Destroyer Battles
Epics of Naval Close Combat
Robert C. Stem
- Fast,
- manoeuvrable
- and
- heavily
- armed,
- destroyers
- were
- the
- most
- aggressive
- surface
- warships
- of
- the
- twentieth
- century.
- Although
- originally
- conceived
- as
- a
- defensive
- screen
- to
- protect
- the
- main
- battlefleet
- from
- torpedo
- attack,
- the
- gamekeeper
- soon
- turned
- poacher,
- and
- became
- primarily
- a
- weapon
- of
- offence.
- As
- such
- they
- were
- involved
- in
- many
- hard-fought
- battles,
- using
- both
- torpedoes
- and
- guns,
- especially
- with
- enemy
- vessels
- of
- the
- same
- kind.
- This
- book
- recounts
- some
- of
- the
- most
- significant,
- spectacular
- or
- unusual
- actions
- in
- the
- history
- of
- destroyer
- warfare,
- from
- the
- first
- employment
- of
- torpedo
- craft
- during
- the
- Russo-Japanese
- War
- to
- the
- recent
- terrorist
- attack
- on
- USS
- Cole.
- With
- individual
- chapters
- devoted
- to
- each
- incident,
- the
- book
- may
- be
- read
- as
- a
- series
- of
- dramatic
- narratives,
- but
- each
- reflects
- a
- development
- in
- the
- tactics
- or
- technology,
- so
- taken
- as
- a
- whole
- the
- book
- amounts
- to
- a
- complete
- history
- of
- the
- destroyer
- from
- an
- unusual
- and
- previously
- neglected angle.
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