Hell at Tassafaronga

Brown, Herbert C.

ISBN 10: 0970072147 / ISBN 13: 9780970072146

Published by Ancient Mariners Pr, 2000

About this Item

The book is in good condition with all pages and cover intact, including the dust jacket if originally issued. The spine may show light wear. Pages may contain some notes or highlighting, and there might be a "From the library of" label. Boxed set packaging, shrink wrap, or included media like CDs may be missing.

Seller Inventory # BSM.L2DH

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Hell at Tassafaronga
• Publisher: Ancient Mariners Pr
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0970072147
• ISBN 13: 9780970072146
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

Already a veteran of Pearl Harbor and the epic battles of Coral Sea and Midway, the heavy cruiser New Orleans races through the velvet black night of 30 November 1942. Only minutes into this, the last of the great surface battles of the Solomons' campaign, New Orleans is struck by a Japanese Long Lance torpedo which explodes its forward magazines, taking away 130 feet of her bow and the lives of 178 of the author's shipmates. In this intensely personal and gripping memoir, a veteran of that gallant ship tells its history from rollicking peacetime days, on through 17 Pacific battles, to the hauling down of its commission pennant and its finally being broken up for scrap.

It is a tale, as horrific as it is poignant, powerfully told. One the young should learn and old remember.

About the Author

The author spent 20 years in the Navy, entering as a seaman apprentice and leaving as a Chief Warrant Officer. On that infamous day, December 7 1941, he was a 19 year-old electrician's mate, second class, standing in the chow line waiting for his breakfast when a Japanese plane flew overhead machine gunning his ship. When the smoke cleared, his ship was one of the only ones that had not been sunk or heavily damaged.

Almost a year later, November 30 1942, his ship was involved in the battle of Tassafaronga when, as part of a Navy task force, they fought off a Japanese attempt to smuggle supplies to troops at Guadalcanal. There, his ship sustained a hit that tore away 130 feet of her bow and killed 178 of his shipmates.

Exactly 59 years later, November 30 2001, Herbert C. Brown passed away. The book he wrote, "Hell at Tassafaronga", is dedicated to the 178 shipmates that lost their lives in that battle.