Customer Reviews

Fleet the Gods Forgot: The United States Asiatic Fleet in World War II (Bluejacket Books)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
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This was truly an outstanding book. It's filled with short stories about the few victories and many defeats suffered during the first few months of the war. It tells of how a few heroic men made their stand alone against a vastly superior enemy. We have learned and appreciated all of the successes and heroes from this war, but this book shows us how we can learn and appreciate from the real lives of men that history has largely forgotten.

I bought this book believing that I was purchasing a history of the Asiatic fleet. What I got was a series of interesting narratives which were only very broadly structured and gave you little or no opportunity to glean the historical sequence of events. Don't get me wrong the accounts, mostly from first hand sources are gripping reading, but I was left rather disappointed and with the impression that I had read a book of short stories rather than a historical record.

This is a haunting and phenomenal story of the rusted and forgotten US Asiatic Fleet during the early days of the war. The book is detailed and chilling, a complete chronology of how these mem were left alone on old destroyers and cruisers to face complete annihilation against vastly superior Japanese equipment and tactics. It is a depressing read, but a must for anyone interested in all the details of US naval ops in the part of the war we lost.

I was lucky enough to meet Walter ("Windy" as he was nicknamed) Winslow in early 1994, and can state that he was a fine, thoughtful & proud man. He gladly inscribed both hardbound copies of his works for me, and spoke with me--a complete stranger--in an open, very unpretentious manner and even permitted me to give him an old volume on B-17 operations in the Philippines & Java as a gift of gratitude for his considerable efforts to commemorate the Asiatic Fleet.

Winslow's book THE FLEET THE GODS FORGOT is MUST-reading for any intrigued by the obscure, tragic fate of America's old Asiatic Fleet in its forlorn campaign against the Imperial Japanese Navy's superior air and sea forces in the first 90 days of WWII. This venerable fleet, not much larger than a task force by later war standards, was thrown into a mixed Allied naval command (the so-called ABDA forces) made up of ships and airplanes from four different nations, speaking different languages & with very different strategic & tactical imperatives. Not surprisingly the entire campaign was a mess from start to finish...and the finish was very harsh indeed.
Short of materiel but long on guts, the old Asiatic Fleet did the best they could with what they had, and may truly be said to have drained the cup of defeat to its
bitterest dregs. Walt Winslow was a participant & survivor of the campaign [serving as an aviator aboard the flagship USS HOUSTON (CA-30)] and it is to his diligence & earnest desire to record for posterity the stories and facts of the fleet's demise that we had, for many years, as good a picture as we did of our naval & air operations in the dark weeks of December 1941 to March 1942...

Few professionally trained "historians"--whatever that vague term really signifies--have tackled (before Winslow or after) this period. It is neither well-documented (lacking primary source evidence aplenty) nor edifying...in view of the sacrifical role played by the old ships of the Asiatic Fleet in ABDA. But quiet courage, experience, and tremendous resolve were displayed & earned. Winslow does a fine job of capturing these qualities in his narratives.

{For those with the blinkered mentality of acccountants who presume to know "real history" (when they count it, one assumes), they might be better off simply acquiring the Official USN Chronology of WWII, and avoiding the strain placed upon their minds by reading something other than lists of statistical tables & graphs; understanding, as only they can, that TRUTH is always revealed in numbers...}

Walt Winslow's books are both worth acquiring, and easily hold up to repeated readings, in addition to serving as sources for more in-depth research. One might bear in mind when getting this book--for what amounts to a pittance, from whatever source, after all!--that it is highly improbable that any single work will ever supersede this one as an overview of the ill-fated, but magnificent 'fleet the gods forgot'.

My Grandfather was an Asiatic Fleet sailor and was on the ancient Omaha-Class light cruiser USS Marblehead when WW2 broke out. He had been over there for 4 years prior and told me (with a good deal of bitterness) about the colossal waste of those early actions, squandering the most veteran sailors the USN had on those old vessels in mismatched actions early in 1942.

He pressed home to me again and again how we roundly got our behinds kicked for a good period of time in 1942. It's good to recall that, and how we came back from behind the 8 ball to prevail.

I bought this book the first instant I saw it...it reads much like my Grandfather's stories. Like some portions of Leyte Gulf which the USN would like to not recall because the situations were created by bad decisions or planning by the Ringers wearing gold braid, it shows, more than any overwhelming victory we had, our character as a Navy and a nation. When the odds aren't in our favor and our backs were against the wall...we came out swinging nonetheless.

Highly recommended. Read it as a companion to the victories at Guadalcanal, Midway, Saipan and Leyte Gulf.

THIS BOOK BREAKS DOWN THE FLEET IN THE PHILLIPINES TO ITS DIFFERENT COMPONENT PARTS(CRUISERS,PT BOATS,SUBMARINES,MINESWEEPERS ETC.)AND THEN TELLS THE STORY OF HOW THE CREWS OF THESE SHIPS DEAL WITH THE HOPELESS SITUATION THEY FOUND THEMSELVES IN AFTER PEARL HARBOR. ITS A GOOD READ

This book covers the period in early '42 when a small hodgepodge fleet of Dutch, US, Austrailian, and British ships tried to stem the Japanese advance. It was a hopeless proposition, of course, but that's part of what makes it a good read. U.S. readers tend to avoid American WWII defeats. Yeah, Midway was an incredible victory, but there is much of interest here. In particular the fate of the cruiser, Houston, which today is almost a forgotten ship compared to ships in more successful endeavors later in the war. Apparently it's not just the gods who forgot this fleet.

The Fleet the Gods Forgot by Captain Winslow is a wonderful tale that needs to be remembered by the Gods and Americans. If you ever thought you had a bad day then you should read these harrowing tales that our Grandfathers lived through.

This is a collection of first and second hand accounts of the Asiatic fleet during the first six months or so of World War II. The Asiatic fleet is a backwater fleet scattered from China to Java and consisting of old and outdated Warships from World War I.

I enjoyed the tales of these men's struggles to survive the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and other South Sea islands. These men struggled against the overwhelming odds against both the Japanese military and the Sea itself and lived to tell the tale.

I found it a little difficult moving from chapter to chapter when the same period was covered but from a different unit's perspective. The chapters cover the Cruisers, Destroyers, PT boats, PBY flying boats and more. You read about different vessels sinking over and over again from different perspectives and it becomes a bit confusing.

I really enjoyed the struggles of the PT boats and especially the PBY's of Squadron 10. The PBY's are a part of the Navy I was not that familiar with let alone their amazing deeds. I also enjoyed the perspective of the auxiliary vessels like tenders and the USS Isabel. These non-combatant ships suffered the same enemy and often had little to fight back with. My cousin FN1c Cyril Marcinek served for 2 years on the Sub Tender USS Otus in the South Seas and it is nice to see these not so glamorous but just as vital Ship get a part in the history of the Navy and World War II.

Thank you Captain Winslow for preserving these amazing stories of valor and sacrifice from a front that is often overlooked and sometimes overshadowed by the horrors of Bataan. Every World War II or Naval historian should have this book.

March 3, 2008

Ardsley, PA

There are several movies in this book! Hollywood couldn't write plots as heroic, tragic and exotic as these real life events.

The Fleet the Gods Forgot is a narrative of the experiences of American Ships and Men during the first few tragic months of the war against Japan. In December of 1941 the USA had a significant Naval Presence in the Philippines and SE Asia. By March of 1942 the Roosevelt administration had squandered this entire fleet. Most of the ships were either damaged, sunk or dispersed and thousands of our veteran sailors, airmen and Marines were either killed, wounded or captured. This book chronicles some of the significant battles and experiences of those men and ships.

What this book is not is a comprehensive history of the American, British, Dutch and Australian Naval Forces (ABDA) operating in SE Asia.

My favorite chapters are those on the USS Houston (on which Capt Winslow served before its sinking and his capture by the Japs,) the final chapter on an incredible sea escape from Corregidor and the chapter on Torpedo Boats and one of America's most incredible heroes: Lt John D Bulkley.

As a retired military officer I am left with the nagging questions:
1. How could we have been so unprepared to deal with the outbreak of the war?
2. How could our planning have been so short sighted that we allowed our entire fleet to be destroyed in piecemeal, ineffective activities?
These questions are not answered in this book, but as the world reveals they continue to be relevant and important.

On a personal note, my family spent almost a year sailing between Darwin and the Malay Peninsula. We were a month in Surabaya and although I could see the remnants of a Dutch Naval presence and there were what looked like WWII wrecks still visible at low tide in the anchorage off Surabaya, I knew nothing of this history. I wish I had this book while I sailed those waters. It would have been a valuable addition to our childrens' home schooling curriculum.

I recommend this book as an entertaining and informative addition to your study of WWII.

Cordially,
Joe Rooney

THE FLEET THE GODS FORGOT dispells the notion that the US Navy remained passive until the Battle of Midway. The aged Asiatic Fleet, valiantly struck back at the Japanese from the moment hostilities broke out between Japan and the United States.

Equipped with antiquated surface ships, a few patrol boats, submarines, and hopelessly out-gunned PBY patrol planes, the US Navy made its presence known in and around the Phillipines. From the beginning the odds were against the Asiatic Fleet and the British and Dutch craft that often accompanied them in battle. In several naval battles the cruisers and other ships went to the bottom after exacting a toll of invading Japanese forces.

Author W.G. Winslow recounts the individual naval and air engagements in seas that quickly became Japanese lakes. However, some of the most interesting portions of the book are those devoted to escape, survival, and navigational skills of downed airmen and crews of sunken vessels.

The first chapters of the book start out rather slowely as an overview of the major actions of the Asiatic Fleet. Do not give up heart, because the subsequent chapters fill in the details of individual caft and their engagements. Be prepared for overlapping of material in some of the chapters as many of the separately chapter-spotlighted destroyers and cruisers were involved in the same naval action.

I received this book as a gift and an sorry I put off reading it for so long. THE FLEET THE GODS FORGOT is proof-positive that allied naval forces gave the Japanese military a few good shots before Coral Sea and Midway.