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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe need a 50-state strategy RIGHT NOW!
On October 25, 1944, off the island of Samar, one of the larger nightmares the U.S. Navy could envision actually happened. A Japanese surface fleet of 12 battleships and cruisers (including the largest battleship in the world, IJN Yamato, which displaced more than all American combat ships on the scene), a dozen destroyers, and thirty of the first kamikaze planes descended upon a sizeable portion of the Philippine invasion fleet--transports and auxiliary ships that could not defend themselves. The main US carrier fleet had been deliberately lured hundreds of miles away and was in no position to help.
Standing in the way of Admiral Kurita's dreadnoughts were two groups of tiny escort carriers, fielding a few hundred obsolete planes without armor-piercing bombs, and a handful of destroyers and destroyer escorts. The Japanese bore down upon the nearly helpless American combat ships, firing enormous shells that were fitted with colored dye-packs, ripping the ocean between them with huge columns of brightly-colored water.
The American admiral in charge, Clifton Sprague, was outnumbered and outgunned, and being chased down as it ran before the Japanese at half their speed, the escort carriers firing back with the single five-inch guns (nicknamed "stingers" or "pea shooters" they had for anti-ship defense. Meanwhile, American planes attacked, sometimes faking strafing runs without ammunition, and the destroyers turned into the pursuing Japanese ships and fired spreads of torpedoes, which disrupted the Japanese formation at heavy cost.
At 0924, his own flagship having been hit several times and still dodging torpedoes, Admiral Sprague heard one of his signalmen suddenly yell, "dammit boys, they're getting away!"
It was true. The Japanese fleet was turning away short of the auxiliary fleet and retiring in the direction from which it had come. Admiral Sprague had "won" the Battle off Samar.
The US Navy never let up on the Japanese after that, and the battles of Leyte Gulf effectively ended concerted opposition by the IJN. We still had to land on Japan's own turf and burn them out one-by-one, for another eleven and a half months, but after Samar, it was only a matter of time.
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This is where we Democrats are today. Republicans, heavily armed with unlimited dirty money, drove straight at the United States, bent upon its surrender or destruction, and were turned away at the last moment, primarily by their own incompetence.
And now, they're getting away!
It's time to send the Republican Party to its half of the American political seas--the bottom half. The Tea Party is already doing us the huge favor of fielding a large number of primary candidates against the money-Republicans, but that does us no favor at all if the winner of that fight gets to run unopposed in the general election.
I'm calling upon all the people of DU to look to your own districts, to help us to identify which ones do not have announced Democratic candidates yet, and to fill every candidate's slot in every Congressional district in the nation for 2014.
And, if no Democrat has the stones to step up and strike while the iron is hot, well, you have to do it, and so do I. We don't have to win in every district; we must make certain that Republican money gets blown keeping safe districts safe--from their own trog internal opposition first, and then from us. This is how we can politically, temporarily, de-fang the most powerful and most malevolent Americans, the people who have stolen half our nation's wealth from us in twelve short years.
This is our chance to throw the window open for the two last years of President Obama's term. We need to flip the House and could really use a supermajority in the Senate. Then and only then do we get to see what President Obama really wants to do. He deserves that chance and it is our duty to provide it to him.
I don't feel I'm particularly well liked or heeded here at DU, because I call this crazy world in the crazy way I see it. But others of you--those of you in positions to act, and to even step up to bat yourselves like our pal Representative Grayson--must pick up the standard and carry it forward now. This is our chance. We must not let the Republicans get away with what they have done.
Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)It was an amazing series of event, outlined exceptionally well in Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.
Second, I'd agree with you on the need for a strategic set of goals. We are falling into a trap, the trap of the Germans at the battle of Kursk. We're winning tactical victories, but losing sight of the Strategic Goals behind the battle in the first place.
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)And in the districts where typical GOP beat out tea party in primary, keep resonating what a tea party type THAT candidate is regardless. The tea party brand smells like shit and should be exploited in all districts.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)....can't remember the name, the Roberts perhaps? that charged into the battle and engaged a cruiser at fairly close range. They inflicted heavy damage on the cruiser before they were sunk. Pretty remarkable act of bravery, a DE is but a pea-shooter against a cruiser.
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)They engaged the heavy cruiser Chokal, badly damaging it (it later sank) , also damaged another cruiser, and was finally sunk by a direct hit from the heavy guns of the Battleship Kongo, which blew a hole 40' long and 10' high in the Roberts.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Samuel_B._Roberts_(DE-413)
sofa king
(10,857 posts)There have since been two other Samuel B. Roberts in the fleet, largely thanks to the first one's action at Samar. Interestingly enough, the ship was named for a fellow who died while drawing fire with a Higgins boat at Guadalcanal in 1942. His younger brother Jack became the intercom announcer on DE-413, his brother's namesake, and survived the sinking during the Battle off Samar. So Jack lost his brother twice in that war.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_B._Roberts
2naSalit
(86,541 posts)knew about that battle. It's been a long time since I have seen mention of it anywhere.
I agree that we need to address the current status of government in very much the way you suggest. I will tell you this though, in my state, even though we have Dem Senators and Governor, we have one House Rep for the whole huge state and lots of Rs can't bring themselves to vote for a Dem, period. I was just discussing this with a candidate for the legislature in my district about this earlier today. He told the Dem party folks who have been trying to get him to run in the upcoming election that he would run as an Ind. to relieve those disenchanted R's of having to make a choice they are severely uncomfortable with. He may do well this time around, he ran in the last election and took a lot of votes from the incumbent but didn't get elected.
So I would suggest that even Ind. is a good way to go for folks in districts unfavorable to Dems for ideological reasons. I have been tempted to inquire about running for the House (Congressional seat) in my state but it would be a big haul for a no-name candidate with a history of Dem activist leanings.
Good on our suggestion, I hope that a good number of interested persons respond to all pleas of this sort!
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)we won the presidency and the senate and we act like we lost.
rocktivity
(44,576 posts)The one Howard Dean came up with worked perfectly. But since it cost Dem corporatists and strategists their fat consulting fees, they declared war on it. Put Dean back in charge of the DNC -- permanently.
rocktivity
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)sofa king
(10,857 posts)brer cat
(24,560 posts)jeff47
(26,549 posts)denbot
(9,899 posts)As was the case of most who fought in WWII he never really spoke of what he experienced. As a young seaman I went through damage control school and our instructor mentioned how the men of those ships kept them afloat as long as possible to continue to fight a seemingly impossible battle. At the time I had no ideal my grandfather was one of those men.
I believe the Kalinin Bay was the first ship to be hit by Kamikaze's during the war.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kalinin_Bay_%28CVE-68%29
Escort carriers were designated CVEs by the Navy. Sailors said it stood for "combustible, vulnerable, expendable."
kentuck
(111,079 posts)We need your help again.