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Destroyermen: Scout Cadre #1
Fleet of Ghosts
An expeditionary force will discover unfamiliar lands, fight deadly foes, and reveal secrets as they explore the mysterious new earth they now call home in this gripping alternate history adventure set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Destroyermen series.
Ever since the World War II–era destroyer USS Walker was marooned on a strange alternate earth, naturalist Courtney Bradford has been eager to fully explore the planet. Now that the war with the Grand Alliance’s enemies has settled into an uneasy peace, he is given leave to organize the Corps of Discovery, a motley company formed of veterans of the Great War from all over the Alliance.
On board the rebuilt Walker, now a school ship, they set out to investigate reports of a region in the Pacific where ships have gone missing and a terrible bright flash of light on the horizon was witnessed. But what they find there is beyond anyone’s a great battered fleet made up of strange ships. Courtney suspects the rusty armada may have been transported to this world from another, the same way the Walker was almost five years ago.
But the Alliance’s enemies are already aware of these lost ships—and the deadly technology they can harvest from them—and are willing to go to any lengths to steal them. Courtney, a crew of inexperienced cadets, and a handful of lethal commandos are all that stand in the way of another global war—one that the exhausted Alliance simply can’t win.
Ever since the World War II–era destroyer USS Walker was marooned on a strange alternate earth, naturalist Courtney Bradford has been eager to fully explore the planet. Now that the war with the Grand Alliance’s enemies has settled into an uneasy peace, he is given leave to organize the Corps of Discovery, a motley company formed of veterans of the Great War from all over the Alliance.
On board the rebuilt Walker, now a school ship, they set out to investigate reports of a region in the Pacific where ships have gone missing and a terrible bright flash of light on the horizon was witnessed. But what they find there is beyond anyone’s a great battered fleet made up of strange ships. Courtney suspects the rusty armada may have been transported to this world from another, the same way the Walker was almost five years ago.
But the Alliance’s enemies are already aware of these lost ships—and the deadly technology they can harvest from them—and are willing to go to any lengths to steal them. Courtney, a crew of inexperienced cadets, and a handful of lethal commandos are all that stand in the way of another global war—one that the exhausted Alliance simply can’t win.
461 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 9, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 12, 2026
In a delightful changeup, Anderson is (at least for now) switching from multi-book epics to one-off stories set after the end of the main Destroyermen series following the antics of a sort of mixed exploration/adventurer/espionage/problem-solver team of lovable rogues from the old series (yes, quite amazingly, despite the death toll in book 15, there's still more than enough surviving main characters to fill out the cast) whose job is to fill in the Allies' knowledge of the strange world on which they live, investigate new threats and new potential allies, to boldly go where no destroyerman has gone before!!! (cue ST:NG theme) ... (ahem...) sorry, my Trekkie roots came out and I got carried away there. Anyway, it's now 1946 and while the peace after the Allied Victories the prior year has held, elements of the old enemies still linger with relics of the hardline Grik and Dominion nursing their wounds in remote jungles, but these are hardly the threat they once were. No, the real danger to the peace is the fascist League of Tripoli which dominates the Mediterranean. Although the League got badly humbled by the Allies in book 15, it retains sizeable forces and a commitment to WORLD DOMINATION. After a year of peaceful coexistence, the League has suddenly deployed a sizeable part of its fleet out into the Atlantic, threatening the no-go line at the Azores, separating the League-controlled waters from Allied waters. At the same time, a massive flash has occurred in the South Pacific, similar to two flashes over Japan late the prior year, and Allied vessels heading to investigate have vanished without a trace. With so much of the fleet deployed forward to head off whatever the League is up to, it's up to USS Walker, now relegated to duties as a training ship, a crew of cadets, and some picked problem-solvers led by Courtney Bradford and Dennis Silva, to find out what's really going on and do something about it.
I just loved getting back to this setting. The Artillerymen books were good but the fact that they were a prequel made them ultimately anticlimactic. The whole time as the audience (unless you read them before Destroyermen... which would be weird) you know how it's all going to turn out, and this doesn't have that problem. Well, I suppose since all of this is supposed to be in Bradford's book from '56, we know he's going to survive and the New British Isles (at least) will be free still, but that's still a lot up in the air, a lot to build upon and surprise the audience with. Likewise, it's good to have the old cast back, even with depletions, and Anderson fills it out with some new and interesting characters of various sorts. Perhaps the best thing about it being a one-off is that for once Anderson doesn't feel obliged to squirrel away the villains to live another day (huzzah!). All in all, I had a blast with this book and look forward to whatever strange adventures Bradford, Silva, and company get up to next.
I just loved getting back to this setting. The Artillerymen books were good but the fact that they were a prequel made them ultimately anticlimactic. The whole time as the audience (unless you read them before Destroyermen... which would be weird) you know how it's all going to turn out, and this doesn't have that problem. Well, I suppose since all of this is supposed to be in Bradford's book from '56, we know he's going to survive and the New British Isles (at least) will be free still, but that's still a lot up in the air, a lot to build upon and surprise the audience with. Likewise, it's good to have the old cast back, even with depletions, and Anderson fills it out with some new and interesting characters of various sorts. Perhaps the best thing about it being a one-off is that for once Anderson doesn't feel obliged to squirrel away the villains to live another day (huzzah!). All in all, I had a blast with this book and look forward to whatever strange adventures Bradford, Silva, and company get up to next.
June 16, 2026
Taylor Anderson’s follow-on to “The Destroyermen” series has hit like a shell. I had no idea what to expect for sure, but I figured it would be terrific. Oh! Me of little faith!
I’m not going to go into the plot, in detail, because this one deserves a bit more literary analysis. The plot, for those who simply must know, involves our dear old Walker off on a really strange walk-about. What starts off as an exploration of the world’s wonders with a crew of “boots” – cadets of the academies of various Alliance members – to give the kiddies a taste of seagoing life in the US Navy clan – goes straight into the pot Events a half-world away supply a wonderfully-mysterious undertone, rather like the “Jaws” theme. This is the nearest Taylor has come to science fiction, and he has laid it over the themes and flavors of “The Destroyermen.” Which is to say, get ready for an exquisite prime rib and lobster tail, with seasonings and flavors that will have your literary taste buds wondering what the heck hit them!
There is a difference between a book with a story and a book with a plot. The former is just, “This happened, then this happened, and then this happened.” The latter is a series of cause and effect that is driven by the characters: “This happened, which caused Silva figure out how to make that happen, and that caused Courtney to decide to do something else.” In other words stuff doesn’t just happen in Taylor’s books; it’s caused.
His characters are so meticulously drawn, with such intelligence and integrity that the reader can see and feel the relentless, inevitable march of events. When bad stuff happens, the reader can see exactly why, and what must be done about it. When good stuff happens, ditto, but the in-freaking-credibly exquisite threads of the plot – what are called “arcs” nowadays, leave us looking over the bridge wings and fantail to see what’s coming next. And all of that is powered – driven – by the integrity of Taylor’s characters, heroes and villians alike. Past, present, and future are put together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle cut with wonderful precision. I have never read an author who could make me really really hate the bad guys, to the extent that I shout, “YES! TAKE THAT, YOU EXPLETIVE!”
So you can’t separate the characters from the events. Oh, and this screwball world seems to be a character, itself! In “Fleet of Ghosts,” you will renew old friendships, make new ones, and marvel at how they fit and work together, often with eye-popping unlikelihood.
Taylor’s ability to paint pictures of silly society dames dropping their beehive hair in a punchbowl, to sunset on a stormy sea, to the wrenching hammer and gout of flame when 4” common shell strikes is stunning. And it’s not just the visual. Firefight. The deafening clatter of .30 and .50 machine guns that feels like your ears are full of hot sand. The overpressure of naval rifles that jams pipe cleaners of concussion up into the corners of your eyes and sloshes the coffee in your belly. The smell the of sulphur of the .50-80’s, the pissy ammonium nitrate from the .30’s and the stinging, choking corrosive burn of the 4-inchers. It’s all there, friends. Wallow in it.
So you’ve got characters that are real… I was going to say ‘human,” but there are other, equally nuanced species. You’ve got the hysterically unexpected events to which the characters respond, and the crap-shoot results of battle in a world that never that met an anomaly, or an absurdity, it didn’t like. Grab you a copy and see if you can devour it before it devours you.
Later, shipmates.
Wess Rodgers – rebsarge.wordpress.com – Alamogordo, NM
I’m not going to go into the plot, in detail, because this one deserves a bit more literary analysis. The plot, for those who simply must know, involves our dear old Walker off on a really strange walk-about. What starts off as an exploration of the world’s wonders with a crew of “boots” – cadets of the academies of various Alliance members – to give the kiddies a taste of seagoing life in the US Navy clan – goes straight into the pot Events a half-world away supply a wonderfully-mysterious undertone, rather like the “Jaws” theme. This is the nearest Taylor has come to science fiction, and he has laid it over the themes and flavors of “The Destroyermen.” Which is to say, get ready for an exquisite prime rib and lobster tail, with seasonings and flavors that will have your literary taste buds wondering what the heck hit them!
There is a difference between a book with a story and a book with a plot. The former is just, “This happened, then this happened, and then this happened.” The latter is a series of cause and effect that is driven by the characters: “This happened, which caused Silva figure out how to make that happen, and that caused Courtney to decide to do something else.” In other words stuff doesn’t just happen in Taylor’s books; it’s caused.
His characters are so meticulously drawn, with such intelligence and integrity that the reader can see and feel the relentless, inevitable march of events. When bad stuff happens, the reader can see exactly why, and what must be done about it. When good stuff happens, ditto, but the in-freaking-credibly exquisite threads of the plot – what are called “arcs” nowadays, leave us looking over the bridge wings and fantail to see what’s coming next. And all of that is powered – driven – by the integrity of Taylor’s characters, heroes and villians alike. Past, present, and future are put together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle cut with wonderful precision. I have never read an author who could make me really really hate the bad guys, to the extent that I shout, “YES! TAKE THAT, YOU EXPLETIVE!”
So you can’t separate the characters from the events. Oh, and this screwball world seems to be a character, itself! In “Fleet of Ghosts,” you will renew old friendships, make new ones, and marvel at how they fit and work together, often with eye-popping unlikelihood.
Taylor’s ability to paint pictures of silly society dames dropping their beehive hair in a punchbowl, to sunset on a stormy sea, to the wrenching hammer and gout of flame when 4” common shell strikes is stunning. And it’s not just the visual. Firefight. The deafening clatter of .30 and .50 machine guns that feels like your ears are full of hot sand. The overpressure of naval rifles that jams pipe cleaners of concussion up into the corners of your eyes and sloshes the coffee in your belly. The smell the of sulphur of the .50-80’s, the pissy ammonium nitrate from the .30’s and the stinging, choking corrosive burn of the 4-inchers. It’s all there, friends. Wallow in it.
So you’ve got characters that are real… I was going to say ‘human,” but there are other, equally nuanced species. You’ve got the hysterically unexpected events to which the characters respond, and the crap-shoot results of battle in a world that never that met an anomaly, or an absurdity, it didn’t like. Grab you a copy and see if you can devour it before it devours you.
Later, shipmates.
Wess Rodgers – rebsarge.wordpress.com – Alamogordo, NM
June 25, 2026
SO glad to see the Destroyermen again!
Author Taylor Anderson introduces the next chapter in the 15-book Destroyermen series with book one of this new spinoff series: Fleet of Ghosts [Scout Cadre, book 1]!
Similar to the Lewis & Clark expedition sent to map the Louisiana Purchase, Courtney Bradford leads this Corps of Discovery expedition to explore more of the world USS Walker now finds itself in.
This alternate Earth was never struck by the gigantic meteor 66 million years ago, so dinosaurs still roam freely and sea level is much lower than in our world.
The main adversaries were defeated in the final book of the original series but there are still the human Fascists (revealed in the latter portion of the main Destroyermen series), whose base is in the Mediterranean.
I was SO GLAD to see a number of my favorite characters from the earlier series again! (Captain Reddy only appears occasionally, as befits the head of state for the Grand Alliance.)
Instead, we have Captain Rodriguez commanding the USS Walker, with former snipe Tabby as his XO, taking on a crew of cadets as the cadets have their final year of this alternate world's new version of Annapolis, the naval academy for training officers, now seagoing.
Highly recommended for another thumping good adventure on the high seas with the Destroyermen!
Author Taylor Anderson introduces the next chapter in the 15-book Destroyermen series with book one of this new spinoff series: Fleet of Ghosts [Scout Cadre, book 1]!
Similar to the Lewis & Clark expedition sent to map the Louisiana Purchase, Courtney Bradford leads this Corps of Discovery expedition to explore more of the world USS Walker now finds itself in.
This alternate Earth was never struck by the gigantic meteor 66 million years ago, so dinosaurs still roam freely and sea level is much lower than in our world.
The main adversaries were defeated in the final book of the original series but there are still the human Fascists (revealed in the latter portion of the main Destroyermen series), whose base is in the Mediterranean.
I was SO GLAD to see a number of my favorite characters from the earlier series again! (Captain Reddy only appears occasionally, as befits the head of state for the Grand Alliance.)
Instead, we have Captain Rodriguez commanding the USS Walker, with former snipe Tabby as his XO, taking on a crew of cadets as the cadets have their final year of this alternate world's new version of Annapolis, the naval academy for training officers, now seagoing.
Highly recommended for another thumping good adventure on the high seas with the Destroyermen!
June 22, 2026
I am a huge fan of Taylor Anderson. When he hinted that there would be a book 16, I was elated. At the end of "Winds of Wrath", he had killed off a lot of characters from book 1. I was saddened by the deaths of several of them. To a certain extent, that was it. All three enemies, the League, the Grik, and the Holy Dominion, as Courtney Bradford would write in his book, were defeated but not destroyed in 1945.
Then Fleet of Ghosts came out. Everyone that survived is back: Courtney, Tabby, Fred and Kari, Dennis, Lawrence, and Petey, and a host of characters. Then there are new characters, each with his or her own character and personality.
There are more tie-ins to our actual world: the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While there were no nuclear weapons in this alternate world, the effects were felt. The energy blasts rippled and shook alternate Japan. Or somehow the effect also transported the ships at the Bikini Atoll to this world.
I am looking forward to the next book.
Then Fleet of Ghosts came out. Everyone that survived is back: Courtney, Tabby, Fred and Kari, Dennis, Lawrence, and Petey, and a host of characters. Then there are new characters, each with his or her own character and personality.
There are more tie-ins to our actual world: the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While there were no nuclear weapons in this alternate world, the effects were felt. The energy blasts rippled and shook alternate Japan. Or somehow the effect also transported the ships at the Bikini Atoll to this world.
I am looking forward to the next book.
June 12, 2026
Great new story
Hopefully much more to come! This saga is just getting started, right Taylor? Like, what the heck is going on in the American great lakes? I mean huge bodies of fresh water? Just a hint hint.
Hopefully much more to come! This saga is just getting started, right Taylor? Like, what the heck is going on in the American great lakes? I mean huge bodies of fresh water? Just a hint hint.
June 16, 2026
So glad they're back!
Having read all the previous series, I was pleasantly surprised when this book was released. A great addition and can't wait for the continuing action and adventures of the cast of characters introduced in the Destroyed men series. Well done Mr. Anderson.
Having read all the previous series, I was pleasantly surprised when this book was released. A great addition and can't wait for the continuing action and adventures of the cast of characters introduced in the Destroyed men series. Well done Mr. Anderson.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews