A Strange Whim of the Sea (eBook)

The Wreck of the USS Macaw

Tim Loughman (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022
260 Seiten
The University Press of Kentucky (Verlag)
978-0-8131-9624-4 (ISBN)

Infos

On January 16, 1944, the submarine rescue vessel USS Macaw ran aground at Midway Atoll while attempting to get a towing line to the stranded submarine USS Flier. The Flier was pulled free six days later, but another three weeks of salvage efforts plagued by rough seas and equipment failures failed to dislodge the Macaw. On February 12, amid huge waves, the ship began to slip aft into deeper water. As night fell and the Macaw slowly sank, the twenty-two sailors on boardship's captain Paul W. Burton, his executive officer, and twenty enlisted mensought refuge in the pilothouse, but by 2:30 a.m., that compartment had flooded almost entirely. Burton gave the order to open the portside door and make for the foremast. Three men climbed it but most of the others were swept overboard. Five of them died, including Burton. Three sailors from the base at Midway also lost their lives in two unauthorized rescue attempts.Drawing on survivors' contemporaneous written statements and interviews conducted over a span of thirty years, A Strange Whim of the Sea: The Wreck of the USS Macaw traces the ship's service from its launch on San Francisco Bay to its disastrous final days at Midway. Ultimately, for Burton and the Macaw the real enemy was the sea, and in a deadly denouement, the sea won. Highlighting the underreported role auxiliary vessels played in the war, A Strange Whim of the Sea engages naval historians and students alike with a previously untold story of struggle, sacrifice, death, and survival in the World War II Pacific.

Autor

Tim Loughman is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He lives in Morro Bay, California.

Inhalt

1. Rough Start
2. On the Rocks
3. Troubled Waters
4. Off to War
5. Perilous Passage
6. South Pacific
7. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner
8. Midway
9. Emergency Exit
10. Business on Great Waters
11. Aftermath

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.11.2022
• Zusatzinfo: 1 map, 29 b&w illustrations
• Verlagsort: Lexington
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 150 x 150 mm
• Themenwelt: Natur / Technik ► Fahrzeuge / Flugzeuge / Schiffe ► Militärfahrzeuge / -flugzeuge / -schiffe
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► 1918 bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Schlagworte: auxiliary ship • Battle of Midway • cargo ships • floating dry dock • liberty ships • marine salvage • Midway Atoll • nautical nonfiction • rescue mission • Sailors • Shipwreck • submarine rescue vessel • US Navy • uss flier • World War II
• ISBN-10: 0-8131-9624-8 / 0813196248
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-9624-4 / 9780813196244