Destroyer Action in the South Pacific - Condition Red

Excellent book. Well written in Naval terminology. As a NAVY brat I understood most of it. My father was onboard Carrier's fixing the shot up air craft.The USS Princeton was one of the Carrier's he was on. He never spoke of his time on board, so I love to read books such as this one to find out what it was really like. Thank you for the insight. Ralph G./

This book gives you an excellent inside look at what life aboard a destroyer was like in WW2. From the hell of combat to the boredom of sailing around a empty sea escorting slow moving supply ships. A must read if you had a father,uncle or brother who served on such a ship.

Good description at times about sea warfare aboard a navy destroyer. Unfortunately, nobody assisted this navy officer in organizing his accounts into a well-flowing story. Not a bad account, but could have been far better with a strong editor with story development skills.

0ne should check the original publication date.
Anything published in the time of war is erroneous, as the authors either believe what the government says, or they are trying to build morale. Many factual errors, yet life on the ship
Rings true.

Great book! Totally different. You knew about battles that the people on the ship were involved in, but you did not have the blood and guts explained in detail. I learned more about life on a destroyer and a flat top than ever before! Great book about great people!

Great book! Totally different. You knew about battles that the people on the ship were involved in, but you did not have the blood and guts explained in detail. I learned more about life on a destroyer and a flat top than ever before! Great book about great people!

The author provides a top notch view of the strains of small combatant life in the war zone; port and starboard steaming with never enough time to perform proper maintenance, meet administration demands and get enough sleep to adequately function while coping with air and surface attacks.

Wonderfully written account of the USS Grayson during the early part of WW II. Enjoyed reading Bp. bell's account. He later on was ordained a Deacon, Priest, and Bishop in the Episcopal Church. This however is not a religious book, but a personal account of a naval officer during the war.

Extremely easy to read with more comic relief than actual circumstances probably allowed this book is written with the knowledge of a true veteran very capable of writing and provides an excellent birds eye account of this area of conflict in 1942

Many sailors in the US Navy consider Destroyer duty as the backbone of Naval operations. This type ship, small, maneuverable, and versatile, is the workhorse of the fleet. In WWII when USS Grayson, the subject of this book, was active in both the Atlantic and, later, the Pacific fleet, DDs performed many duties. They served as convoy escorts, ferried troops, delivered vital supplies, provided air defense for carriers, sank submarines, battled enemy combat ships with guns and torpedoes, served as command and control vehicles, and provided shore bombardment in battle. Mr. Bell, who served as the Grayson's commanding officer, has written a book chronicling his ship's participation in WWII. What I like about this book is the style of narration; it's as if he's telling sea stories to fellow sailors. I served a total of 6 years on Destroyers during the cold war era (3 years on a Gearing Class "Tin Can" in New York city and 3 years on a Spruance class homeported in Charleston) so I understood the story he told. This is an excellent book in my opinion, although I can understand why some readers would think that he goes into deeper detail on some points that have less importance to the story line. This book dwells less on the details of the war that the Grayson was participating in, and more on the daily lives of the men fighting the war - the constant fatigue, GQ and battle stations at all hours, little time for recreation or rest, sleepless nights, interrupted meals, and such. This book should invoke memories (some good, some not so much) on former Tin Can sailors, and give others some insight on what sailors experience in wartime. As a side note: a ship of the US Navy should be identified as "USS Grayson", not The USS Grayson. The latter implies the Grayson is the only United States Ship. Say "He served in USS Grayson" or "He serves in the Grayson". Proper terminology that most people screw up today.
Proud to have been a Tin Can Sailor for 6 of my 22 years service!

Having served on a destroyer in the Korean War, I was particularly
interested in this tale of action in WW2. Condition Red means
man your battle stations, and there were many instances when this
was required. The author does a good job of telling the story
of life on a "tin can."

Well written. As the eldest son of a WWII radioman who spent much time on the fantail of tin cans on North Atlantic convoy duty then in the Pacific it was nice to learn what my father experienced but never talked about.

A detailed look at destroyer ops. Recommend this for anyone who served aboard DD’s or those of us whose fathers served on Navy ships, especially ‘tin cans’, DE’s (destroyer escorts) and other task group vessels that protected flattops and landing troop ships.

Well written and

Being that I was once a destroyer sailor, enjoyed reading about destroyer life during the second world war. I never saw action, but a lot of the training and drilling reminded me as to my life on my tin can at sea.

I thought Condition Red gave a good description of life on a Destroyer during wartime. It would have been better with more action. But most books about the war do that, and there is allot more to war than just shooting.

Very good read. Interesting so have the perspective of a destroyer in WWII, mostly in the Pacific theatre. It's not about the grand battles and strategic plans, but rather the daily life of the crew of s relatively small vessel.

Good detail about life aboard a destroyer in WWII. Stories about the officers and crew detailed and, at times funny, heart wrenching and deadly serious. Jumps around a bit, but overall I would highly recommend.

I feel that this was actually pretty interesting, and worthwhile. It skips a LOT of issues about the war they were fighting. It treats too lightly on the destruction of the South Pacific forces early in the war. No information on the US torpedo that hampered US forces until the war was almost half over. While I did enjoy most of the book, I didn't feel like there was a lot of "meat on the bone".

The book was originally a 1943 publication. At the time there was a lot censorship in place as the war was still being fought. A good Navy man would also be politically correct about what he would put in print. Still, it just seemed a little thin to me.

Interesting book written early in the war with much of the flavor of the war and the bumbling the US command went through in those early months. Its most unique value is in the reflection of the attitudes -- good, bad, inept and often confused -- of the time.

To preseve the flavor time in which it was written but account for historical accuracy, the book needs a new edition with editors footnotes to clarify that, for instance, "Candy" was actually "Cactus" and Cactus was Guadalcanal. This also applies to the many other ship names and locations. It would also help in reconciling the claims of ship sinkings and planes lost with the post-war confirmations of actual losses. I would not touch the text itself, it's too much of a time capsule. The book is not purely chronological, if you expect that you will find yourself confused. The confused sequencing may reflect the attempts of the time to mislead the Japanese; if so, I suspect it was more more annoying than effective

Three greats value of the book are its unintentional portrayal of early WWII paranoia (a good application of "just because you're paranoid does not mean they are not out to get you"), the learning curve US forces were suffering through, and life aboard a WWII destroyer in the South Pacific.

CDR Bell has a story tellers gift. Thoroughly enjoyed the book, hIghly recommended. The only critique is the time line is not always clear and the author has a penchant for unnecessary 50 cent words. Still a great read.