Three Years Aboard a Navy Destroyer

This book is a sea story about a U.S. Navy destroyer and her crew. The author served on this ship, the USS Brush (DD745), for 3 years and 2 months in the early 1950s. Life on the Brush involved a lot of sea duty. She spent most of this time at sea either conducting training exercises off the coast of California or steaming around somewhere in the Far east. The Brush made 3 seven month cruises to the Orient while the author was aboard her. The main objective of this book, and the reason for writing it, was to tell about what the crew of the Brush experienced on these 3 cruises.

The first cruise was made in early 1953. The Brush was sent to the Korean War theatre and spent several months there doing what destroyers do during war time. The men experienced things off North Korea that they will never forget. In addition to the Korean Patrol, the Brush participated in the Formosa Patrol for a month or so and went to the island city of Hong Kong while she was down that way.

The second cruise was made in May, 1954. On this cruise, the brush spent most of her time in the South China Sea, Formosa Strait, and in the Sea of Japan.

The Brush commenced the third cruise in June, 1955. This was more of a peace time cruise and we never had to go into harms way. Although, the author had a number of interesting personal experiences which he wrote about.

Comments by people who have read the book, Three Years Aboard A Navy Destroyer

As the son of one of the USS Brushs skippers identified in Ted Hollys book, I was particularly fascinated to read of his and his shipmates many and varied experiences during their three Far East cruises. His folksy stories of a young mans explorations of the vastness of the oceans, the wonders of the orient, and the uncertainties of combat are told in a detailed and entertaining style offering multiple layers of insight to life aboard a tin can in the 1950s. In addition to his prose, Mr. Holly has included many photographs and maps which enhance and elucidate the storytelling. It is a terrific read for anyone interested in the naval service in general and the unforgotten Korean War in particular.

Dennis Quigley
Captain, USMC (Retired)
Arizona

the straightforward and unglossed memories of a young sailor, out of high school and soon into a U.S. destroyer, greyhound of the seas. Ted Holly was everybodys favorite sailor, squared away with a great attitude in a key job around the nerve center of a 2200 tonner loaded for whatever kind of scrap. This book is an honest snapshot of the times, the people, and the ships that sailed to the Korean Conflict.

Ted Brown
LT., USNR (Retired)
New Hampshire

This book, Three Years Aboard A Navy Destroyer, vividly recounts typical destroyer, i.e. USS BRUSH DD745, operations during the final days of the Korea War and the transition into post war routine operations. It accurately reports destroyer actions against North Korean trains, sinking of floating mines with rifle fire, the Wonsan Harbor actions and support of Korean Forces engaged in clandestine operations.

It also provides a typical sailors view and experiences of the liberty ports in Japan and the exotic Hong Kong as a British Colony. And the author returns to Japan 29 years later and gives an interesting comparison of his experiences and the differences that he observed between his first trip and the 1982 trip.

The BRUSH was my first duty station after being commissioned in June 1951 until my transfer in November 1953. So I shared with the author the destroyer actions described. I was amazed that he was able to capture these events in so much detail and I enjoyed remembering the details of these events.

Herbert O. Burton
Captain, USN (Retired)
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