Cruise of the Lanikai: Incitement to WarIn early December 1941 in the Philippines, a young Navy ensign named Kemp Tolley was given his first ship command, an old 76-foot schooner that had once served as a movie prop in John Ford's "The Hurricane." Crewed mostly by Filipinos who did not speak English and armed with a cannon that had last seen service in the Spanish-American War, the Lanikai was under top-secret presidential orders to sail south into waters where the Japanese fleet was thought to be. Ostensibly the crew was to spy on Japanese naval movements, but to Tolley it was clear that their mission was to create an incident that would provoke war. Events overtook the plan, however, when Pearl Harbor was bombed before the Lanikaicould get underway. When Bataan and Corregidor fell, she was ordered to set sail for Australia and became one of the few U.S. naval vessels to escape the Philippines. In this book Tolley tells the saga of her great adventure during these grim, early days of the war and makes history come alive as he regales the reader with details of the operation and an explanation of President Roosevelt's order. Tolley's description of their escape in Japanese warship-infested waters ranks with the best of sea tales, and few will be able to forget the Lanikai's 4,000-mile, three-month odyssey. |
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... Yard still smoldered after the devastating Japanese air raid of 10 December 1941. In what recently hadbeenoneofthebusiest harbors in the Far East not a ship rode at anchor. The seven greatpierswereempty,with the exception of a few ...
... Yard still smoldered after the devastating Japanese air raid of 10 December 1941. In what recently hadbeenoneofthebusiest harbors in the Far East not a ship rode at anchor. The seven greatpierswereempty,with the exception of a few ...
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... , provision herfor a twoweek cruise, getacrewaboard and beready tosailin 24 hours,” said Slocum. Graduatedfrom the U.S. NavalAcademy twelveyears earlier, I scarcely qualified as a veteran. But I had lived through enough navy yard overhauls.
... , provision herfor a twoweek cruise, getacrewaboard and beready tosailin 24 hours,” said Slocum. Graduatedfrom the U.S. NavalAcademy twelveyears earlier, I scarcely qualified as a veteran. But I had lived through enough navy yard overhauls.
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... Yard,Cavite, by Lieut. Kemp Tolley, USN, commanding. The Navy Yard band played the nationalanthem,the commissionpennant was hoisted,then “GodBless America”was playedto windup the ceremony. At0915 commenced receiving stores, ammunition ...
... Yard,Cavite, by Lieut. Kemp Tolley, USN, commanding. The Navy Yard band played the nationalanthem,the commissionpennant was hoisted,then “GodBless America”was playedto windup the ceremony. At0915 commenced receiving stores, ammunition ...
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... Yard, Cavite. Receiving electricity fromyard.At 0800 mustered crewonstation;no absentees.Received from theammunition depot 400 rounds 30caliber; 200 rounds45caliber; 50rounds buckshot shells, 12gauge. Readyor not, on7 December (6 ...
... Yard, Cavite. Receiving electricity fromyard.At 0800 mustered crewonstation;no absentees.Received from theammunition depot 400 rounds 30caliber; 200 rounds45caliber; 50rounds buckshot shells, 12gauge. Readyor not, on7 December (6 ...
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... yard with no effort on her part. The south's oil, rice, tin, rubber, quinine— over half the world's supply in some of these categories—loomed more fetchingly than the barren wastes of Siberia, which they would get automatically anyway ...
... yard with no effort on her part. The south's oil, rice, tin, rubber, quinine— over half the world's supply in some of these categories—loomed more fetchingly than the barren wastes of Siberia, which they would get automatically anyway ...
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