Give Me a Fast Ship

Award-winning author, Thomas J. Cutler offers an in-depth and inspiring look at the truly heroic story of Ernest Evans and the crew of USS Johnston during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944.

The term “hero” is overused today, but the story of Ernest Evans and the crew of USS Johnston (DD 557) during the epic Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 is one of true heroism that may be equaled but never surpassed in the annals of American naval history. Undaunted by a vastly superior Japanese task force bearing down on their ship, Commander Evans’ crew laid down a smoke screen, launched all torpedoes, and opened fire with the main battery of five, 5-inch guns, diverting the Japanese fleet’s attention from the vulnerable escort carriers under their protection. Evans’ courageous leadership earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor, and his indomitable fighting spirit made him a true legend in the U.S. Navy. 

This inspiring book offers an in-depth look at Evans, the Johnston, and the ship’s crew. Award-winning author Thomas J. Cutler relies heavily on interviews he conducted with surviving crew members, as well as his own experiences while serving as an enlisted man in a similar destroyer. Readers can almost feel the sting of salt spray on their faces as Cutler presents a gripping account of Johnston’s year of service, from her commissioning to her sinking off Samar in October 1944. Often reading like a novel, this is a fascinating and poignant history of not only the ship and the crew, but of her Native American skipper who—forced to retreat in the early days of the war—fulfilled his commissioning day promise to “never again run from the enemy.”  
 
Evans was a 1935 Naval Academy graduate serving as executive officer of the aging destroyer USS Alden in the far-off Asiatic Fleet when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Left virtually behind the lines as the Japanese rampaged their way around the Western Pacific, Alden was among only four U.S. warships to escape in the aftermath of the Battle of the Java Sea in February 1942. Spending the next year in frustratingly mundane operations until given command of the newly built Fletcher-class destroyer Johnston, Evans then led his ship in gunfire missions during island-hopping assaults in the Marshalls, Carolines, and Marianas before Johnston faced her ultimate challenges in the Philippines.  

A story for the ages, readers will experience the tedium and the terror of life at sea, the unique challenges of naval combat, and the horrors of trying to survive while adrift in hostile waters. They will know the terrible waste and the agonies of war but will be awed by what human beings can do in the face of great adversity and in the presence of inspirational leadership. The causes for which these men fought and sacrificed have faded with time, the machines they used to carry out their deadly business are now rusted relics of another era, and the waters show no trace of their wakes. But the glory of their deeds will never be forgotten.