USS Wilkes

The Lucky Ship

• Author: William Mosher
• Price: $35.00 (includes postage) (US Funds)
• E-mail for ordering information.

426 pages, 7 x 10", hardcover, acid-free paper, 30 photographs, 11 maps.

This book is about the destroyer WILKES, from its commissioning on April 22, 1941, until its decommissioning at Charleston, SC in 1946. It explains why the ship, which earned 10 battle stars, was called "The Lucky Ship." The maritime disaster at Newfoundland with the loss of the POLLUX and TRUXTON and the narrow excape of the WILKES off of the rocks is fully covered. Two months later the WILKES was rammed by a tanker and again her luck held.

The operations of the ship in North Africa and the subsequent operations in the Pacific are told in detail. From convoy duty, operations with the Seventh Fleet in the New Guinea campaign, operations with the Third Fleet under Admiral Halsey, until the final operation at Okinawa. The luck of the ship held and that is what this book is about. It also tells of the operations of the various departments of a wartime destroyer.

Table of Contents:

• Prelude to War
• Chapter I -- Commissioning, Trials and Shakedown
• Chapter II -- 1942 - A New Year -- First Full Year Of The War
• Chapter III -- TORCH -- The Invasion Of French North Africa
• Chapter IV -- Prelude And Operations For The Landing In Sicily
• Chapter V -- New Guinea Admiralities Hollandia
• Chapter VI -- The End Of The New Guinea campaign
• Chapter VII -- Western Carolines -- Third And Fifth Fleets
• Chapter VIII -- The End was in Sight -- Our Second Tour
• Chapter IX -- How The Ship Was Organized
• Chapter X -- True Sea Stories
• Chapter XI -- Plank Owners
• Chapter XII -- Roster Of All Enlisted Men -- Roster Of Officers
• Chapter XIII -- Wanderings of the WILKES
• Chapter XIV -- Our Fate