Tin Can Sailors is the name of The National Association of Destroyer Veterans in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It currently numbers approximately 20,000 members as of the end of 2010. "Tin can sailor" is a term used to refer to sailors on

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s. It refers to their lighter construction, with no armor plating, compared to

battleships A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

and cruisers.

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors The nonfiction book ''The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour'' is a narrative account of the Battle off Samar, an event which the book's author, James D. Hornfischer, calls the ...

is a book by James D. Hornfischer about the

Battle off Samar The Battle off Samar was the centermost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battle in history, largest naval battles in history, which took place in the Philippine Sea off Samar (island), Samar Island, in the Philippin ...

on October 25, 1944, in which destroyers saw off a much larger force of Japanese ships. ''Tales from a Tin Can: The USS Dale from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay'' is a book by Michael Keith Olson which follows the destroyer USS ''Dale'' throughout World War II. The exploits of her sailors are told in their own words.
Tin Can Sailors Will Not Be Forgotten
' is a 53-minute-long documentary film directed by Greg Berg, which follows the destroyer USS ''Morris'' through her 15 battle stars earned in The Pacific War. The sailors themselves tell the story as recollections from a modern-day reunion.

External links

Official website
Destroyers of the United States United States Navy personnel {{USN-stub