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.

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.