Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched the sneak attack on the American Pacific fleet based at Pearl Harbor. Over 300 aircraft operating from 6 aircraft carriers participated in the attack, but lost in the annals of history are the Japanese midget submarines, who's job it was to penetrate the harbor and launch torpedoes at the American ships.
The destroyer USS Ward was patrolling the waters surrounding the entrance to the harbor on that fateful morning. Suddenly, a lookout aboard the Ward spotted an object that looked like a periscope. Knowing that no American submarines were operating in the area, the Ward swung into action, attacking the sub with gunfire and depth charges. One shot hit the sub directly on the conning tower. The little sub then disappeared beneath the waves. The Ward immediately sent a report to Pearl Harbor but, the message failed to rouse any suspicion or action from the Americans. Approximately one hour later, the Japanese planes appeared, and the rest is history. Imagine what might have happened if the Americans would have taken the Ward's report more seriously and had planes in the air, anti-aircraft guns ready, and ships prepared to sail into open water? One can only wonder. As it turns out, the failure to act on the Ward's message is just another blunder committed by the Americans on this day of infamy.
I felt this book had some good points, but the title is somewhat confusing. When I purchased the book, I was hoping to read about the midget submarines and the role they played in the attack on Pearl Harbor. I've read numerous books on the Pearl Harbor attack, but the efforts of the mini-subs are not described in great detail. I was somewhat disappointed with this book, because the author only devotes perhaps one or two chapters of this book to the mini-subs. Instead, he talks about the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway and he devotes an entire chapter to the death of Admiral Yamamoto at the hands of American fighter pilots. He even mentions the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. This happened 3 1/2 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
This book has some interesting chapters, such as the narrative about the capture of officer Kazuo Sakamaki, commander of one of the Japanese min-subs. However, this book tends to concentrate on the Pacific war as a whole rather than solely on the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Overall, I rate this book as only average. The author should have kept to his original theme about the Japanese mini-subs' roles in the Pearl Harbor attack instead of branching out to cover the entire Pacific campaign.
Click Here to see more reviews about: First Shot: The Untold Story of the Japanese Minisubs That Attacked Pearl Harbor
"If we had only known even a bit of what John Craddock tells us now, our own history could have been so very different."--Sherry Sontag, coauthor of Blind Man's Bluff
In First Shot, John Craddock investigates a little-known but clear eleventh-hour warning that, had it been heeded, might have enabled the Navy's Pearl Harbor command to blunt the Japanese assault and save ships and lives. Craddock reveals that the attack plan of Japan's Admiral Yamamoto included five midget submarines, each carrying two men and two torpedoes. First Shot vividly recreates the action on the deck of the U.S.S. Ward on the morning of December 7 as the outmoded relic of an earlier war engaged a tiny, state-of-the-art undersea fighting machine.
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