APPRECIATING THE AFTERMATH — NEW ILLUSTRATED-HISTORY FROM NAVAL INSTITUE PRESSDEPICTS AND DETAILS PRAISEWORTHY DAMAGE CONTROL AND SALVAGING EFFORTS OF SEVEN
SINKING AND SUNK BATTLESHIPS WITHIN MINUTES OF “DASTARDLY” SURPRISE ATTACK
The Japanese failed on both counts: our resolve to strike back, claw back island by island, turnthe tide, and once again dominate the Pacific. For World War II buffs, the first five months ofthe ocean war are neither pleasant to investigate nor inspiring to read about, except possiblyfor our brave men similar to those of Thermopylae against an enemy of overwhelming strength.The jubilant Japanese aviators sank or badly damaged seven of our aging battleships. However,most of their crews were saved and all but two of the ships salvaged. The Japanese attack lefttwo U.S. Navy treasures intact. The incredibly important oil storage tanks on nearby hills, andthe equally, if not more, important Pearl Harbor permanent drydocks, berths, and shoreinstallations. In short, four of the five battleships sunk in Pearl were raised, four of them,together with the three damaged but not sunk, were restored the Fleet, bore out what AdmiralFurlong’s motto for the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard: “We keep them fit to fight.”
Reviewed and highly recommended by Don DeNevi
“RESURRECTION – Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor”, by Daniel Madsen. NavalInstitute Press: 2003, 242 pages, sc; $36.96. Visit: www.nip.org, eBook also available.Author Daniel Madsen has provided the war literature of World War II a much-needed bookand photos on the aftermath of the attack and subsequent salvage of those ships sunk by thatattack. In no way is it an examination of the events that led to the unprovoked assault, or of theminutia during the two-hour raid, either by us, or the enemy that precipitated its rain of deathand destruction on our ships and the boys who manned them. In book form, virtually nothinghas been published about the often astounding achievements of saving our battle behemothsother than condensed summaries lifted from official salvage reports. Of course, a small numberof memoirs surfaced from time to time, leaving the detailed engineering operations to littlemore than postscripts. Writes Madsen in his Introduction, “My book, like history is a series ofstories about officers and men at Pearl Harbor trying to bring order out of chaos in the daysafter the attack, prioritizing the use of scarce equipment, supplies, and men, learning what theycould about what had happened, and recovering from the blow.”Brilliantly, Daniel tells the story of “Resurrection” in a narrative format, moving from activity
to activity as the day and months wore on in what proved to be an incredibly difficult and
complex endeavor. He describes the Navy’s dramatic race to clear the harbor and repair asmany ships as possible. From the raisin of the USS Oglala in 1942 and USS Oklahoma in 1943 tothe eventual dismantling of the above-water portions of USS Arizona, Madsen patientlyexplains how the salvage organization was first set up, how priorities were scheduled, whatspecific plans were made, and how they worked or, in many, did not work. This must-read bookis based almost entirely on primary sources, including the records of the fleet salvage unit andPearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Buffs should also note that this Northern California writer is the
author of the “Forgotten Fleet: The Mothball Navy.”
