The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour

by James D. Hornfischer

At some point between 8:08 and 8:24 the Heermann was firing its main batteries at targets to starboard when chief yeoman Harold Whitney, Captain Hathaway’s talker, heard over his headset an excited shout from a port-side lookout. Appearing unexpectedly out of the smoke and haze came a destroyer. From the starboard bridge wing, Whitney looked across his ship’s narrow beam and saw the tin can steaming close alongside to port. Walking over to take a closer look, he saw the sharp rising prow, the blocky superstructure, the twin main gun mount, and the foreign dress of a sailor scurrying around pointing at the American destroyer, and he realized the ship was Japanese. “I could have thrown a potato and hit that kid running around there,” Whitney said. Whitney returned to the starboard bridge wing and called the shocking development to Amos Hathaway’s attention, recommending that he order the Heermann’s machine-gunners to engage the intruder at point-blank range. Unfazed, the skipper said to his talker, “I can’t shoot at them now. We’re busy with these cruisers over here.” Evidently the imperial tin can had other priorities as well. After several tense minutes the ship peeled off to port and disappeared through the smoke and squalls that had covered its arrival.