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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... (Ship) 3. World War, 1939–1945— Personal narratives, American. 4. Tolley, Kemp, 1908– I. Title. II. Series. D774.L33+ 940.54'5973—dc21 2002070348 17 16 151413 65432 To dear friend, superlative shipmate, and aceydeucey player with promise,
... (Ship) 3. World War, 1939–1945— Personal narratives, American. 4. Tolley, Kemp, 1908– I. Title. II. Series. D774.L33+ 940.54'5973—dc21 2002070348 17 16 151413 65432 To dear friend, superlative shipmate, and aceydeucey player with promise,
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... ship, USS Lanikai, I have been intrigued by her story and what lay behind that story. For 30 years, I have probed, questioned and read, compiling the materialcontainedhere. Some, among them several eminenthistorians ...
... ship, USS Lanikai, I have been intrigued by her story and what lay behind that story. For 30 years, I have probed, questioned and read, compiling the materialcontainedhere. Some, among them several eminenthistorians ...
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... ship and made a lightning assessment. One of them, atall, slim lieutenant inshorts, kneelength white hose, shortsleeved white shirt and crowned cap device, could have been British. His English was impeccably Dartmouth. Butthe stripes on ...
... ship and made a lightning assessment. One of them, atall, slim lieutenant inshorts, kneelength white hose, shortsleeved white shirt and crowned cap device, could have been British. His English was impeccably Dartmouth. Butthe stripes on ...
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... 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.
... 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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... ship, “Boats” had rapidly learned the ropes of a windjammer, literally and figuratively. The bottle of compressed gas was less of a success. It merely corroborated our lack of knowledge of Navy gas bottle identification markings and ...
... ship, “Boats” had rapidly learned the ropes of a windjammer, literally and figuratively. The bottle of compressed gas was less of a success. It merely corroborated our lack of knowledge of Navy gas bottle identification markings and ...
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