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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... night there was plenty of time to think. This Christmas Eve wasvery unlike one I hadspent just a decade ago as a young ensign. I had got on good conversational terms with a very pretty girl who worked in a shop on Manila's Escolta ...
... night there was plenty of time to think. This Christmas Eve wasvery unlike one I hadspent just a decade ago as a young ensign. I had got on good conversational terms with a very pretty girl who worked in a shop on Manila's Escolta ...
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... night. The others were U.S. Navy—Radio Electrician C.A. Walruff and twoassistants, veteran chief radiomen C. T. McVey and J. W. LeCompte. Things had reachedthe desperate point whereLanikai seemed themost reliable meansof ...
... night. The others were U.S. Navy—Radio Electrician C.A. Walruff and twoassistants, veteran chief radiomen C. T. McVey and J. W. LeCompte. Things had reachedthe desperate point whereLanikai seemed themost reliable meansof ...
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... night of the twentyfourth, loaded with passengers, including Major General L. H. Brereton, MacArthur's air commander, a 1911 Naval Academy graduate. The big, clumsy flying boat was plowing along at 40 knots, struggling to become ...
... night of the twentyfourth, loaded with passengers, including Major General L. H. Brereton, MacArthur's air commander, a 1911 Naval Academy graduate. The big, clumsy flying boat was plowing along at 40 knots, struggling to become ...
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... astute choosing best done in daylight. The issue was settled by the 11:20 P.M. alarm that sent the ship scurrying out to an anchorage less attractive to night intruders. Filipino crewmen scrub down the decks on Lanikai. Behind the.
... astute choosing best done in daylight. The issue was settled by the 11:20 P.M. alarm that sent the ship scurrying out to an anchorage less attractive to night intruders. Filipino crewmen scrub down the decks on Lanikai. Behind the.
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... night of 29 November in a desperate run for the socalled safety of the Philippines. I was aboard Oahu. Since their launching at Shanghai in 1927 they had faced the hazards of the Yangtze's floods and roaring rapidsand the capricious ...
... night of 29 November in a desperate run for the socalled safety of the Philippines. I was aboard Oahu. Since their launching at Shanghai in 1927 they had faced the hazards of the Yangtze's floods and roaring rapidsand the capricious ...
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Common terms and phrases
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