Pinned post for Q&A :)

IJN: "Sinks" Her USS Shaw: "I didn't hear no bell."

Stephen Louis Lemeister, my Grandmothers Brother. Served aboard the USS Arizona, died Dec. 7th, 1941.

Thank you for this OUTSTANDING 3-part story! I was a sailor in the U.S. Navy from 1965 until 1969 and have always been fascinated with the events of December 7, 1941. While stationed at the Norfolk operating base in Virginia, I had access to a wealth of historical information about the actual attack but little to nothing existed on the salvage operation. In fact even in the late 1960's. much of the information that existed was still highly classified. This is borne out by so many of the pictures you're now able to show in your series, where classified markings are plainly visible thereon. Suffice to say, Pearl Harbor was still a huge embarrassment and a black eye to the Navy and even while I was a sailor, virtually nothing was available that showed either actual damage or salvage operations. This is a welcome addition to the historical record and is greatly appreciated.

Honestly, who amongst us doesn't love a story about a brave destroyer that absolutely refuses to sink despite the universe throwing pretty much everything at it?

"having failed to either sink or arouse the wrath of an offended sea god that possessed a sense of aesthetics.." Absolutely beautiful line USS Shaw guide, when?

This series has shown me more footage from the aftermath of Pearl Harbor than I have ever seen. Thanks for making these and showing what the salvage crews had to go through. They deserve far more credit and acknowledgement than they ever got. I don't think they were ignored, but more taken for granted.

Close to the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, I had the distinct pleasure of being seated next to a Naval Radioman on a flight to Orlando, FL. He had survived the attack below decks on one of the ships in the harbor that did not sink. The ship in front of his and the ship behind his did sink, but praise God his did not. He was close to 100 years old at the time and told me how he continued to do his job below decks while all hell broke loose outside. He had gone on to have a family including many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I must say, it was one of the most memorable business trips of my life. I have also served 21.5 years in the USAF and I am proud of serving our country, but the tales that this gentleman told me left me awe-inspired and grateful for the men and women of that generation. These videos certainly served to raise the awareness of the many acts of bravery and heroism undertaken by mere mortals forced into unbelievable situation and how well they excelled to do the seemingly impossible under very difficult circumstances. Thank you to all the men and women who played a role in these operations! We will never be able to tell how much of a difference you made in our modern world, but no doubt it was significant.

This whole series is an amazing watch but somehow what really got me was Drach describing at the end how the damage control & repair lessons learned from the salvage meant the difference between sinking and limping home for many later ships. The contrast between the image of a sunburnt crew sailing into Pearl with funny bar stories about patching their ship with palm fronds and that of a handful of grim-faced surviving officers writing hundreds of tragic letters is inexpressible.

USS Shaw would have the Terminator 2 main theme as her song. "I'll be back."

To all the un-sung heroes of Pearl Harbour, may their efforts be remembered.

Thank you for this series, my grandfather was a diver on the salvage team, and he had lost 4 brothers on December 7th, 2 at Pearl and and 2 in the Philippines.

As a modern day MBA Project Manager I am still amazed how this all was accomplished so “fast” and so far away from Mainland America. This would totally make a great case study to learn from and use even in almost 70 years later. Thank you for also sharing your source material!

We often place a premium on the various adventures of our war fighters, but not so often on the quiet professionalism and courage of our support personnel and efforts. Thanks for telling the story of the recovery.

I know I sound like a broken record, Uncle Drach, but once again, many thanks for telling this very important story so well and making it available to such a wide audience!

Thank you for making these videos, I was stationed there over 40 years ago, and had drinks with sailors and soldiers who were there that day on the 40th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Afterward, I worked for a Maritime Museum that formally had dedications to the veteran's remembrance, complete with the floating of reeves. Yet I never knew about the years of work done in the aftermath of the attack, nor the gruesome task of recovery! These documentaries have given me new respect for the lives sacrificed and lost, of the wrecks, I once gazed upon! I would never have had an idea about the monumental efforts made for the cause of freedom, and am ashamed of “how little” has been passed down in our history of this legacy and sacrifice. May God bless you, sir; for bringing this to light! RTD, USA Retired.

Excellent series! My Dad- Charles K. Anderson- was a USN medical corpsman stationed at the Dispensary (Building 72, I believe...which is still there, preserved) on Ford Island in 12/7/41 directly next to the USS California. He witnessed and, of course, participated in the entire event first hand. He also received personal hand-signed commendation letters from Nimitz and Forrestal for a rescue of crewman from a PBY seaplane which crashed near Ford island after the attack. I have those letters in original copy. Dad later sailed on the tanker Neosho (which was docked on Battleship Row that day) , a 175' PC boat, and a rocket-launching assault craft in the South Pacific war. He survived and rarely spoke about the war.

IJN: Bombs USS SHAW, Now stand aside worthy adversary! USS SHAW: Tis but a scratch! IJN: A Scratch! Your Bows off! USS SHAW: No it isn't!

My wife's grandfather and his best buddy were divers on the salvage/rescue at Pearl harbor (Cooper and Newton), they were the first hardhat divers to put boots on the Arizona (always arguing which of them was THE first). Many things they told of have been officially denied until recent years (Japanese midget subs, etc). Most chilling was them saying how at first they were issued hammers to find those trapped, then later being ordered to leave the hammers ashore, because they could not save the trapped sailors. Your 3 part series really did them justice. You handled this tastefully and honored their memory.

My Uncle (Ted Olson) spent the entire war as a Navy diver working on body retrieval and salvage at Pearl Harbor. Along with several dozen others they spent months under water.

I've always found the "durability" of pre-solid-state electronics. My high-school electronics teacher was an ex-Navy (Korean war) technician, and a Radio technician after his Service - he told me once of his first job-assignments at a Radio station- he was taken down to a basement room which housed the steam boiler and two large racks of transmission gear - one primary, and one duplicate backup. They were both heavily covered with dust and gunk, and his job was to clean them. He disconnected them from power, grabbed the steam water nozzle, and blasted them down - several others around thought he was nuts, and assured him he'd be fired. He let them dry, and they worked just fine afterward. Nothing but glass, metal, and rubber, really.

15:14 "[...] the screws were taken off the ship". It took me a second to remember the naval definition of a screw, so my first thought was "that sounds unhelpful".

USS Shaw: "Not to worry, we're still sailing half a ship"

"The Navy diver is not a fighting man, he is a salvage expert. If it is lost underwater, he finds it. If it's sunk, he brings it up. If it's in the way, he moves it. If he is lucky, he will die young 200' beneath the waves, for that is the closest he'll ever get to being a hero."

Drachinfel, this has been an OUTSTANDING series. This is the sort of high quality historical documentary that used to be produced by public agencies, unfortunately not so much anymore. We are very fortunate to have dedicated KZfaqrs like yourself to step into the breech. This is an amazing tale of hard work and heroism that is badly overlooked in many of the documentaries that focus on the more glamorous combat feats of the Pacific campaign. Thank you so much for your work. It has been one of my favourite historical documentaries of the last year.

Who are the 2 people to thumbs down this? This channel should be manditory viewing for every student of history

As much as everyone talks about the Arizona memorial, I've always preferred the Utah's. It's on the quiet side of Ford, away from all the bustle of the main modern dockyards and the crowds of Arizona and Missouri, a simple pier over the water, looking out at Utah's hulk and Pearl City beyond it. It's small; there's no tourist center, no big parking lot, not even a bathroom... just a quiet shore on a quiet part of the island, an invitation to somber contemplation of the bones of the ship and her crew. I don't think a lot of people even know it exists, but it's one of my favorite places on Oahu.

For all of those divers and other workers who died in the recovery efforts, you were heroes who deserved more credit than you received.

The photo of the Iowa class next to the Oklahoma is amazing. I had never realised just how much bigger the new Battlewagons were - I've seen the New Jersey up close and it's a beautiful ship. As a kid, I used to make the models and draw them in my school notebook....next time I get back to Philly, I'll take that tour of her (the New Jersey) as she's sitting in the Delaware River as a museum.

USS Shaw "Is that all you got, this was but a scratch?"

The fact that a number of these ships were sunk in the harbor rather than out to sea helped them return to service and exact revenge at Surigao Strait.

You've raised my awareness of something I didn't know about ww2. Surely you and Mark Felton deserve to have some wings in libraries named after you.

Outstanding video! I would note for the record that OKLAHOMA never made it back to service. Per the Wikipedia entry (I know, not the best source but it's what I've got), she languished at Pearl for few years, ultimately being sold for scrap in 1946. Whilst being towed back across the Pacific in 1947. she broke her tow in a heavy storm and sank. I don't know if anybody has ever gone to look for the wreck; it wouldn't look like much these days. I was in Pearl Harbor myself from 2005-07; worked for one of the "alphabet agencies" there at the Navy base. I went to see the memorials for both ARIZONA and UTAH. I cannot help but think of the terrible cost in human lives from that day. ARIZONA herself seems to be "weeping" for her lost sailors; the fuel bunkers even now, 79 years later, are still leaking fuel. National Park Service and Navy divers have kept the wreck under continual watch over the decades. The general consensus is that while it would be a well-intentioned move to try and drain her bunkers somehow, the effort and the methodology required to accomplish such a feat could destabilize the wreck. As ARIZONA sits now, what is left of her is barely held up by inertia; predictions are that the hull has been steadily "pancaking" down onto itself over the years, due to a combination of the battle damage and heavy corrosion. UTAH was actually a mistake on the IJN's part. She was misidentified as a battleship by the Japanese, and in fairness to them, she actually HAD been. But in the years leading up to Dec. 7th, she had been converted into an aerial gunnery training ship (hence the change in classification from BB to AG). Nevertheless, she was hit as hard as the vessels on Battleship Row. Like ARIZONA, there's not much left; ashes to ashes, rust to rust. There's a modest memorial built on its own pier on the opposite side of Ford Island from ARIZONA. Worth the trip, should any of you decide to make it.

Having read descent into darkness myself, there was a period I couldn’t look at the spine of the book, and turned it around for a bit. Fascinating read though. If terrifying, depressing and also amazing.

USS Oklahoma being righted reminds me of the recovery specialists in my maintenance platoon who would similarly bring armored fighting vehicles upright with their M-88A1. However, the scale is incredible compared to righting a 70 ton M-1 tank.

I saw a long video of the salvage efforts after Pearl Harbor.I was amazed,and in awe, of the herculean efforts that went into raising,and getting many back in service.God bless the engineers,sailors,and all who were involved in the recovery efforts.Rest the souls of all our service men and women from the greatest generation.Thank you.♥️🇺🇲🙏

The USS Minneapolis was one of the ships that patched itself with trees after having its bow blown off in the Battle of Tassafaronga. The ship sailed back to Pearl Harbor and was repaired then sent back into action.

As painful as this event was for the US Navy it was perhaps their greatest teacher. RIP to our lost sailors resting in Pearl

I have never commented on any video and I have watched a many but this was an excellent series very informative and enlightening too the resilience of all Americans when they’re put to the test and their backs are against the wall. This is a true testament of the American fighting spirit!!!

Great series! My grandfather was a gunnery officer on the USS West Virginia. He was initially involved in the salvage operation, but was transferred to the Vincennes. Survived that sinking and went to Espiritu Santo for some time before being reassigned to the West Virginia. So kind of a full circle. Found this series very interesting - as are all of the videos you do. Thanks Drach.

U.S.S. Shaw: "The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated, and I think I'll join in for the whole game if you don't mind." - This series is very interesting and educational. So much attention is paid to the warfighting, but none of it would have been possible without the massive efforts of ship builders, fitters and repair crews.

A magnificent job Drach on this series and if I ever get the chance I will buy you enough beer to refloat a Battleship for telling this tale.

Thanks so much for doing these videos. Like a lot of American school children, I read that some of the ships were salvaged and returned to service. But that brief statement really doesn’t convey the enormity of the effort and the intensity of the work. I really appreciate what you’ve brought to light here. It’s been extremely interesting. I do wonder what the Japanese reaction was to seeing ships they thought they’d destroyed. It must’ve been disheartening.

In his novel The Winds of War, Herman Wouk had several paragraphs about the salvage operation in the days after the attack. This series has provided a wonderful perspective of what actually was required and the enormous effort. Thank you for posting. 👍🏻❤️🇦🇺

I just want to say that the color footage of the recovery efforts has been a real treat.

I had the honor of meeting a Arizona survivor hoping to hear some history of the December 7th but he would only stare into the empty horizon When I asked him. He would only talk about shore visits. Much later in my life I was lucky to visit the Arizona Memorial and as I was reading the list of sailors that have later returned to their ship after their passing in read the name of the gentleman I met that he was now with his shipmates. I was so emotional I had so set down for I don’t remember how long. I couldn’t stop crying and started a chain reaction. I could feel the sorrow and pain of those men and families. I’ve never had this happen before or after. The day is coming these men who gave their lives will be forgotten just as civil war soldiers and WW1. I can only hope I’m wrong!

This series is probably your best work yet. And that's saying somewhat, given the quality of your other work. Very well done, both in narration and in the visual material you found and present.

It blows my mind when I think about what it took by all involved to do what they did. Absolutely incredible. Thanks again for doing this. I've learned more about the post attack recovery efforts than I ever imagined.

So impressive! Nice work and research. Well done!

From a retired US Navy sailor ... outstanding series, Drachinifel! Thank you for your time and efforts on all these videos.

"With USS Mississippi tagging along for the ride." That is the best line

Great series. I really enjoyed them.

And now we NEED an episode with the ship sailing backwards :)

Absolutely outstanding! There has been little if any attention paid to these brave men and their remarkable efforts! Thanks, Drach!

Im just surprised at the salvagability of some of these ships

Excellent series, very interesting and well done! It's amazing how much damage some of these ships had and yet were still salvageable and returned to operation.

Thanks, Drach. This was just a superb series. I have seen countless series, specials, videos, etc on "history" but never have I seen anyone cover this kind of topic. Like you said towards the end - I wonder just how many lives were saved with the new damage prevention/damage control knowledge that was gained from this operation. The guy who throws himself on the grenade gets the Medal of Honor, but these people, whether they knew it or not while they were hauling out rotted corpses and breathing toxic fumes, were easily saving thousands of their fellows by war's end.

If you could do an episode on USS Shaw's many brushes with death that would be great.

The Greatest Generation had a job and just went ahead and did it. And without computers...astounding. An excellent series that highlights a largely overlooked operation. Very entertaining. Keep 'em coming. Thanks.

Drach: Thank you for this impressive piece of scholarship. Thank you for telling the story of the Salvage Unit. No, I would not want to go down into a sunken ship.

Thanks! Early in 1942 my dad arrived at pearl from Bremerton as part of the ship fitter shop. These video's gave me a look at. What he witnessed and was part of

Thank you Drach. This has been one of my favorite series that you have put out. I'm looking forward to more of your work!

Respect and honor to all those who worked to salvage and relaunch the fleet. And gratitude to you Drachinifel for telling their story.

I was in grade school in the 60's when I started to learn more about WW2. I've been interested in WW2 history all my life. I knew that the recovery work in Pearl Harbor was intense after the attack, but this series of videos has been very informative. Thanks for all the work that went into producing it.

This Pearl Harbor series has been fantastic - thank you Drachinifel

this series is one of my favorites Drachinifel. Nice work.

FYI, the Iowa class moored to the Oklahoma is Wisconsin BB-64.

An excellent series by Drach once again. Thank you. One of he great ironies of Pearl Harbor was the Oklahoma was scheduled to sail for the west coast for decommissioning on January 6th, 1942. Crew and some of the materials on board were already being transferred.

Thanks for this series. My Father was the original crew on the Minneapolis CA 36 1934. Was discharged in 1940 re-entered Navy 1942 served until VJ day. He was on Guam when it ended. I wish I had asked more questions but as with others he didn't talk about the war much. My Father did relate some crazy, scary and heroic stories to me. He passed when I was 18, 1973.

From my days in heavy engineering on some large repair projects, I have an inkling of the tremendous amount of work and engineering nouse needed to salvage those ships. What they did in the time available was just stunning. They should have been officially recognised.

Truly a group of unsung heroes, these salvage men.

You consistently produce high qualiry, entsertaining and informative videos; but with this trio Drach, you have totally knocked it out of the park. These are a fine tribute to the men who died in that fleet and the men who raised them. Simply outstanding. Bravo Zulu.

What a great series. One of your best!

Is the USS Shaw a distant relative of HMS Eskimo; world: "Your front end has been completely blown off, you're a destroyer, you sink now." Eskimo and Shaw: "So? Don't need it." Choses life. As requested; glass raised to those miracle workers who let the ships and their crews pay the IJN back for Pearl Harbour.

You don't even think about how important these unsung war heroes were. Truly amazing individuals that must be acknowledged as this video series has done.

An excellent testament to the thousands of salvage workers who tirelessly toiled to get these ships, and many others, back in action...well done, gentlemen!!!

Although I've heard the story about the attack on Pearl Harbour over and over again, I have never heard the story about the salvage operation afterward. Truly an epic tale in its own right. Thank-you for creating this series.

I am deeply grateful for you Drachinifel for your considerable efforts in putting together this video series, and bring to the fore the efforts of the support personnel that often goes unheralded and herculean efforts of all during the persons involved with the Pearl Harbor salvage. Once more, thank you.

O U T S T A N D I N G !!! This was a little known but extremely important aspect of WWII in the Pacific. The magnitude and urgency of the Pearl Harbor salvage effort was unprecedented. The process started almost during the Japanese attack and continued throughout the war.. BRAVO ZULU to ALL HANDS .

THANK YOU for the great narration and detailed story. I did not know any of this great event and massive effort story.

Having been to Pearl Harbor before, and talked to many survivors from the ship named for my home state, I can't say enough how much I appreciate this mini series alone but especially your send off at the end of this video. I was there, marching in the 75th anniversary parade, and while that may have been a unique experience, it gave me something to hold onto that watching these videos really rekindled in me.

Listening to Drach learning to pronounce Puget Sound over the course of this three part series has warmed my heart.

Wonderful video, you do great work!!

Sir, I would like to Thank-you!! for your Channel. I feel it's a Tribute to the many Servicemen and Woman who served and died and also survived the war, ' and others' to get some of their stories out. So many wouldn't or couldn't tell their stories, so We won't forget, and hopefully not have anymore. Sincerely, yours.

A friend referred me to your series recently. I am totally hooked now. I was aware of Wallin's stewardship during the salvage operations, but you have filled in so many of the holes in my knowledge in the history of this tragic episode in the history of the United States. Keep up the good work!

It’s always so compelling how the USS West Virginia was able to come back from the dead to keep on fighting. It’s almost a metaphor for the allies in general; badly beaten and near death, we came together to overcome the odds.

Having a Dad who served in the USN in the South Pacific during WWII, I have grown up reading many books on all the differing parameters of the War in the Pacific. I cannot help but be amazed at the quantity and quality of content in this series. Drach, you have done a great service to those who died that fateful day, and the days that followed. Thank you.

A great series. I had the pleasure of being in Pearl Harbour years ago and have seen the Arizona memorial. It is truly an amazing place. One I will never forget. We will remember.

Thank you. My Dad was on the Medusa and was a part of this effort.

Looking at the effort expended on jobs like the USS Oklahoma whilst fighting a two front war and supplying the USSR and UK with massive amounts of military aid underlines how powerful the USA was compared to everyone else in 1943-44.

Thank you for referencing yet another book on the salvage operations that I did not yet have in my library collection, the "Pearl Harbor Fleet Salvage Appraisal" book! I have always been interested in ship salvage operations in general and Pearl Harbor in particular. I also told myself yesterday that I wasn't going to buy any more stuff on Amazon this year but now that has gone by the wayside!

Fascinating and intriguing series. Thank you for doing this. My Great Grandfather was CO of the USS Vega on 7 Dec 41 in Honolulu harbor and I've had opportunity to read copies of Ships reports that day. Reading "guns in action" was a chilling moving experience. I spent 1989-2009 myself in Uncle Sam's canoe club. This history MUST be remembered.

Thank you for educating an old man today who in past years did not understand how devastating the raid on Pearl Harbor had been. My grade school and high school history books were age appropriate, but failed to make me understand at the time. May all the men and women who died that day and after as a result of injuries sustained rest in peace.

Thank you. My great uncle was a steamfitter at the Bremerton yard and talked of working on the salvaged battleships and of the sight of those great ships through the fog and mist. He was in his seventies and I only six in 1957. I wish I could recall more of what he spoke. Thank you.

Great work on the salvage and recovery at Pearl. This request is personal in nature and if you are able to highlight this ship and its classmates contribution to both theaters in WWII, it would mean a great deal to myself and my mother. My grandfather was a gunner on the Attack Cargo Ship USS Stokes AKA -68 which was part of multiple campaigns including D-Day. My grandfather spent the war on two ships in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters and earned five battle stars in the process. These ships seem forgotten to most and the importance of the multi-task ability they had let them be critical but silent players in events that shaped our world in less glamorous or obvious ways than the hulking battleships or the often seen Higgins boats. I am in my early 50's and want to be able to show my mother that the world knows what her now deceased Father, his ship, shipmates and other ships of their kind did to stop darkness from falling over the free world. Thanks and keep up the good work. Scott

Thank you salvage crews 🇺🇲👍

I wish my father was still here to have watched this series with me, he would have been as fascinated by the videos as I am. In 1992 I met members of the Pearl Harbour survivors group who were doing a road trip to Alaska commemorating the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Alcan highway. Meeting and talking to those gentlemen in person will always be one of the greatest honours of my life.

Thanks Drach. An especially satisfying Rum Ration Wednesday. I saw an old (even then) book as a kid in the 70s with some photos of the salvage. The Oklahoma "uprighting" fascinated me. Difficult to get detailed info on these salvage/engineering miracles. I hadn't expected part 3 quite so quickly. Thanks !!!!!

I am history buff and I live in Oklahoma, the series taught me about the salvage of all the ships at Pearl that faithful day. I had not known about all the work that went into the salvage of the Oklahoma. Thank you.

On a psychological note, your well done documentary describes an almost unbelievable level of resilience demonstrated by Navy sailors who not only survived the attack horrors but then immediately went on to man other ships or support the salvage efforts. A lesson for all of us. Thanks very much.