Tempest, Fire & Foe

About the Book

A detailed report covering ALL SIX CLASSES OF DESTROYER ESCORTS commissioned in World War II, including the conversions of some to fast transports (APD), and the men who fought in them. Numerous narratives and photos are woven by laughs, the sights and sounds of war. The author, Lewis M. Andrews Jr. was commanding officer of a destroyer escort in Word War II.

Across the North Atlantic, these "budget price detroyers" convoyed merchant vessels and transports loaded with the sinews of combat, troops and material. At times, DEs made hazardous rescues through roaring flames from stricken ships. The merciless north latitudes sent huge waves crashing onto those small hulls, often crumpling superstructure and splinter shields like trashed paper. There were engagements with U-boats and many were sent to their final dives. DEs guarding Mediterranean-bound convoys fought with Junker and Heinkel torpedo bombers as well as submarines. Together with escort (jeep) carriers, DEs turned the tide of battle, foiled the enemy's grand design to sever oceanborne traffic between the United Kingdome, the European Continent and North America. In the attack on Normandy, they screened the battleships from enemy submarines and motor torpedo boats so that the big ships' heavy also could reduce enemy fortifications to rubble. Off the bloody beaches of Anzio and Normandy, their advanced electronics foiled enemy radio-controlled glider bombs. They went to the aid of sinking amphibious vessels, rescuing soldiers and sailors alike, as a bloody red froth was thrown onto the beach by the waves. We lost destroyer escorts and men. Atlantic victory did not come cheap.

In the Pacific, DEs and APDs (fast transports converted from DEs) also convoyed merchant ships, sending numerous Japanese submarines to the bottom and losing some of our ships as well. They screened tankers in the train of the Third Fleet to replenish the ever-thirsty bunkers of aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers. They dueled with shore batteries, occasionally taking hits. They formed antisubmarine screens for the big ships as they bombarded island after island to pave the way for amphibious assaults. They were assigned the hazardous duty of operating with underwater demolition teams under the guns of enemy emplacements. They weathered gales and killer typhoons, frequently recording rolls of seventy degrees from the vertical. From the Phillipines to Iwo Jima to Okinawa they engaged Japanese suicide planes, the Divine Wind (kamikaze). Many a DE or APD crew on the picket line remained at battle stations for eighteen hours a day and some were in the area as long as ninety days. Often, as many as three to four kamikazes would come roaring out of the sun with the intention of diving onto a single ship. The vessels downed many kamikazes but suffered their fiery crashes in turn. Casualties were enormous in this most severe action ever recorded in the United States Navy.

About the Author

The person who wrote this book, Lew Andrews, commanded a series of ships during World War II. As the publisher has learned, Lew, even at 82, is a fierce, strong-willed force to be reckoned with. He is also an articulate 1939 graduate of Connecticut Wesleyan University.

Lew's first command was a makeshift minesweeper that had been a peacetime fishing trawler. His next command was a sub chaser convoying between Key West and Caribbean ports. After a stint as the executive officer of a corvette, Lew took the same position on USS Sims a destroyer escort. In 1944, he took command of Sims and, by war's end, was a lieutenant commander and executive officer of the Antisubmarine Warfare Training Center in Norfolk.

Fifty-four years has not dimmed Lew's respect for the heroes he served under, with, and over. In one sense, time as only strengthened his resolve that their stories be told. With that in mind, Lew became actively involved in the destroyer escort organizations, and through this network of men with a bond that neither time nor death can sever, has collected stories and documented some of the most exciting stories of WWII.

Without a doubt, Tempest, Fire and Foe has been a labor of love. Lew says it took eight years; it was a lifetime. Read it with both laughter and tears and remember the sacrifice made by the men who were boys then (and Lew) fought to preserve our freedom.