Customer Reviews

Graveyards of the Pacific: From Pearl Harbor to Bikini Island

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book purports to take the reader "on a tour" of Pacific warship shipwrecks. What a complete crock.
There are probably not a dozen wrecks covered here; all the photos save one are very small and mostly boring (unless you're really keen to see portholes underwater). Two photos come from the Japanese merchant wrecks at Truk, some of the most-photographed wrecks in the world (and offered in exceptionally better quality in other publications). The only large wreck illustration is a lovely Tom Freeman painting of the YORKTOWN wreck. Nice, but by no means worth the space on your bookshelf.
If you're someone who knows nothing about the Pacific war, then this is a reasonably good primer of some of the major actions. If you already know what the Battle of Midway was and have some idea that the Americans and Japanese each had aircraft carriers, this book will tell you nothing about the war you don't already know, and the photos, while nice, are available in dozens of other books. If you're looking for some interesting views of the shipwrecks Ballard has made his reputation on finding, you will find nothing of interest here.
Save your money, and pass this one up.

Having purchased everything ever published by Dr. Ballard, I eagerly awatied this release. Upon first glance, the book appears to be every inch what his previous volumes have been, with the exception of the mediocre "Explorations".

After reading this though, I can't call it more than a short compilation of his previous works on Midway and Gudalcanal, with short side trips to Pearl Harbor, Truk, and Bikini.

There are very few photogrpahs of wrecks, certainly not anywhere near the amount in previous volumes...AND WHERE ARE KEN MARSCHALL's PAINTINGS? Overall, I felt rather underwhelmed. Bikini has been done better in "Ghost Fleet", and the Submeged Cultural Resource unit did a bettr job at Pearl Harbor.

On the up side, there is one haunting internal photograph from the Arizona...hardly enough to recommend full retail for this book.

Wait for it to be $4.99 in a few weeks if you simply must have it.

When I recieved a letter from a seller of this book asking for an order for it I thought: "Wow, shipwrecks... especially ones from WWII!" As a student in an oceanography-themed high school, I was right away interested in this book. The excerpts and details from the preview made it sound great.
However when the book came in, it wasn't what I thought. The book was nicely writen by Dr. Ballard, but the detail of each section was nothing to brag about. The book shows each area as a section. Beginning with Pearl Harbor, each section describes a certain battle scene involving the Navy. From Midway to Guadalcanal, each battle is shown with photos and diagrams. However these pictures and maps are not really enough to satisfy your thirst for WWII information. The text ends off in a way and talks about something else, and the lack of good photos make each section seem empty.
When I opened to the Midway chapter I expected more in-depth information on the battle. Instead I got a lot less than the National Geographic article on Midway from '99. None of the planes were mentiond much, and when they mentioned a PBY, they did not show what this scout plane looked like, making you have to use your imagination to picture the Catalina plane.
This book is supposed to mention salvage oeprations for the wrecks and exploration expeditions to them as well. However most of the text is a history lesson rather than a step in Marine Affairs. Out of the entire book I would say about 20% is actual expedition info.
As an owner of many of Dr. Ballards works, I would have to say this one is not one of his best.

Graveyards of the Pacific falls just short of being one of Dr. Robert Ballard's classic books. I have not read the book completely yet. But I have skimmed through it and some of the text is rather detailed. Ballard talks about the battle, the participants, and the outcome and, if anyone's been to them, what the "Graveyards" are like at the bottom of the Pacific. Ballard even describes as to what he thinks some of the graveyards yet to be found should look like. He also tells as to why he hasn't explored these "Graveyards" yet.

As usual, there are photographs of both past (The battle as it was when it happened) and present. As always, the photographs of the ships on the bottom of the sea are the book's best.

So where does this book fail? There is some artwork, but not much is of the shipwrecks. Also, the book has fewer wreck photos then Ballard's previous works. I especially wanted to see more photos of Guadalcanal, Truk Lagoon, and of Bikini Island. I also would have liked to have seen more photos of the ships as they appeared before they were sunk.

So people who liked how Dr. Ballard's previous works were populated with photographs might be disappointed by this recent work. But Graveyards of the Pacific is packed full of information and would make a great present for the Naval Historian in your home. Let's hope that Dr. Ballard next produces a book on his recent expedition to Pearl Harbor.

This is the first book which I have purchased concerning shipwrecks. I expected many photographs with information concerning the wrecks. What the book actually contained are sappy attempts to tell stories of the battles and Ballard retelling how he has found previous wrecks. This book was more about Ballard blowing his own horn, and less about the ships which went down during WWII. Save your money!

This is the first book which I have purchased concerning shipwrecks. I expected many photographs with information concerning the wrecks. What the book actually contained are sappy attempts to tell stories of the battles and Ballard retelling how he has found previous wrecks. This book was more about Ballard blowing his own horn, and less about the ships which went down during WWII. Save your money!

Very interesting account of World War II Pacific wreck sites. However, I was hoping for a detailed photographic examination of the wrecks.

Whenever I see a revolving globe, I always wait for that brief moment when it appears as though planet Earth is nothing but sea - a momentary illusion created by the vast size of the Pacific Ocean. Not even the mighty Atlantic comes close to creating the same effect. Such a great Ocean will, of course, have more than its fair share of shipwrecks and it would be fair to assume that the majority of these are far too deep for modern scuba diving techniques, even beyond those of the deeper venturing technical diver. It would, therefore, take a team of pioneering oceanographers led by a man of the calibre of Dr. Robert D. Ballard to bring images of many of these long-lost ships to the surface. With him working closely with National Geographic to produce a book about that very subject, the results were never likely to disappoint - and they don't.

Add to the foregoing the greatest naval and carrier force encounters of all time between Allied Forces and the Japanese - though largely between US and Japanese fleets, and not only do many of those newly discovered wrecks have striking and courageous stories to tell, but they form part of an underwater fleet of some of the most exciting ships ever to have been launched - and their like will never be seen again.

The Pacific Ocean and the lost ships of WW2 form the background to this book. As an example of how many ships were lost, on page 133 is a small map measuring some 3 in. x 3 in. on which are depicted 14 symbols for sunken warships within a very small area which came to be known as "Iron Bottom Sound." One of those ships is Australian, three are Japanese and ten are American. Incidentally, their individual stories are more fully recounted in Ballard's "Lost Ships of Guadalcanal." Even before I got to that page, I had already encountered that amazing painting by Ken Marschall of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown - 3 miles down, sitting upright on the seabed, seemingly intact and lost during the battle of Midway. Looking serene and peaceful and out of reach of those who plunder such graves, her story is also more fully recounted in another of this author's works entitled "Return to Midway."

Commencing with the atrocity that was Pearl Harbour - a day which really "does" live forever in infamy, Dr. Ballard and his team take the reader through those magnificent yet bloodiest of sea battles that was the War in the Pacific during WW2. Just as each new battle followed the last, we experience; Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Truk Lagoon and Philippine Sea before we encounter a complete change of mood in time to witness the post-war Atomic Bomb experiments which became synonymous with the remote Pacific coral isle they so easily destroyed - Bikini Atoll.

Over 250 pages in large format and with a well researched and carefully chosen selection of historic and modern photographs, works of art and maps, this is a work the reader can be proud to own - and even more proud to have read! It really is an outstanding work worthy of the names of both the author and the publisher.

NM

I expected a lot more.
The pictures were stock photos of Pearl harbor, and several other warships. The stories are generally well known and about paper thin in depth.
As for pictures of the 'famous wrecks' Ballard has found... I was hoping for a LOT more new pictures and maybe at least a few of the shipwrecks. All in all it is a space hog on my bookshelf that will find its way to the used book store very quickly.

A great book for anyone with an affection for wreck diving, and an understanding of the great naval battles of WWII.