Customer Reviews

Pearl Harbor: Why, How, Fleet Salvage and Final Appraisal

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Having just visited Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial last week[December 9th,2004] I recalled reading this book several years ago. I went over it again and recommend it highly. In crisp, no nonsense prose, Admiral Wallin tells us his view of the attack, and how he directed the salvage of 5 of the 8 battleships sunk on December 7,1941. For me, seeing the shattered remnant of the Arizona, tomb to 1177 Sailors and Marines[about 900 bodies remain]with Admiral Wallin's poignant description of the salvage and rescue efforts, delivered powerful reminders of the evil act of that first day of the war between Japan and America. There is the stirring saga of the rebirth of those shattered dreadnoughts, 5 of which fought successfully in the Battle for Leyte Gulf in 1944 to repay the enemy for treachery.

This book is not well known to history buffs, since it contains some technical details of how to refloat a 35,000 ton sunk battleship; nonetheless the author provides an insight into the tragedy not available easily even in other sources.