A story that follows the USS Astoria and her crew. Looking at the different personnel beginning with Dyer who after serving a horrific wound had vowed to return to the war. Now in 1944, he got the chance with the USS Astoria. You are taken through a battle with a typhoon that lost many ships, then they are off to Iwo Jima and then to the attack of Kamikazes during Okinawa. A very good story about men coming together whether fighting or fighting for their lives. An excellent read.

Author Brent E. Jones published the book “Days of Steel Rain: The Epic Story of a WWII Vengeance Ship in the Year of the Kamikaze” in 2021. This is his first book.

I categorize this book as ‘PG’ because it contains some scenes of violence. The book tells the story of the light cruiser USS Astoria during the last year of WWII.

The Astoria was a ‘vengeance ship’. The original USS Astoria (CS-34) had also been a cruiser. She was launched in December of 1933 and commissioned on April 28, 1934. She sank on August 9, 1942, after seeing action during the Battle of Savo Island. The USS Astoria (CL-90), the subject of this book, was launched on March 6, 1943, and commissioned on May 17, 1944. She was a vengeance ship because she was named after a prior ship lost in battle to the Japanese.

The book tells the story of CL-90. It describes the background of her construction and the corresponding difficulties. The book first follows her shakedown cruise to the vicinity of Bermuda. Soon after she began operations with the Pacific Fleet. Most of Astoria’s war experience was as a carrier escort.

U.S. Navy Captain George Dyer commanded the Astoria. He had to build the crew from what he was given. He had a few experience sailers, but most were fresh out of training or the rejects of other ships. In the months between commissioning and the end of the war, they became a tight and ready crew. It was at Okinawa where they faced their greatest challenge. It was there they faced their greatest challenge from the Japanese Kamikazes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 11.5+ hours I spent reading this 401-page WWII naval history. The author does a good job of working excerpts from crew written letters and journals into the story. I had never heard of using spotter planes for air-sea rescue until reading this book. Cruisers and battleships carried catapult-launched amphibious planes. The Astoria's pilots made many a rescue. Captain Dyer faced more challenges than I would have expected. The demands of assembling and training up his crew were greater than I would have thought for 1944. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

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This is such an intriguing and interesting story. It isn’t necessarily a book I would have chosen but I was offered the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader Copy through NetGalley and the publisher. Even for someone who isn’t that well informed about war ships I found it to be very readable although there were some technical sections that I skipped over. The author did a wonderful job of drawing the reader in by introducing individuals involved with the ship. It helped to build a connection and made me want to find out what happened to each of them. I learned many new things about WWII, but most notable was that workers in the shipyards were able to go on strike during the height of the war.

A great and exciting story about the final stages of WW2. The action scenes are intense and riveting. The author makes good use of firsthand accounts by the individuals at the scene. This is a tremendous story.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.