Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors

What a harrowing story of honor, duty, and ultimately...survival. One of the forgotten tales from WW2, I was intrigued by the possibilities when I ordered it - and it did NOT disappoint. Just as awesome read for any student of history, whether a beginner or a seasoned vet of such triumph and tragedy.

Author James Hornfischer has followed up his best-selling "Last Stand of the Tin Can Soldiers" with another sea epic that's sure to become as popular as his first book. Hornfischer's second effort deals with the heavy cruiser USS Houston, the flagship of the rag-tag Asiatic Fleet. Given orders to intercept the advancing Imperial Japanese Navy in the early days of the Pacific war, the small Asiatic fleet had little chance of survival. The Japanese held a massive superiority over the Allies in all types of ships. It was only a matter of time before the Japanese succeeded in destroying the plucky little Allied fleet. Despite these overwhelming odds, the Asiatic Fleet fought bravely, though in the end, the Japanese prevailed. The Houston and the Australian cruiser HMAS Perth were sunk in the Java Sea while attempting to sneak by the Japanese fleet and reach safety in Australia. Several hundred crewmen of the Houston and Perth were captured by the Japanese and dispresed to various POW camps in Southeast Asia. This began a three-year ordeal for the survivors, who were forced to deal with the constant brutality of their captors. Beatings were a common occurance, and the Japanese informed the POWs that escape was futile. Some men were sent to Japan to work in mines or shipyards, and some were sent to Burma and Thailand to construct a railway for the Japanese. Glamorized in the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai", these men labored without the aid of machines to build a railway consisting of tracks, bridges, tressels, and tunnels. It was an engineering miracle that these starved and decimated men were able to accomplish such a feat. As the POWs' time in Burma and Thailand wore on, the Allies had begun to re-capture much of the territory seized by the Japanese in the early days of the war. Soon, the POWs on the railway had to contend with Allied bombers as well as the Japanese, but they knew that the end must be near as the raids increased in intensity and frequency. After the Japanese finally surrendered in August, 1945, the POWs were finally liberated and returned to the United States. But many died at the hands of the Japanese as well. During the war, the U.S. Navy built a new USS Houston to replace the one lost in the Java Sea. James Hornfischer has done a magnificent job of telling the story of the Houston and her brave crew. Known as President Roosevelt's favorite fishing boat, the Houston and the rest of the Asiatic Fleet put up a valiant fight against overwhelming odds in the dark early days of the Pacific war. The story of her survivors and the atrocities they faced at the hands of the Japanese is a true testament to their will to live and return home. This fine book contains a wealth of information gained from interviews with the survivors as well as fine historical prose by the author. I highly recommend this fine piece of military history. Hornfischer has followed up is excellent first book with one that is even better

A book I had trouble putting down once I started. Just an amazing gut wrenching story. The first part of the book is not all that different from many other books about a ship that sails into battle against an overwhelming enemy and is lost. Very interesting, very enlightening, particularly since little has been written about the Houston, and I'm sure any Navy guy will love it, but still similar to that of other doomed ships. The real story in this book, the second 2/3's, is of the absolutely sub-human existance of the survivors of the Houston and many others, for well over 3 years, at the hands of the ungodly barbaric Japanese while being forced to build the Burma-Thailand Death Railway. There are stories within stories here, some of which can bring you close to tears for these young men. This should be required reading, along with a few other books I can think of, for every Jananese high school student. A great book, very thorough, will definitely add to your understanding of the Pacific war and the men who fought it. I hope America is still producing men like this.

Disclosure: I know the author tangentially. That out of the way, this book does a great job of illustrating the valiant 3 month combat career of the USS Houston, CA-30. Hornfisher's greatest strength is in bringing a life to what he's writing about. It's really enjoyable to have the "fly on the wall" sensation you get when reading this or "Last Stand", his 1st book. Hornfisher really did a great job of researching this book, and he really illuminates the narratives he made use of. I know almost all the survivors of this ship, and he tells their story, really, better than the men themselves! I have long thought that this ship and her crew needed a boook such as this: large form factor, grandly illustrated, damned well-written. This should be read by all WW2 buffs, as well as USN personnel. This is a story of gallantry, endurance, and triumph. These men, this ship, they're examples to to be followed, and this book is the vessel by which this epic shall be preserved for posterity.

Hornfischer's new history of the last days of USS Houston (CA30) covers the story of USS Houston from her launch through her sinking at the Battle of Sunda Strait, Java, February 1942. Most of the volume covers her wartime service with the United States Asiatic fleet, and the subsequent ordeals of her surviving crewmembers as prisoners of war in Java, Burma, Thailand and Japan. The tales of valor, resistence, and survival in the face of the impossible circumstances of Asiatic Fleet, and of her crew's survival in prisoner of war camps, have long awaited telling. Hornfischer deserves great credit for obtaining and presenting the tale, and for honoring the last great men of a generation of WW2 veterans who are rapidly dwindling in number. The story of USS Houston's service as Asiatic Fleet's flagship when America entered the war has only been told once before with any competence (E.P. Hoyt's "The Lonely Ships") -- but not with the detail provided by Hornfischer. More importantly, the story of USS Houston's survivors, as they worked on the Burma-Thai death railway, and in at least one instance, as slave labor in a Japanese shipyard, and the endurance, resistence to Imperial Japanese Army sadistic brutality, and the prisoners' acts of defiance has never been told before. This is Hornfischer's second widely available entry exploring the courage and valor of men of the US Navy in WW2 who, in some circumstances, faced very long odds and survived. Those who have read Hornfischer's "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" will be pleased with this new entry. "Ship of Ghosts" is sure to be another candidate for the Samuel E. Morison award for naval history.