In the Shadows of Guadalcanal

Summary

Winner, 2023 Arizona-New Mexico Book Awards, Historical Fiction

Twice torpedoed during the Battle of the Atlantic, LT. Tony Colombo USNR, a former merchant marine officer, is appointed to command a new Navy ship, PC-450. After a period of escorting convoys up and down the Atlantic coast, Tony finds himself escorting ships loaded with Marine Corps equipment to New Zealand and Australia.

Once arrived, he is ordered to begin escorting convoys up and down the Australian coast. Some weeks later, Tony and PC-450 engage in battle with a Japanese submarine attempting to penetrate Brisbane Harbor.

In the summer of 1942, as PC-450 begins to escort numerous convoys from Australia to Noumea in New Caledonia, the United States invades Guadalcanal with the result that Tony begins guiding convoys north in support of the invasion while fending off the air raids that the Japanese throw down. PC-450 participates in the invasion of the Russell Islands and then, during the fight for New Georgia, PC-450 not only helps to fend off Japanese air attacks but engages in surface actions. Wounded in a sudden air attack, Tony and Baldy are returned to Brisbane for convalescence and new assignments.