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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... wasa“humiliating proposal.” LordHalifax, British ambassador, anxiously inquired of Welles if the negotiations had really brokenoff. His government was “greatly excited,” aswas the Australian,which offered a tryat mediation. But Hull ...
... wasa“humiliating proposal.” LordHalifax, British ambassador, anxiously inquired of Welles if the negotiations had really brokenoff. His government was “greatly excited,” aswas the Australian,which offered a tryat mediation. But Hull ...
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... wasa paperlineup with never a single practice scrimmage, no signals (literally and figuratively), no planned plays and only sandlot gear.On the opposite bench glowered the bestequipped, bestcoordinated outfit of the century, honed to ...
... wasa paperlineup with never a single practice scrimmage, no signals (literally and figuratively), no planned plays and only sandlot gear.On the opposite bench glowered the bestequipped, bestcoordinated outfit of the century, honed to ...
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... wasa special occasion, theannual baseball game between two traditional rivals. A breathless messenger came of an American staff member. running fromthe home “Pearl Harbor has beenbombed bythe Japanese!” “PearlHarbor? That'sinHawaii, isn ...
... wasa special occasion, theannual baseball game between two traditional rivals. A breathless messenger came of an American staff member. running fromthe home “Pearl Harbor has beenbombed bythe Japanese!” “PearlHarbor? That'sinHawaii, isn ...
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... wasa warplan which had grown out of staff conferences betweenthe British, American and Canadian militarynaval authorities in Washington between 29 January and27 March 1941. In highest secrecy, the conferees had arrived atthe “ABC ...
... wasa warplan which had grown out of staff conferences betweenthe British, American and Canadian militarynaval authorities in Washington between 29 January and27 March 1941. In highest secrecy, the conferees had arrived atthe “ABC ...
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