After the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7), American sailors of the Asiatic Fleet (where it was December 8) were abandoned by Washington and left to conduct a war on their own, isolated from the rest of the U.S. naval forces. Their fate in the Philippines and Dutch East Indies was often grim--many died aboard burning ships, were executed upon capture or spent years as prisoners of war. Many books have been written about the ships of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, yet few look into the experiences of the common sailor. Drawing on official reports, past research, personal memoirs and the writings of war correspondents, the author tells the story of those who never came home in 1945.

Tells of the exploits of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, which was wiped out within three months in World War II.

In the Highest Degree Tragic tells the heroic story of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet's sacrifice defending the Dutch East Indies from the Japanese in the first three months of the Pacific War. Donald M. Kehn Jr.'s comprehensive narrative history of the operations involving multiple ships and thousands of men dramatically depicts the chaotic nature of these battles. His research has uncovered evidence of communications failures, vessels sinking hundreds of miles from where they had been reported lost, and entire complements of men simply disappearing off the face of the earth. Kehn notes that much of the fleet went down with guns blazing and flag flying, highlighting, where many others have failed to do so, the political and strategic reasons for the fleet's deployment to the region in the first place. In the Highest Degree Tragic rectifies the historical record, showcasing how brave yet all-too-human sailors and officers carried out their harrowing tasks. Containing rare first-person accounts and anecdotes, from the highest command echelons down to the lowest enlisted personnel, Kehn's book is the most comprehensive and exhaustive study to date of this important part of American involvement in World War II.

The author's memoir of his service as an officer on board the destroyer U.S.S. Stewart (DD-224) of the Asiatic Fleet from before the war through its abandonment in a dry dock in Java in February 1942, also serving as a history of the ship's wartime service. The author also provides a history of the Asiatic Fleet during that time period when it was part of the naval forces that stopped the Japanese juggernaut on their southward expansion in the Pacific.

U.S. interest in the Far East dates from the earliest years of the republic, when American merchant ships sailed across the vast Pacific to ply their trade in the ports of China, the Philippines, Indochina, and the East Indies. Warships of the U.S. Navy followed soon afterward to protect those commercial carriers and to promote American diplomatic interests in Asia. The U.S. Seventh Fleet, successor to the Asiatic Squadron and Asiatic Fleet of the 19th and early 20th centuries, began making its own naval history in the early days of World War II. Unique among the nation's naval forces, the fleet has taken part in all the major conflicts and most of the crises and confrontations of the last six decades. It has defended U.S. interests and worked with America's Asian alliances to deter aggressors and maintain peace and stability in the region. The fleet's Sailors have provided humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to numerous countries devastated by natural and manmade disasters. The fleet's area of responsibility in the 21st century encompasses 48 million square miles of the Pacific and Indian oceans, an area holding half of the world's population, 35 nations, and many of its most prosperous economies. Much of the world's energy resources and oceangoing trade passes through waters guarded by the warships, aircraft, and men and women of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, whose motto is appropriately-Ready Power for Peace.

Timber Ridge Press is proud to announce the upcoming release of The Last Stand of the Asiatic Fleet: MacArthur's Debacle in the Pacific. Slated for a May 2017 release, this historical non-fiction work by Historian David DuBois is a must-read for World War II enthusiasts.