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This designation is reserved for the USS Houston - the Flag Ship of WWII of the Pacific Fleet. It's feets saved thousands of lives as it went after all those Japanese transport ships and sunk 7 of them before succombing to 11 destroyers and 4 or 5 cruisers. It's survivors were featured in the movie - The Bridge of the River Kwai. This was Roosevelt's favorite ship in the entire Pacific fleet.
The Japanese gave this ship that designation - The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast. This writer basically stole that designation for his book. The reason they gave the Houston this name is because it always came out of no where, sunk whatever Japanese task force happened to be around, and then disapeared into nothing. The Japanese hated the USS Houston for good reason and hunted it for ages without success.
-S
The Wikipedia page -
USS Houston - Notice in the very first paragraph what they call it.