Publisher's Synopsis
Merriam Press World War 2 Memoir Series
Lodwick Alford's memoir of his service as an officer on board the destroyer USS Stewart (DD-224) of the Asiatic Fleet from before the war through its abandonment in a dry dock in Java in February 1942, also serving as a history of the ship's wartime service, including as a patrol boat in the Japanese Navy. The author also provides a history of the Asiatic Fleet during that time period when it was part of the naval forces that stopped the Japanese juggernaut on their southward expansion in the Pacific.Contents
Pearl Harbor Attacked
The Asiatic Fleet: USS Stewart (DD-224)
War!
Playing for Time
Saga of the USS Peary (DD-226)
Japanese Juggernaut Rolls South
Destroyers Win One
Impending Disaster
The Beginning of the End
Baptism of Fire: USS Stewart
Abandon Ship!
Allied Defeat!
The Enemy Mops Up
Escape From the Java Sea
Ordeal of Edsall and Whipple
Isabel Runs Gauntlet
"Titivate Ship"
Born Again-Under the Rising Sun
Homeward Bound
Remaining Destroyers and Other Ships
Personae
Recognitions, Decorations and Awards
Ship's Company Personnel of USS Stewart (DD-224) at Time of Battle of Badoeng Strait, 20 February, and Abandonment, 22 February 1942
Bibliography
Brief Biography of Lodwick H. Alford
37 B&W photos
Review by Vic Campbell: Capt. Alford describes with vivid texture the life of a young officer aboard a four piper in the Asiatic Fleet. It surprises me, finding myself, a destroyer veteran and officer of Vietnam, experiencing my own life over again through his descriptions in a time 30 years before mine. The wardroom-the staterooms-the watches... One feels the salt air sting the eyes and the protocol stiffen the spine. It all comes back. There is so much tradition in the Navy. It lives from generation to generation.
