Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship [Hardcover]

Bill White (Author), Robert Gandt (Author), John McCain (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2008

The first official history of the legendary aircraft carrier that fought in World War II and Vietnam and continues to serve as a major air and space museum in New York City

The USS Intrepid is a warship unlike any other. Since her launching in 1943, the 27,000-ton, Essex-class aircraft carrier has sailed into harm’s way around the globe. During World War II, she fought her way across the Pacific—Kwajalein, Truk, Peleliu, Formosa, the Philippines, Okinawa—surviving kamikaze and torpedo attacks and covering herself with glory. The famous ship endured to become a Cold War attack carrier, recovery ship for America’s first astronauts, and a three-tour combatant in Vietnam.
 In a riveting narrative based on archival research and interviews with surviving crewmen, authors Bill White and Robert Gandt take us inside the war in the Pacific. We join Intrepid’s airmen at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in October 1944, as they gaze in awe at the apparitions beneath them: five Japanese battleships, including the dreadnoughts Yamato and Musashi, plus a fleet of heavily armored cruisers and destroyers. The sky fills with multihued bursts of anti-aircraft fire. The flak, a Helldiver pilot would write in his action report, “was so thick you could get out and walk on it.” Half a dozen Intrepid aircraft are blown from the sky, but they sink the Musashi. A few months later, off Okinawa, they again meet her sister ship, the mighty Yamato. In a two-hour tableau of hellfire and towering explosions, Intrepid’s warplanes help send the super-battleship and 3,000 Japanese crewmen to the bottom of the sea.

We’re next to nineteen-year-old Alonzo Swann in Gun Tub 10 aboard Intrepid as he peers over the breech of a 20-mm anti-aircraft gun. He’s heard of kamikazes, but until today he’s never seen one. Swann and his fellow gunners are among the few African Americans assigned to combat duty in the U.S. Navy of 1944. Blazing away at the diving Japanese Zero, Swann realizes with a dreadful certainty where it will strike: directly into Gun Tub 10.

The authors follow Intrepid’s journey to Vietnam. “MiG-21 high!” crackles the voice of Lt. Tony Nargi in his F-8 Crusader. It is 1968, and Intrepid is again at war. Launching from Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf, Nargi and his wingman have intercepted a flight of Russian-built supersonic fighters. Minutes later, after a swirling dogfight over North Vietnam, Nargi—and Intrepid—have added another downed enemy airplane to their credit.

 Intrepid: The Epic Story of America’s Most Legendary Warship brings a renowned ship to life in a stirring tribute complete with the personal recollections of those who served aboard her, dramatic photographs, time lines, maps, and vivid descriptions of Intrepid’s deadly conflicts. More than a numbers-and-dates narrative, Intrepid is the story of people—those who sailed in her, fought to keep her alive, perished in her defense—and powerfully captures the human element in this saga of American heroism.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite the enthusiastic title, the Intrepid's story is no more epic than that of a dozen others. Yet after entering service in January 1944, it saw plenty of action, as this impassioned history shows. White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and former fighter pilot Gandt (Bogeys and Bandits) deliver a steady stream of nuts-and-bolts battle action. The war against Japan offered innumerable dogfights, invasion support and sea battles during which the carrier suffered terrible damage from torpedoes and kamikaze attacks. Decommissioned in 1947, it returned to service in 1954 after an extensive overhaul. Details of Cold War cruises lack the fireworks of war, but readers will find some interest in the ship's duties recovering early astronauts. The obsolescent Intrepid served off Vietnam during 1966–1968, losing many planes and pilots. The authors devote 50 pages to the surprisingly difficult process of turning the Intrepid into a popular New York City tourist site. Lowbrow military history, full of purple prose and overwrought, invented dialogue, but undemanding military buffs will enjoy it. Maps. (Sept. 30)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

White and Gandt may encounter some flak for calling the preserved World War II aircraft carrier Intrepid “America’s most legendary warship,” but their book certainly offers a gripping narrative of the ship’s distinguished career. In service from 1943, it took so much damage as to be nicknamed “the Dry I” and “Decrepit,” although it gave as good as it got. After a postwar sojourn in mothballs, Intrepid served another 20 years as an antisubmarine carrier, a recovery ship for early space flights, and an improvised attack carrier off North Vietnam. Under the auspices of the late philanthropist Zachary Fisher and his family, Intrepid has been converted into a floating aviation museum and patriotic shrine on the Manhattan waterfront. White is connected with the Fishers, Gandt is a retired naval aviator, and together they have fashioned a readable and exciting work of naval history. --Roland Green

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; First American Edition edition (September 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767929896
• ISBN-13: 978-0767929899
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #829,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gandt & White "Ace" It...., October 3, 2008

By 

jkm3rd "Former Naval Person" (Florida East Coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship (Hardcover)

Another naval aviation book success from the computers of Bob Gandt and Bill White, a non-fiction one this time that already has been number 518 on the best sales list of Amazon.com after only three days on the street. This book was also selected by the Military Book Club as a primary selection in the near future.

Despite the more than tepid review of "Publisher's Weekly" quoted above, "INTREPID" is a well written, tautly scripted military history written by a veteran naval aviator and commercial airline captain with over 30,000 hours of air time. His dialogue of the people involved in over 60 years of the USS Intrepid's history is either taken from tapes and manuscripts and interviews of those involved or derived from Gandt's deep knowledge and research of things naval, not contrived as claimed above by the "Weekly." The authencity is real, it is there, and it makes for first class reading as noted by other military authors above.

The occasion of the totally renovated USS Intepid's return to the Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City's harbor is the underlying reason for this work, but it turns out to be much more than that. The over half a century of active duty service for this nation and as a living naval history center that all can visit makes Intrepid very special. And so is this book. Gandt and White, the latter the initial curator and now president of the Intrepid's museum site, have collaborated to write a truly definitive and gripping account of this famous vesel's career -- one so impressive that the U.S. presidential aspirant and former naval aviator who flew missions from the Intrepid, John S. McCain, wrote the foreward to this volume. For him to do so gives the reader a unique perspective as to the authencity of this brand new tale of the especial and very historic aircraft carrier.

For all involved in this production, from publisher Random House to the two authors, to John McCain, who recognizes good naval aviation history when he sees it, the ultimate navy accolade: "Well Done!"

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Naval History, October 14, 2008

By 

FlyBabe (Satellite Beach, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship (Hardcover)

INTREPID appears, at first glance, to be just another book about a warship. Not until I got into it did I realize this was a story about people, many of them incredibly heroic. That this ship is still with us sixty-five years since she was commissioned is a miracle. Even more of a miracle is how she survived five kamikaze strikes, a torpedoing off Truk, fought her way through some of the greatest sea battles of all time, then soldiered through the Cold War and three combat tours in Vietnam. It's all here, told from the viewpoints of gallant Americans serving aboard a gallant ship. Highly recommended.

FlyBabe, Satellite Beach, Florida

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intrepid: The Epic Story, November 28, 2008

By 

Donna Deese (Easley,SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship (Hardcover)

I discovered this book on the Don Imus Show on RFD TV.
A well written history of a great ship. A must for any history buff.