39 thoughts on “How They Salvaged Pearl Harbor: The Terrible First Day”
I hope you enjoy this video; part of a limited series on the epic mission undertaken to salvage the warships of Pearl Harbor. This video was inpsired by the inredible colour footage and photographs made available to the public by the US national archives.
Upon finishing the edit of this video I realised, too late, that I have put the beaching point of USS Nevada on the wrong side of the channel off Hospital Point; she actually came to rest on the western side. My apologies for this small error! ~Mike
It's hard to believe how stuck the 2 inner battleships were. When West Virginia started rolling over it's theorized the reason she didn't completely capsize was her sponson caught on Tennesses belt and stabilized her long enough for the counterflooding to take hold. Then she sank and wedged Tennesse so hard against the pier that a few void tanks popped their rivets and flooded.
Thank you for this video, I hope to see part 2 soon. I never knew of the details of the attack as to the ships and crews themselves, this gave an excellent overview of that. I had a cousin who was a gunner at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. He would later lose his life in the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines (1944).
My grandfather was on USS California. He ended up on Ford Island with a few shipmates after the the abandon ship order was given. They set up a machine gun and manned until the next day. He stayed with California through her repair and refit and was part of the crew at Surigao Strait.
The tug that helped beach Navada and helped fight fires on Vesta was the USS Hoga which is a museum ship at the Arkansas inland Maritime Museum in North Little Rock.
As someone who lives in the heart of Pearl Harbor, this was great to hear about a he salvage operations that resurrected all but the Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah.
Absolutely fascinating, I hadn't realised a lot of the ships were repaired. It was, however, a shocking loss of life. Very well narrated, Mike. I'm looking forward to the next episode. Many thanks.
japan were under sanctions thats why and us known day before about the attack but known the carriers are safe didnt warn anyone bcs public was against the war so this was the best way to persuade
The sad thing is this event could have been stopped, the intelligence was there.. they blew up a jap midget sub IN the harbour about an hour before the planes hit, and it wasn’t reported up the chain of command.. the radar station on the island saw the planes coming in 30 mins before they attacked , and when the two radar operators reported it to their senior officer, he told them it was probably just American aircraft coming from san Diego, even though the base was put on alert that the Japanese would attack about a month earlier .. unfortunately this was a necessary evil, cause the American public was adamant about not sending their sons to war, and without the Americans joining world war 2, the allies would almost certainly have lost the war.. Roosevelt knew that sacrificing a few thousand men and some battleships would allow him to convince congress to join the war .. there’s a reason there weren’t any aircraft carriers at pearl that day, and only obsolete battleships..
I couldn’t imagine being there, or the guys that lived for weeks in the pitch black hull, basically forgotten by the navy after a certain point .. after they got all the people they thought they could, they just waited for the others to die pretty much before starting salvage operations.. only 32 freaking men, out of thousands .. they should have done better
You should mention Hector Bywater's involvement with the "Great Pacific War" — from the 1920s. In his book, he postulated the moves that Japan would make, and – had dinner with Yamamoto (who was the military attaché' in DC at the time) – to discuss his book while debating Asst. Secretary of the Navy at the time, one named – Franklin Delano Roosevelt – in Baltimore. Yamamoto took his book back to Japan and made it mandatory reading by the Japanese Officer Corps. Bywater was murdered just before Pearl Harbor occurred, but the number of similarities are hard to ignore. See toe book "Visions of Infamy" by William H. Honan for more information.
Nothing is new. Like 'Mein Kampf', the plans for the conflict to be called WWII were laid down long, long before it happened.
The resilience and determination shown in the face of such a historic and tragic event like Pearl Harbor is truly remarkable. It's inspiring to see how people come together, showing incredible strength and courage during such challenging times. The first day must have been an intense mix of emotions and actions, a testament to the human spirit's ability to persevere and rebuild in the face of adversity. Let's always remember the bravery and sacrifice of those involved.
Even at this early date the Japanese had some of the best cameras and they had taken lots of stills and videos ALL of these were lost during the battle of Midway as they were on Akagi and they went down with her ! These photos must have been incredible !!
I have the book 'Descent into Darkness' by Cdr. Edward C. Rayner USN, a memoir of his dives on the wrecks to assess damage, locate survivors and later remains. It's a compelling read!
As a young boy, my dad knew many WW2 veterans from his little town. A couple of these vets were at Pearl Harbor. Some of these vets would often speak to him about their war experiences, but just as many never said a word about it – the vets from Pearl Harbor were those who didn’t talk about it much, if at all.
Watching this footage made me think of those men. I never met them myself, but I can certainly imagine why they didn’t want to revisit that awful day.
An idea on a similar topic, read a book on a man who bought a navy. He bought the salvage rights to raise the Kaisers sunken fleet at Scapa Flow anchorage. Full of sheer ingenuity. Brilliant video, stunning footage and pics, RIP to all who lost their lives and the injured from this terrible attack.
I am moved to a cold chill thinking about the men who were trapped for days or weeks deep inside the armored ships, in the darkness, with no hope of rescue.
I spent a full day at Pearl Harbor in 2021, took it all in, every tour, contemplating the events. Your series is excellent! I would love to see even more of the engineering behind these efforts. You explain processes well.
I've seen many lessons, articles and items about the attack on Pearl Harbor and the ensuing war, but this is the first detailed look I've had at the rescue/salvage efforts. Thank you, very much.
A sailer that lived in the house next to my Mom was killed on the Oklahoma. His remains were identified a few years ago and return home to La Crosse Wisconsin.
It’s doubtful Yamamoto thought the attack on December 7th would bring a request for peace terms. IIRC he informed the government that the Japanese navy could be victorious for only a year
Had one uncle who was aboard a destroyer at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7th. Another uncle was crew on USS California. I don’t know where he was during the attack
As a USN Vet, hats off to the salvage teams and damage control on these ships. Its impressive with the battle wagons and cruisers being repaired and underway within months. My father in law is also fellow navy vet and he enlisted at 16 in 1942. His two older brothers were POWs in the Philippines surviving the Battaan Death March, and another brother was deployed to Guadalcanal. He would later serve on the USS Salt Lake and when reporting for his duty station, he'd couldn't believe the battle damage on numerous ships. Being a kid from New Mexico he never seen the ocean and got an education what war was like. He passed away in 2019 at 94, and loved the navy. He would always tell the family he would do it again no questions asked.
The USS Nevada was able to get underway due to switching between boilers; both were lit during this time to switch from one to the other. This allowed the crew to get steam building so they could get moving towards the mouth of Pearl Harbor. While it didn’t do much good due to the air attack, the ship was able to be beached and salvaged.
A lesser known vessel was the USS Ward, which opened fire on, and sank, an Imperial Japanese Navy miniature submarine, which was a two person submarine. Yes, the Japanese used miniature subs to attack Pearl Harbor. It’s just a lesser known portion of the attack. So, while the Japanese got a good blow in, they didn’t fire the first shots. That was the USS Ward, which was only defending its home port.
The Imperial Japanese Navy subs didn’t stop when addressed by the USS Ward, and as the US was neutral at the time, the USS Ward was within her right to defend the port. Just a few other facts for ya! :3
Attention Saturday's market shoppers us naval air station needs to be fixed up and the us navy ships and seabees will take on the plans to salvage them as well
I hope you enjoy this video; part of a limited series on the epic mission undertaken to salvage the warships of Pearl Harbor. This video was inpsired by the inredible colour footage and photographs made available to the public by the US national archives.
Upon finishing the edit of this video I realised, too late, that I have put the beaching point of USS Nevada on the wrong side of the channel off Hospital Point; she actually came to rest on the western side. My apologies for this small error!
~Mike
It's hard to believe how stuck the 2 inner battleships were. When West Virginia started rolling over it's theorized the reason she didn't completely capsize was her sponson caught on Tennesses belt and stabilized her long enough for the counterflooding to take hold. Then she sank and wedged Tennesse so hard against the pier that a few void tanks popped their rivets and flooded.
Try Fixing S.S. France (1912)
Thank you for this episode. I must confess to not knowing of the rescue and the recovery operations. I've had my eyes opened. Awaiting the next video.
Thank you for this video, I hope to see part 2 soon. I never knew of the details of the attack as to the ships and crews themselves, this gave an excellent overview of that. I had a cousin who was a gunner at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. He would later lose his life in the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines (1944).
Excellent description! Your work is never boring.
My grandfather was on USS California. He ended up on Ford Island with a few shipmates after the the abandon ship order was given. They set up a machine gun and manned until the next day. He stayed with California through her repair and refit and was part of the crew at Surigao Strait.
Intresting story.
The tug that helped beach Navada and helped fight fires on Vesta was the USS Hoga which is a museum ship at the Arkansas inland Maritime Museum in North Little Rock.
As someone who lives in the heart of Pearl Harbor, this was great to hear about a he salvage operations that resurrected all but the Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah.
Absolutely fascinating, I hadn't realised a lot of the ships were repaired. It was, however, a shocking loss of life. Very well narrated, Mike. I'm looking forward to the next episode. Many thanks.
japan were under sanctions thats why and us known day before about the attack but known the carriers are safe didnt warn anyone bcs public was against the war so this was the best way to persuade
Japan's successful attack on Pearl Harbor, without a prior declaration of war, may have sealed the fate of Hiroshima and Nagasaki .
I can't decide if the is better than Drachinifel's version. Ah well, it's not like I'm busy…
The sad thing is this event could have been stopped, the intelligence was there.. they blew up a jap midget sub IN the harbour about an hour before the planes hit, and it wasn’t reported up the chain of command.. the radar station on the island saw the planes coming in 30 mins before they attacked , and when the two radar operators reported it to their senior officer, he told them it was probably just American aircraft coming from san Diego, even though the base was put on alert that the Japanese would attack about a month earlier .. unfortunately this was a necessary evil, cause the American public was adamant about not sending their sons to war, and without the Americans joining world war 2, the allies would almost certainly have lost the war.. Roosevelt knew that sacrificing a few thousand men and some battleships would allow him to convince congress to join the war .. there’s a reason there weren’t any aircraft carriers at pearl that day, and only obsolete battleships..
I couldn’t imagine being there, or the guys that lived for weeks in the pitch black hull, basically forgotten by the navy after a certain point .. after they got all the people they thought they could, they just waited for the others to die pretty much before starting salvage operations..
only 32 freaking men, out of thousands .. they should have done better
You should mention Hector Bywater's involvement with the "Great Pacific War" — from the 1920s. In his book, he postulated the moves that Japan would make, and – had dinner with Yamamoto (who was the military attaché' in DC at the time) – to discuss his book while debating Asst. Secretary of the Navy at the time, one named – Franklin Delano Roosevelt – in Baltimore. Yamamoto took his book back to Japan and made it mandatory reading by the Japanese Officer Corps. Bywater was murdered just before Pearl Harbor occurred, but the number of similarities are hard to ignore. See toe book "Visions of Infamy" by William H. Honan for more information.
Nothing is new. Like 'Mein Kampf', the plans for the conflict to be called WWII were laid down long, long before it happened.
Fabulous Mike, a story I've never heard, so looking forward to the next episode.
The resilience and determination shown in the face of such a historic and tragic event like Pearl Harbor is truly remarkable. It's inspiring to see how people come together, showing incredible strength and courage during such challenging times. The first day must have been an intense mix of emotions and actions, a testament to the human spirit's ability to persevere and rebuild in the face of adversity. Let's always remember the bravery and sacrifice of those involved.
As we expect an extremely informative video, whatever the minor quibbles or oops. Your videos really are superb quality material!
Even at this early date the Japanese had some of the best cameras and they had taken lots of stills and videos ALL of these were lost during the battle of Midway as they were on Akagi and they went down with her ! These photos must have been incredible !!
I highly recommend this book or the salvage effort: Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor – by Daniel Madsen
I have the book 'Descent into Darkness' by Cdr. Edward C. Rayner USN, a memoir of his dives on the wrecks to assess damage, locate survivors and later remains. It's a compelling read!
As a young boy, my dad knew many WW2 veterans from his little town. A couple of these vets were at Pearl Harbor. Some of these vets would often speak to him about their war experiences, but just as many never said a word about it – the vets from Pearl Harbor were those who didn’t talk about it much, if at all.
Watching this footage made me think of those men. I never met them myself, but I can certainly imagine why they didn’t want to revisit that awful day.
An idea on a similar topic, read a book on a man who bought a navy. He bought the salvage rights to raise the Kaisers sunken fleet at Scapa Flow anchorage. Full of sheer ingenuity. Brilliant video, stunning footage and pics, RIP to all who lost their lives and the injured from this terrible attack.
I am moved to a cold chill thinking about the men who were trapped for days or weeks deep inside the armored ships, in the darkness, with no hope of rescue.
I spent a full day at Pearl Harbor in 2021, took it all in, every tour, contemplating the events. Your series is excellent! I would love to see even more of the engineering behind these efforts. You explain processes well.
I've seen many lessons, articles and items about the attack on Pearl Harbor and the ensuing war, but this is the first detailed look I've had at the rescue/salvage efforts. Thank you, very much.
I just wanted you to know that I love your channel. As always classy well thought out and presented
Hey Mike, you should do a video on the ship the Moby Prince.
A sailer that lived in the house next to my Mom was killed on the Oklahoma. His remains were identified a few years ago and return home to La Crosse Wisconsin.
It’s doubtful Yamamoto thought the attack on December 7th would bring a request for peace terms. IIRC he informed the government that the Japanese navy could be victorious for only a year
Had one uncle who was aboard a destroyer at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7th. Another uncle was crew on USS California. I don’t know where he was during the attack
Thank you sir.
As a USN Vet, hats off to the salvage teams and damage control on these ships. Its impressive with the battle wagons and cruisers being repaired and underway within months. My father in law is also fellow navy vet and he enlisted at 16 in 1942. His two older brothers were POWs in the Philippines surviving the Battaan Death March, and another brother was deployed to Guadalcanal. He would later serve on the USS Salt Lake and when reporting for his duty station, he'd couldn't believe the battle damage on numerous ships. Being a kid from New Mexico he never seen the ocean and got an education what war was like. He passed away in 2019 at 94, and loved the navy. He would always tell the family he would do it again no questions asked.
Thanks!
A Fucking Commercial like every four minutes WTF ???
The USS Nevada was able to get underway due to switching between boilers; both were lit during this time to switch from one to the other. This allowed the crew to get steam building so they could get moving towards the mouth of Pearl Harbor. While it didn’t do much good due to the air attack, the ship was able to be beached and salvaged.
A lesser known vessel was the USS Ward, which opened fire on, and sank, an Imperial Japanese Navy miniature submarine, which was a two person submarine. Yes, the Japanese used miniature subs to attack Pearl Harbor. It’s just a lesser known portion of the attack. So, while the Japanese got a good blow in, they didn’t fire the first shots. That was the USS Ward, which was only defending its home port.
The Imperial Japanese Navy subs didn’t stop when addressed by the USS Ward, and as the US was neutral at the time, the USS Ward was within her right to defend the port. Just a few other facts for ya! :3
Attention Saturday's market shoppers us naval air station needs to be fixed up and the us navy ships and seabees will take on the plans to salvage them as well
3:45 when did the US ever listen to its people?