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Collection of documents and original photographs illustrating U.S. Navy destroyer service during World War II. The documents, both typed and manuscript, are highlighted by a two-page typescript essay by John Steinbeck, entitled “Destroyer Most Gallant Fighting Ship of All,” which was later published as ‘A Destroyer.’ During the summer and early autumn of 1943, Steinbeck wrote wartime dispatches from England and the Mediterranean for the New York Herald Tribune, drawing on time spent aboard the USS Knight (DD-633), a destroyer engaged in diversionary operations in the Gulf of Gaeta before the Allied invasion at Salerno. Because of wartime censorship, the vessel in the original November 24th article was identified only as “the destroyer X.” Steinbeck’s dispatches were later collected in Once There Was a War (1958).
Additional highlights include a two-page handwritten note detailing convoy escort positions, bearings, and submarine threats, and a typed “DISPATCH” describing night engagements and enemy losses, both referencing the U.S.S. Gleaves (423), the lead ship of the Gleaves class of destroyers, and the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Admiral Albert Gleaves, who is credited with improving the accuracy and precision of torpedoes and other naval arms. Also included is a bulletin reporting on destroyer shelling operations off northern Italy involving the Gleaves, and a humorous poem, “GADGETITIS,” issued aboard U.S.S. Gleaves (423).
Accompanied by 26 vintage glossy photographs, ranging in size from approximately 3.25 x 2.25 to 3.5 x 5, depicting naval scenes such as warships underway, heavy seas breaking over a destroyer’s bow, icing conditions on deck, formation sailing, crew assembly, and several striking images of damaged or capsized vessels in harbor, as well as wartime action views identified in period hand as “enemy planes” and anti-aircraft fire. In overall very good to fine condition. An engaging and varied collection combining poetry, documentary, and visual perspectives on World War II destroyer warfare.
