Pearl Harbor's Revenge : How the Devastated U. S. Battleships Returned to War / Rod Macdonald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

MacDonald, Rod, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941.

Battleships--United States--History--20th century.

Battleships.

World War, 1939-1945--Naval operations, American.

World War, 1939-1945.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Barnsley, England : Frontline Books, [2023]

Summary:

"...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.

Contents:

Cover

Book Title

Copyright

Contents

Explanatory Notes

Introduction

Part I War in the Pacific

Chapter 1 Kidō Butai

Chapter 2 7 December 1941 - 'A Date which Will Live in Infamy'

(I) 0749: The First-Wave Planes Attack

(II) 0800-0815: Battleship Row, Pearl Harbor Naval Base

(III) 0845: The Second-Wave Planes Attack

(IV) 0930: The Second-Wave Attack Ends

(V) Aftermath

Chapter 3 Salvage - Pearl Harbor

Chapter 4 The US Standard-Type Battleship

(I) Deck Armour

(II) Transverse Armour Bulkheads

(III) Conning Tower

(IV) Underwater Side-Protection System

(V) Armament

(A) Main Battery

Gunnery

(a) Rangefinding

(i) Finding the True Range

(ii) Finding the Gun Range

(b) Local Control and Director Fire

(c) Elevation Telegraph

(d) Range Clock

(e) Gunhouse

(f) Barbette

(g) Ammunition Hoists, Shell-Handling Flats and Powder-Handling Room

(h) Shells, Propellant and Firing

(a) Shells

(b) Propellant

(B) Secondary Battery

(a) 5in/51-cal.

(b) 5in/38-cal.

(C) 21in Beam Submerged Torpedo Tubes

(D) Keel

(E) Machinery

(F) Interwar Modernisation

(G) Speed

Part II Battleship Revenge

Chapter 5 USS California (BB-44)

(a) Armament

(b) Armour

(c) Propulsion

(d) Topsides

PEARL HARBOR, 7 DECEMBER 1941

Salvage

BATTLESHIP REVENGE

Return to Service - 1944

(I) The Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign

Battle of Saipan, 15 June-9 July 1944

Battle of Guam, 21 July-10 August 1944

Battle of Tinian, 24 July-1 August 1944

19 August-17 September 1944

(II) The Philippines Campaign

Battle of Leyte, 17 October-26 December 1944

The Battle of Leyte Gulf, 23-26 October 1944

(a) Initial Submarine Action in the Palawan Passage, 23 October 1944

(b) Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, 24 October 1944.

(c) Battle of the Surigao Strait, 24-25 October 1944

(d) Battle off Samar, 25 October 1944

(e) Battle off Cape Engaño, 25 October 1944

(III) 1945 - The Philippines Campaign Continues

The Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, 3-13 January 1945

(IV) Battle of Okinawa - Operation ICEBERG, 1 April-22 June 1945 10 May 1945

(V) The Invasion of Japan - Operation DOWNFALL

(VI) Occupation of Japan

Chapter 6 USS Maryland (BB-46)

Battle of Midway, 4-7 June 1942

(I) The Gilbert and Marshall Islands Campaign, November 1943-February 1944

Battle of Tarawa - Operation GALVANIC, 20-23 November 1943

Battle of Kwajalein and Invasion of Majuro - Operation FLINTLOCK, 31 January-3 February 1944

(II) The Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign - Operation FORAGER, June-November 1944

Battle of Peleliu - Operation STALEMATE II, 15 September-27 November1944

(III) The Philippines Campaign, 20 October 1944-15 August 1945

Battle of the Surigao Strait, 25 October 1944

(IV) 1945

Battle of Okinawa - Operation ICEBERG, 1 April-22 June 1945

Chapter 7 USS Nevada (BB-36)

(a) Underwater Protection

(b) Armament

(c) Armour

(d) Propulsion

Modernisation, 1927-9

Return to Service, 1943

(I) The Aleutian Islands Campaign, 11-30 May 1943

(II) Atlantic Convoy Duty, Mid-1943

(III) Normandy Invasion, June 1944

(IV) Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February-26 March 1945

(V) Battle of Okinawa - Operation ICEBERG, 1 April 1945-22 June 1945

(VI) Post-War

Chapter 8 USS Pennsylvania (BB-38)

Service Modifications: 1929-31.

PEARL HARBOR, 7 DECEMBER 1941

(II) The Gilbert and Marshall Islands Campaign

Battle of Makin - Operation GALVANIC, 20-24 November 1943

Battle of Kwajalein - Operation FLINTLOCK, 31 January-3 February 1944

Battle of Eniwetok - Operation CATCHPOLE, 17-23 February 1944

(III) The Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign - Operation FORAGER

Battle of Guam - Operation STEVEDORE, 21 July-10 August 1944

Battle of Peleliu - Operation STALEMATE II, 15 September-27 November 1944

(IV) The Philippines Campaign

Battle of Leyte Gulf - Operation KING II, 23-26 October 1944

The Invasion of Lingayen Gulf - Operation MIKE I, 3-13 January 1945

(V) Task Force 95 - the 2nd East China Sea Antishipping Sweep

(VI) The 1946 Bikini Atoll Atomic Tests - Operation CROSSROADS

Chapter 9 USS Tennessee (BB-43)

(a) Repair and Modernisation of AA Suite, 29 December 1941-Late February 1942

(b) Reconstruction and Modernisation, September 1942-47 May 1943

(I) The Aleutian Islands Campaign, 11 May-15 August 1943

(III) The New Guinea Campaign - Operation CARTWHEEL

Emirau Island Landing, Bismarck Archipelago, 20 March 1944

(IV) The Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign - Operation FORAGER

Battles of Peleliu and Angaur - Operation STALEMATE II, 17 September-22 October 1944

(V) The Philippines Campaign.

Battle of Leyte Gulf, 23-26 October 1944

Battle of Surigao Strait, 25 October 1944

(VI) Battle of Iwo Jima - Operation DETACHMENT, 19 February-26 March 1945

(VII) Battle of Okinawa - Operation ICEBERG, 1 April-22 June 1945

(VIII) Post-War

Chapter 10 USS West Virginia (BB-48)

Reconstruction and Modernisation, September 1942- September 1944

Return to Service - September 1944

(I) The Philippines Campaign

Battle of Leyte Gulf, 23-26 October 1944

Post-Leyte Operations

(II) Battle of Iwo Jima - Operation DETACHMENT, 19 February-26 March 1945

(III) Battle of Okinawa - Operation ICEBERG, 1 April-22 June 1945

(IV) Occupation of Japan

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

Backcover.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781399013307

1399013300