Author: Keith Warren Lloyd
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493058673
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
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Book Description
It was a miracle three years in the making, a testimony to American fortitude and ingenuity—and perhaps the key to why the United States won a war that after Pearl Harbor seemed hopeless. Impeccably researched, Avenging Pearl Harbor is colorfully written, personal, chilling, visceral. Historian Keith Warren Lloyd brings his gift for injecting life and personalities and heretofore untold stories of the men and women involved-–members of what became known as The Greatest Generation—whose heroism and sacrifice brought about the miraculous new life of a sleeping military force that was reeling and on its knees. It is a story has never before been told in such detail and with such vibrancy. On the night of 24 October 1944, a force of two battleships, one heavy cruiser and four destroyers from the Imperial Japanese Navy steamed into Surigao Strait in the Philippines. Their objective: to attack the invasion fleet of General Douglas MacArthur’s army in Leyte Gulf. Alerted by scouting PT boats, the U.S. 7th Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf prepared a deadly trap. Waiting for the enemy force were six American battleships and supporting cruisers and destroyers. Oldendorf performed the classic naval maneuver of “crossing the T” which allowed the American ships to fire broadsides at the oncoming Japanese vessels, while the enemy could only fire with their forward turrets. When the smoke cleared, the Japanese fleet had been all but annihilated. Among the victorious American battleships were the Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, California, and Tennessee, five of the eight dreadnoughts that had been bombed at Pearl Harbor. The five ships had been raised, repaired, modified, and re-manned. After three long years, they finally had their revenge. Avenging Pearl Harbor takes readers from the attack on Pearl Harbor, telling the story of the severe damage dealt to each ship and the incredible acts of courage performed by the sailors of each crew that morning. It continues with how each ship was raised and repaired—Herculean in scope-- and the mustering of new commanders, officers and crewmen. The final drama unfolds as of each ship returns triumphantly to the battle fleet, and the ultimate triumph at the battle of Surigao Strait.
Author: Rod Macdonald
Publisher: Frontline Books
ISBN: 1399013327
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362
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Book Description
"...informative and detailed with some interesting and little-known anecdotes as well." — National Maritime Historical Society. Early on Sunday, 7 December 1941, Japanese carrier-borne aircraft launched a surprise attack against the US Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor. It was a date that President Roosevelt declared “will live in infamy”. During the strike, Japanese planes attacked the seven US battleships lined up in Battleship Row – and the flag battleship USS Pennsylvania, in drydock for overhaul. The battleship USS Arizona exploded from a bomb hit at the forward magazine killing 1,177 officers and men. On USS Oklahoma, 429 men were killed – many trapped inside as the great battleship capsized after aerial torpedo strikes. USS West Virginia, meanwhile, was hit by at least seven torpedoes and several bombs, and engulfed in flames; she settled onto the bottom on an even keel. USS California was hit by a pair of torpedoes and a bomb, flooding slowly, she too settled on the bottom. The other four battleships present were more lightly damaged, with the crippled Nevada, the only battleship to get underway during the attack, being successfully beached. By the time the assault was over, eight battleships, three light cruisers, three destroyers, a training ship and other smaller vessels had been sunk or damaged. Hundreds of US aircraft had been damaged or destroyed, while 2,403 Americans had been killed. Within a week of the Japanese attack, a great salvage organization had been formed. Very quickly the lightly damaged battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland and Tennessee had been repaired in naval yards and put back into service to protect the west coast of the USA. Of the eight battleships attacked, all but Arizona were raised, temporarily patched-up and sent back to naval yards on the west coast of America for final repair and modernization. Main battery guns and ordnance were recovered from the wrecked Arizona, which would then be left to rest on the bottom of the harbor for eternity – as a memorial to the events of that fateful December day. USS Nevada was lifted off the bottom in February 1942, California in March 1942 and West Virginia in June 1942. The capsized Oklahoma, while eventually parbuckled and raised, was found to be too badly damaged to be fully rebuilt. Six of the eight battleships would thus return to service, with improved protection against bombs and torpedoes and being fitted with the latest anti-aircraft and gunnery systems. They would re-enter to the war to wreak a terrible revenge – making their presence felt during the reconquest of the Aleutian Islands and the Philippines, and the great battles of Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Nevada would go on Atlantic convoy duty before bombarding German positions off Utah beach as the D-Day Normandy landings began. This is the story of those six.
Author: John Chappell
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813193540
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
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Book Description
Almost forgotten in the haze of events that followed Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the summer of 1945 witnessed an intense public debate over how best to end the war against Japan. Weary of fighting, the American people were determined to defeat the imperial power that had so viciously attacked them in December 1941, but they were uncertain of the best means to accomplish this goal. Certain of victory—the "inevitable triumph" promised by Franklin Roosevelt immediately after Pearl Harbor—Americans became increasingly concerned about the human cost of defeating Japan. Particularly after the brutal Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns, syndicated columnists, newspaper editorialists, radio commentators, and others questioned the necessity of invasion. A lengthy naval and aerial siege would have saved lives but might have protracted the war beyond the public's patience. Advertisers filled the media with visions of postwar affluence even as the government was exhorting its citizens to remain dedicated to the war effort. There was heated discussion as well about the morality of firebombing Japanese cities and of using poison gas and other agents of chemical warfare. Chappell provides a balanced assessment of all these debates, grounding his observations in a wealth of primary sources. He also discusses the role of racism, the demand for unconditional surrender, and the government's reaction to public opinion in the decision to drop the atomic bomb. Compelling and controversial, this is the first work to examine the confusing and contradictory climate of the American home front in the months leading up to V-J Day.
Author: Jeff Phister
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806184906
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273
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Book Description
On a quiet Sunday morning in 1941, a ship designed to keep the peace was suddenly attacked. This book tells the remarkable story of a battleship, its brave crew, and how their lives were intertwined. Jeff Phister and his coauthors have written the comprehensive history of the USS Oklahoma from its christening in 1914 to its final loss in 1947. Phister tells how the Oklahoma served in World War I, participated in the Great Cruise of 1925, and evacuated refugees from Spain in 1936. But the most memorable event of the ship’s history occurred on December 7, 1941. Phister weaves the personal narratives of surviving crewmen with the necessary technical information to recreate the attack and demonstrate the full scope of its devastation. Captured Japanese photographs and dozens of historic U.S. Navy photographs deepen our understanding of this monumental event. Raised after the attack, the Oklahoma sank again while being towed stateside and now rests on the ocean floor, 540 miles northeast of Oahu. Battleship Oklahoma: BB-37 tells the complete story of a proud ship and her fall through the eyes of those who survived her loss.
Author: Daniel Marston
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 1849083827
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Offers an introduction to the Pacific War, including such topics as the opening amphibious operations and Japanese naval strategy after Midway.
Author: Edwyn Gray
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473816971
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 413
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Book Description
A history of the United Kingdom’s contribution to the Pacific theater of the Second World War, by the author of Disasters of the Deep. Hollywood’s version of the World War II in the Pacific has led many people to believe that it was an all-American affair, and that Britain took no part in it. But, as Edwin Gray shows in Operation Pacific, that is false. The British Royal Navy and its Commonwealth partners played a very significant role in the Pacific War. They waged a vigorous, non-stop battle with the enemy from the earliest days to the ultimate triumph of victory. Japanese troops also landed in Malaya and opened hostilities in Britain a full ninety minutes before Nagumo’s dive-bombers swept down on the unsuspecting American pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor to bring the United States into the war. Operation Pacific is the first book to provide a full and detailed account of Britain’s Naval contribution to the ultimate defeat of Japan, a saga that ranges from the darkest days of December, 1941, to the carrier operations and kamikaze attacks of the final battles in 1945. While in no way disparaging the heroic achievements and fighting courage of the U.S. forces in the Pacific, Edwyn Gray reveals that the Royal Navy’s cooperation was not always welcomed by her over-mighty Ally, and that America’s top brass—notably admiral Ernest King and General Douglas MacAuthur—were opposed to British involvement in the Pacific for both practical and political reasons. Operation Pacific is an absorbing story, offering a comprehensive picture of the part played by the Royal Navy and Commonwealth forces in the Far East War.
Author: James MacGregor Burns
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1453245200
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 956
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Book Description
A Pulitzer Prize winner’s “immensely readable” history of the United States from FDR’s election to the final days of the Cold War (Publishers Weekly). The Crosswinds of Freedom is an articulate and incisive examination of the United States during its rise to become the world’s sole superpower. Here is a young democracy transformed by the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Cold War, the rapid pace of technological change, and the distinct visions of nine presidents. Spanning fifty-six years and touching on many corners of the nation’s complex cultural tapestry, Burns’s work is a remarkable look at the forces that gave rise to the “American Century.”
Author: Vance Stewart
Publisher: Sunstone Press
ISBN: 0865343772
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
The Second World War was caused by one man--Adolf Hitler. Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin were called on by history to stop this menace. In this book, which includes new material, the background, attitude, and personalities of these men are explored in detail.
Author: Lisle A Rose
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612512097
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 283
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Book Description
The American fleet aircraft carrier Hornet is widely acknowledged for the contributions she made to the war effort. The Doolittle Raid, launched from the Hornet's deck, inaugurated America's Pacific counteroffensive and transformed the aircraft carrier into one of the world's prime strategic weapon systems. She was one of three carriers to participate in the victory at Midway and the fighting around Guadalcanal. Through the experiences of this key warship and the eyes of her crew and the aviators who flew from her deck, Lisle Rose recreates the first desperate year of the war in the Pacific. He tells how the Hornet was molded into a deadly weapon of war, how the ship was fought and ultimately lost, and what it was like to live aboard her at a time when the fate of the United States depended on the Navy's tiny carrier fleet. In chronicling the carrier's operational history, the author contends that the fate of the Hornet's air group at Midway remains one of the great controversies in modern naval history and that the ship's importance in helping to keep the Japanese juggernaut at bay during the most critical period of the Pacific war is incontestable. His arguments ring true today as the controversy continues. Rose succeeds both in letting the reader see things the way the men of the Hornet did and in placing their experiences in a broad historical context.
Author: United States. Congress
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 1388
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Book Description
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)
