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A review by gimpyknee
All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor's Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor by Donald Stratton, Ken Gire
3.0
As a Navy Vet and son of a sailor who served on the battleship Nevada in WWII, I found Donald Stratton's account of the attack on Pearl Harbor very interesting and moving. As a history buff, I was both surprised and disappointed with some obvious errors of fact.
Eleanor Roosevelt was not at Warm Springs, GA when her husband died. She was at the White House and remained there while the president's body was returned to Washington. I can excuse a ninety-four year old Stratton from remembering this, but not his co-author and whoever did the editing of this book.
When Donald Stratton recovered from his awful wounds he returned to the Navy and served on the destroyer USS Stack. He claims the Stack could go 49 knots/45 mph. 49 knots actually equates to 56 mph. The Stack was a pre-WWII Benham-class destroyer launched in 1938. The top speed of these destroyers was 36-38 knots. The average modern US Navy destroyer, employing conventional propulsion, can travel at flank speed up to about 40 nautical mph for a few hours at maximum rpms. The new Zumwalt-class destroyers are powered be electric motors and nuclear power plants. While their maximum flank speeds are classified, under sea trials the Zumwalt has exceeded 55 nautical mph. So no, it is highly doubtful that the Stack could reach the speed claimed by Stratton.
In Chapter 12, The Lessons of Pearl Harbor, Stratton says the attack could have been thwarted, or lessened in severity if action had been taken immediately following the sinking of the Japanese sub by the USS Ward. This is highly unlikely. What? Stratton thinks the Arizona and her fellow battleships could have gotten underway from their moorings and fled out of the harbor into the open seas? The Ward reported the sinking at 7 a.m. The attack on the ships in the harbor began at 7:55 a.m. While at their moorings the battleships at Pearl Harbor typically had only one boiler lit to provide power. A battleship needed 2.5 hours to get up to steam. The Nevada was able to get underway 45 minutes after the attack had begun only because a second boiler had been lit during her last peacetime watch, planning to switch to the steam load later. Both boilers had plenty of steam giving the Nevada a 75 minutes jump in getting underway.
Nitpicking complaints? Certainly. My father was also a "China" sailor who served on an ocean going tug in China following WWII. I took him to see the movie The Sand Peebles over 50 years ago. A three hour film that garnered eight academy award nominations, it told a story about a US Navy gunboat in China in the '20's. During the opening scene the lead character, Machinist's Mate First Class Jake Holman (played by Steve McQueen) reports aboard the Sand Peebles carrying his seabag over his shoulder. According to my father, his seabag was not knotted properly, and with that, the rest of the movie was lost on him. I am my father's son. Eleanor Roosevelt was at Warm Springs when FDR died? The USS Stack could go 49 knots? Not so. Ergo just three stars for this account.
Eleanor Roosevelt was not at Warm Springs, GA when her husband died. She was at the White House and remained there while the president's body was returned to Washington. I can excuse a ninety-four year old Stratton from remembering this, but not his co-author and whoever did the editing of this book.
When Donald Stratton recovered from his awful wounds he returned to the Navy and served on the destroyer USS Stack. He claims the Stack could go 49 knots/45 mph. 49 knots actually equates to 56 mph. The Stack was a pre-WWII Benham-class destroyer launched in 1938. The top speed of these destroyers was 36-38 knots. The average modern US Navy destroyer, employing conventional propulsion, can travel at flank speed up to about 40 nautical mph for a few hours at maximum rpms. The new Zumwalt-class destroyers are powered be electric motors and nuclear power plants. While their maximum flank speeds are classified, under sea trials the Zumwalt has exceeded 55 nautical mph. So no, it is highly doubtful that the Stack could reach the speed claimed by Stratton.
In Chapter 12, The Lessons of Pearl Harbor, Stratton says the attack could have been thwarted, or lessened in severity if action had been taken immediately following the sinking of the Japanese sub by the USS Ward. This is highly unlikely. What? Stratton thinks the Arizona and her fellow battleships could have gotten underway from their moorings and fled out of the harbor into the open seas? The Ward reported the sinking at 7 a.m. The attack on the ships in the harbor began at 7:55 a.m. While at their moorings the battleships at Pearl Harbor typically had only one boiler lit to provide power. A battleship needed 2.5 hours to get up to steam. The Nevada was able to get underway 45 minutes after the attack had begun only because a second boiler had been lit during her last peacetime watch, planning to switch to the steam load later. Both boilers had plenty of steam giving the Nevada a 75 minutes jump in getting underway.
Nitpicking complaints? Certainly. My father was also a "China" sailor who served on an ocean going tug in China following WWII. I took him to see the movie The Sand Peebles over 50 years ago. A three hour film that garnered eight academy award nominations, it told a story about a US Navy gunboat in China in the '20's. During the opening scene the lead character, Machinist's Mate First Class Jake Holman (played by Steve McQueen) reports aboard the Sand Peebles carrying his seabag over his shoulder. According to my father, his seabag was not knotted properly, and with that, the rest of the movie was lost on him. I am my father's son. Eleanor Roosevelt was at Warm Springs when FDR died? The USS Stack could go 49 knots? Not so. Ergo just three stars for this account.