Descent Into Darkness: Pearl Harbor, 1941: A Navy Diver's Memoir Review
Posted by
Mary Worley
on 2/05/2012
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Labels:
military history,
naval,
naval history,
navy divers,
pearl harbor,
u s navy,
world war ii,
wwii pacific theater
Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This really is a first-rate account of a process that has largely been ignored by writers and historians. I think it's a "given" that diving around sunken, fully armed and fueled battleships would be dangerous, but until I read this book I didn't realize just how MANY different hazards there were. For example, who would have known that it's dangerous to enter a previously-sealed but empty compartment that contains rust? (the formation of iron oxide [rust] depletes oxygen in the space)
The reader gets a firsthand account of the daily lives of salvage divers, and how frequently solutions to problems were devised on the spot. Rather unexpectedly, readers also get a firsthand description of what life was like "on the ground" during the Guadalcanal campaign.
Anyone wanting to know more about the Pearl Harbor attack really should read this book. Many people tend to think of the battle as being over when the last Japanese plane returned to its carrier; in truth, the battle had just BEGUN.
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