Non-fiction account of one of the lesser known events in WWII: the sinking of the USS Houston, covering the history of the ship itself, first-person accounts of its battles, and the crew’s harrowing experiences as prisoners of war after its sinking. The ship was part of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet in 1942, when the Allies were organizing into a joint fighting force of American, Australian, British, and Dutch. While navigating the Sunda Strait, the USS Houston and HMAS Perth interrupted a large-scale Japanese invasion of Java, were involved in a terrifying night-time battle, and were both sunk. The bulk of the narrative then follows the survivors, who are eventually captured and sent to various POW camps. Many are used as forced labor to build (by hand) the Thai-Burma Railway. The final portions of the book cover the end of the war and how the remaining survivors fared upon returning home.

Hornfischer excels at describing the sounds, sights, smells of the battle scenes:

“The Houston took her first hit when a projectile struck the forecastle, starting fires in the paint locker that danced brightly for about a quarter of an hour. The night air was rancid with cordite. Though the winds were still, the wisps of gray-white muzzle smoke flying from the Houston’s guns fell quickly away, left behind like an airborne wake covering her trail of foam.”

He brings the fears of the sailors to the forefront as they struggle to survive the sinking:

“Lungs burning, Gillan felt himself bump up against the ship’s rail. He was finally free of the enclosed torpedo space. The cord to his miner’s lamp snagged momentarily on the rail, but then he was floating again, being washed up and down, unsure of which direction the surface was. He felt currents whirlpooling around him. The sensation evoked an amusement park ride before the flashing of red, green, and purple lights marked the possibility that his brain was starving for oxygen as he drowned.”

He vividly describes their horrific ordeal on the Thai-Burma Railway, where they endure forced labor, starvation, disease, brutality, and the perils of the jungle:

“Pressured to perform five years of work in twelve short months, they would be given over to the jungle and left to wrestle it toward civilization. They would contend with all its elements—its hardwoods, rocks, and vines, its predators both mammalian and bacterial, under the lash of their enemy and assault from the elements. The work would harden some and consume others. They would forget all but the most basic memories of home, picking their way through a life in captivity that would become the grist for sleepless nights ever afterward.”

Hornfischer has assembled a cohesive and compelling narrative based upon official documents, a compiled library of participants’ voice recordings, and the author’s own interviews many years later. Both the small details of personal stories and the larger context of military strategy are covered. I appreciated the author’s inclusion of insights into how these courageous captives survived such inhumane conditions. The account becomes more fragmented as it progresses. It may have been more cohesive if the author had focused on a more limited number of personal stories in each section. It could also have benefitted by the inclusion of more photos and maps. This book is an absorbing tribute to the men of the USS Houston. Though it can be gut-wrenching to read about the horrors of war, it is ultimately a testament to the triumph of the human spirit in the face of extreme adversity.
( )

The cruiser, USS Houston was launched in 1929. She became FDR's favourite naval vessel and he sailed on her several times after becoming President. After Pearl Harbor she became the flag ship up the Asiatic Fleet which was in the vicinity of the Philippines when she and the Australian cruiser, HMAS Perth collided with a huge Japanese armada that landing troops on the shores of the Philippines. Out numbered and out gunned, both ships fought to the death with their last messages indicating they were attacking but then nothing.

It was assumed that both ships had been sunk with all hands as no survivors appeared in the following years. Thus the title of this volume. However there were many survivors and they were in Japanese POW camps first in the Philippines and then Singapore but the major number spent the remainder of the war building the Burma-Thailand Death Railroad in Burma made famous by the book and film, "The Bridge on the River Kwai".

Officers were sent to Japan and worked in mines, harbours and industry in Japan. The rest of the men slaved in tropical jungles fighting disease, exotic creatures and the abuse of their Japanese guards. That any of these men survived the experience is amazing. The author has consulted huge amounts of documents to write this basically unknown story of these seamen but does apologizes for not being able to tell everyone's story. ( )

Disappointed in this book, based on Hornfischer's [b:Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal|8575701|Neptune's Inferno The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal|James D. Hornfischer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320403084l/8575701._SY75_.jpg|13444597]. The writing here is a little too flourish-y and fawning, especially at the beginning. The USS Houston may have been a great fighting ship, but we have no way of knowing that since Hornfischer gives us no comparisons. Further, the ship was sunk in its second battle - as an outdated relic against the finest naval force at the time. Once Hornfischer starts describing the struggles of the POW's, the writing becomes a bit better, but still jumps around a lot. And really - when describing POW situations, what can you say except, "it was hard and then they died." I do appreciate how he includes some descriptions of the Allied War Crimes Tribunal trials after the war. Having some more descriptions of the USS Houston's activities in the 30's may have helped flesh the book out more. ( )

The first ship sunken in the Asian Seas in World War ll.More a complex book of the survivors and the life they had from the time of the sinking until the end of the war. Vey complete. Much about the Bridge over the river Kwai which was not the name of the river it went into. Excellent read. ( )

I picked this book because it tells a part of the WWII story that is seldom told and it happened in a place I have some familiarity with from my own experiences. Having read Unbroken and Ghost Soldiers I was expecting a history of similar grit, something I think the story deserves and for which there was ample material. Hornfischer, however, tells a gentler kind of tale; one that touches the surface of a lot but rarely digs deep. That said, I learned a lot about the east Asia campaign (and came away with a particularly poor image of the Dutch performance).

By way of full disclosure I should mention that I listened to the unabridged audible version of the book, which is how I do 90% of my "reading." In this instance the reader was a poor choice in my opinion. The book deserves a certain edge, not a flat reading. That definitely affected my experience, but I do not believe it affected my evaluation of the content. ( )