The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
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The nonfiction book The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors is the first full narrative account of the Battle off Samar, which author James D. Hornfischer calls the greatest upset in the history of naval warfare. Published by Bantam in February 2004, the book won the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature in 2004 from the Naval Order of the United States.
A Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Military Book Club, the book tells the story of the remarkable two-and-a-half-hour sea battle fought on October 25, 1944, in which ordinary sailors of Rear Adm. Clifton A. F. Sprague's escort carrier task unit known as Taffy 3 (7th Fleet Task Unit 77.4.3) rose to the impossible challenge of beating back an overwhelming force of Japanese warships under Vice Adm. Takeo Kurita. Survivors of the four U.S. ships lost in the battle -- USS Hoel (DD-533), USS Johnston (DD-557), USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) and USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), then struggled to survive a three-day-ordeal adrift at sea awaiting rescue. A fifth ship from Taffy 3, the escort carrier USS St. Lo (CVE-63), was sunk in a kamikaze attack immediately following the Japanese withdrawal.
Two TV documentaries based on Hornfischer's book have been produced. The first of them, produced by Lou Reda Productions and premiering on the History Channel on November 11, 2005, featured interviews with Hornfischer and veterans of the battle. It was followed by an episode of Dogfights on the History Channel, titled "The Death of the Japanese Navy," premiering on December 29, 2006, which featured a sophisticated CGI rendition of the sea battle.
The Dogfights epsisode inspired at least one viral video incorporating elements of the story.
