim and the first American warship lost in the war, and concludes with an account of the sinking of the Callaghan in a kamikaze attack in 1945, the 13th destroyer to go down in the waters off Okinawa. Included are descriptions of the capsizing of the Warrington in an Atlantic tempest, the loss of the Corry to German shore batteries on D-Day and the unequal fight between the Monssen and the Japanese battleship Hiei. One of the destroyers, the Stewart, was raised by the Japanese and commissioned into the Imperial Navy. Parkin's colorful style adds to the pleasure this meticulously researched book offers Navy buffs. Illustrations.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Seventy-one U. S. Destroyers were lost in the Second World War. Blood On The Sea describes each event, taking the reader on a breathtaking tour of American military action, on a multitude of fronts and on both sides of the globe. From the stormy North Atlantic to the calm, blue Mediterranean; from the U. S. East Coast to the vast reaches of the Pacific, brought home to the reader is the enormous scale of our simultaneous war against Germany and Japan -- and the dedication of the young fighting men who prosecuted the war. Lurking enemy submarines infested both the Atlantic and Pacific; within range of the Luftwaffe, no ship could be considered safe. In the hot expanses of the Pacific a ship could suddenly find itself swarmed by Japanese aircraft, or encounter a long-range cruiser. The American Destroyers were omnipresent in every pitched battle. The infernos off Guadalcanal and Okinawa took a grievous toll of our sailors, and off Salerno and Normandy, protecting the infantry transports, the Destroyers stood fast, albeit suffering causalities. Robert Parkin has written a history of each Destroyer's actions prior to its doom, as well as a context for the battle in which it was lost. Filled with eye-witness accounts, as well as the result of many years' research, Blood On The Sea offers an entirely unique perspective on battles fought around the globe during the last World War. -- Midwest Book Review
About the Author
Robert S. Parkin is a navy veteran who has also written
