The Last Ship is a 1988 post-apocalyptic fiction novel by American writer William Brinkley. The Last Ship tells the story of a United States Navy guided missile destroyer, the fictional USS Nathan James (DDG-80), on patrol in the Barents Sea during a brief, full-scale nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. It details the ship's ensuing search for a new home for her crew.
Cover of first edition (hardcover)
William Clark Brinkley was an American writer and journalist, best known for his novels Don't Go Near the Water (1956), which Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer adapted to an eponymous 1957 film, and The Last Ship (1988), which TNT adapted as a television series.
Brinkley as a young man.