The Ship That Wouldn't Die

An acclaimed naval historian tells one of the most inspiring sea stories of World War II: the Japanese attack on the American oiler USS Neosho and the gutsy crew’s struggle for survival as their slowly sinking ship drifted—lost, defenseless, and alone—on the treacherous Coral Sea. In May 1942, Admiral Jack Fletcher’s Task Force 17 closed in for the war’s first major clash with the Japanese Navy. The Neosho , a vitally important tanker capable of holding more than 140,000 barrels of fuel, was ord