The Herculean Task of Salvaging Pearl Harbor’s Wrecks
Naval History and Command Heritage
During the weeks following the Japanese raid, a great deal of repair work was done by the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, assisted by tenders and ships’ crewmen. These efforts, lasting into February 1942, put the battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Tennessee; cruisers Honolulu, Helena, and Raleigh; destroyers Helm and Shaw, seaplane tender Curtiss, repair ship Vestal and the floating drydock YFD-2 back into service, or at least got them ready to steam to the mainland for final repairs. The most seriously damaged of these ships, Raleigh and Shaw, were returned to active duty by mid-1942. More
Drachinfel, a naval historian and nautical engineer with half a million subscribers on YouTube did a three-part series a few years ago detailing the effort to save and return to service fighting ships in war time and clearing the harbor of those wrecks that were beyond saving. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
My father in law (passed about 6 years ago, THE smartest person I’ve ever met) was in his first year Stanford University, full-ride scholarship for electrical engineering. After Pearl, he quit school,flew to Hawaii and offered his services. The Navy put him in charge of a 30 plus crew raising several of the battleships.
Later in life, a huge success as a contractor, self-made millionaire several times over, the last few years of his life he would regale us with his exploits working on those ships. Killer hours, not safe conditions, but a sense of urgency and pride were always a motivator. He never stormed a beach or took a hill under withering machine gun fire, but young men just like him did their part and were damn proud to do it.
Pearl Harbor is as forgotten as 9/11. The communists have won the day.