I write a weekly book review for the Daily News of Galveston County. (It is not the biggest daily newspaper in Texas, but it is the oldest.) I have been doing this for nearly a dozen years, and am reprinting some of the older reviews here. Books I feel are still worthwhile. Ship of Ghosts certainly qualifies. It was Hornfischer’s second book (after Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors) and in my opinion, still his best. It may be due to my own fascination with the cruiser Houston (my own book on the Houston – The Cruiser Houston – appears this year on November 6, 2017), but rather I think it is due to Hornfischer’s excellent writing.
‘Ghosts’ a retelling of Houston‘s battle
By Mark Lardas
The Daily News
Published December 3, 2006
“Ship of Ghosts” by James D. Hornfischer, Bantam Books, 2006, $26. 530 pages.
James D. Hornfischer writes about American sailors fighting desperate battles.
His first book, “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors,” recounted the Battle of Samar. A U.S. Navy escort group — destroyers and destroyer escorts protecting a group of escort carriers — battled the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The Japanese had the battleship Yamato and numerous other battleships and heavy cruisers. Against the odds, the Americans drove off the Japanese.
In “Ship of Ghosts,” Hornfischer recounts an even more desperate struggle. It is the story of the heavy cruiser Houston, trapped in the Far East in the opening days of the Pacific War.
Hornfischer follows the cruiser from its launch, through its loss off the Sundra Strait.
He follows the surviving crewmembers through a four-year struggle to stay alive while guests of the Emperor.
The book is a tribute to human endurance: the endurance of those who survived four years of abuse as prisoners and the endurance of their families. They spent the war not knowing whether their loved one was alive or dead — only that they were missing.
Hornfischer frames this personal story in the context of the greater war. He also shows how the loss of the Houston impinged upon the American society. The city of Houston lobbied hard in the 1920s to get a cruiser named for the city, and adopted the cruiser while it was in commission.
After the ship was lost, the city reacted. Houstonians raised money to build a new Houston, and sponsored a drive to enlist 1,000 men from Houston for the new cruiser. The city raised so much money that there was enough to pay for an aircraft carrier: the San Jacinto.
The story turns out to be a Texas tale in unexpected ways. A pilot aboard the San Jacinto was George H. W. Bush. Besides becoming president, his later life was intertwined with both the state of Texas and city of Houston.
The Houston’s crew was imprisoned with a battalion of the Texas National Guard.
The Second Battalion, 131st Field Artillery was mobilized before the rest of the 36th Infantry Division. Sent to the Philippines in November 1941, it diverted to Java after Pearl Harbor, and disappeared in the fall of the Dutch East Indies.
“Ship of Ghosts” is an outstanding ship history, a gripping account of naval combat, an absorbing tale of survival, and an intensely personal — and local — story. You cannot ask much more from a book.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, amateur historian and model-maker, lives in League City.
Interesting. ?You ever review the plight of the sinking of the Indy. Another tragic tale of high level misbehavior and cover-up ending with the suicide of the captain, who was not at fault.
I have never written a book review of a book about the Indianapolis tragedy. This is mainly because I review current releases. The most recent book written about the Indianapolis was written in 2006, just before I really started doing the reviews for the GDN.
If a new one came out I would probably grab it, and write a review if I felt it a worthwhile book.
Seawriter
My dad was USN and went in early due to his boat handling skills right after Pearl.
The early days of the war were stories of courage despite aging equipment, unseasoned leadership and combat knowledge in short supply in the peacetime Navy. They improvised and fought, often without many victories.
We owe them a large debt for buying the time needed with their blood.
“We owe them a large debt for buying the time needed with their blood.”
Won’t argue that.
Seawriter
Why were we so unprepared? How many years did it take to keep up?
We were unprepared because it takes time to build ships and aircraft. They had started increasing the size of the US Navy in 1939-40. The first dozen Essex-class carriers were ordered in 1940, and the first six started construction in 1941, before the US entered the war. But none of them were commissioned before December 1942. Same story with cruisers and battleships.
In the meantime Japan, which had started its buildup in 1936 had pretty much finished it by 1941, and struck before our new construction was ready.
Seawriter
Inerestingly the battle of the Tin Can Soldiers was Leyte Gulf, where we had the new stuff by Halsey fell for the Japanese feint of carriers to the NB and ended up steaming some 300 miles, leaving his invasion fleet unprotected. THAT’s why the destroyers did such desperate things like attack the battlewagons and cruisers.