There's nothing insane about it. Manual rudder control by voice command is standard procedure for loss of electric/hydraulic means. It's something we practiced as a regular drill. It was no different than fire, flooding or man overboard drills.

I consider standing on the fan tail out in the open while being shot at as rather insane but I guess in reality a 14 inch shell doesn't care if there's a couple inches of steel between you and it..

By insane I mean like an amazing level of bravery that I couldn't accomplish myself..

@Sam yeah I thought about posting that when I found it the other day..

EVANS, ERNEST EDWIN

Rank and organization: Commander, U.S. Navy. Born: 13 August 1908, Pawnee, Okla. Accredited to: Oklahoma. Other Navy awards: Navy Cross, Bronze Star Medal. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Johnston in action against major units of the enemy Japanese fleet during the battle off Samar on 25 October 1944. The first to lay a smokescreen and to open fire as an enemy task force, vastly superior in number, firepower and armor, rapidly approached. Comdr. Evans gallantly diverted the powerful blasts of hostile guns from the lightly armed and armored carriers under his protection, launching the first torpedo attack when the Johnston came under straddling Japanese shellfire. Undaunted by damage sustained under the terrific volume of fire, he unhesitatingly joined others of his group to provide fire support during subsequent torpedo attacks against the Japanese and, outshooting and outmaneuvering the enemy as he consistently interposed his vessel between the hostile fleet units and our carriers despite the crippling loss of engine power and communications with steering aft, shifted command to the fantail, shouted steering orders through an open hatch to men turning the rudder by hand and battled furiously until the Johnston, burning and shuddering from a mortal blow, lay dead in the water after 3 hours of fierce combat. Seriously wounded early in the engagement, Comdr. Evans, by his indomitable courage and brilliant professional skill, aided materially in turning back the enemy during a critical phase of the action. His valiant fighting spirit throughout this historic battle will venture as an inspiration to all who served with him.

See, James D. Hornfischer, The Last Stand of the Tincan Sailors for a complete history of the battle.

It is a great book, and a real page turner. Read it. 2... 3.... maybe 4 times. I have.

The part that really got me about the Johnston was that the skipper ended up controlling her from the tail of the ship by yelling down a hatch at people manually moving the rudder. That's borderline "insane"..

There's nothing insane about it. Manual rudder control by voice command is standard procedure for loss of electric/hydraulic means. It's something we practiced as a regular drill. It was no different than fire, flooding or man overboard drills.

The part that really got me about the Johnston was that the skipper ended up controlling her from the tail of the ship by yelling down a hatch at people manually moving the rudder. That's borderline "insane"..

The tradition is called "rendering passing honors" (or similar terminology depending on the nationality). I have heard that story before, but I don't have a reliable source for it. Is that in Morison's "History"?

IIRC, I read it in The Last Stand of the Tincan Sailors.

one of the Japanese commanders had his sailors stand at attention at the rail, and they saluted Johnston as they went by.

Well, actually, Japanese would have bowed rather than saluted. It's really the same thing. The tradition is called "rendering passing honors" (or similar terminology depending on the nationality). I have heard that story before, but I don't have a reliable source for it. Is that in Morison's "History"?

Yes, those men can't be held in high enough esteem. The Johnston in the course of making its one-ship attack on the Japanese fleet (and blowing off the bow of a Japanese cruiser) was, as you might guess, pounded, just pounded, by Japanese gunnery. Evans was able to bring the ship about and was retiring from the fight when he saw that all the other "little guys" (in Adm. Sprague's words) were now rushing to the attack. So, he brought Johnston about again and headed back into the fray. But Johnston's luck had run out. Eventually, it was surrounded by Japanese ships and essentially obliterated. But then, as it was sinking, a strange and beautiful thing happened, strange and beautiful for the Pacific war. As Johnston was going to its grave, and the Japanese ships were gliding by it, one of the Japanese commanders had his sailors stand at attention at the rail, and they saluted Johnston as they went by. A grace note in a theater of war where grace notes were unknown.

I suppose I should have guessed some knee-jerk liberal would turn it into a partisan political rant.

Actually, you did that with your first comments on this thread...

...knife...

Whoa! I was thinking in terms of a run-of-the-mill practical joke people play. I consider the president laid back enough to engage in a harmless prank when the situation warrants. I suppose I should have guessed some knee-jerk liberal would turn it into a partisan political rant.

I guess your obtuse eyes missed the fact that this post has a set of four pictures in it rather than just one...if this were a caption contest, I would expect something else, perhaps along the lines of, "I presume they photo shopped out the knife that the president was sticking in the kid's back." That seems more along the lines of what is usually written in those things...