By David Hendrickson, Fortis, Jacksonville, FL (2011).

Reviewed by David F. Winkler

For individuals interested in technical aspects in the design and armament of a warship of the caliber produced by Norman Friedman or graphics of the quality we have come to expect from Osprey publications, The Patrol Frigate Story by David Hendrickson will fall short of the mark. Indeed, the book has a scrapbook feel about it as the author inserted reports, personal recollections, photocopies, newsclips, charts, poetry, certificates, etc. For presentation purposes, the author might have been better off to unclutter the book by putting the narrative in a forward section and supporting documents in an appendix.

However, in between all of the inserts, the former historian for the Patrol Frigate Reunion Association and history instructor at Fresno City College has written a good overview of the 96 ships of this class that were launched for service for the Royal Navy as the Colony - class and for the U.S. Navy as the Tacoma class that incorporates the recollections of many ship veterans.   The Coast Guard provided crews for the 75 frigates that served in the Southwest Pacific, Northwest Pacific, and North Atlantic. Hendrickson is one such Coast Guard veteran, having served in USS Albuquerque (PF 7).

That all of the ships of this class survived the war is, in part, a testimony to the fact that they were not placed at the pointy edge of the spear, as were their destroyer escort cousins. Because of their sea-keeping abilities, many of the ships were assigned to northern waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific where the enemy was rough seas, cold, and fog. Many of the frigates served weather station duty. Many of the recollections Hendrickson captures express the boredom of being assigned such duties.

Because of their sea keeping abilities, one of the interesting aspects of the story was the transfer of 28 of these vessels to the Soviet Navy under "Project Hula." This tale of U.S.-Soviet cooperation towards the end of World War II was documented by Richard Russell in the Naval Historical Center monograph Project Hula (1997). Eventually, all but one of these vessels were returned and saw service during the Korean War. Following World War II and Korea, most of these vessels were scrapped but some saw service with other navies. Indeed, this reviewer embarked in USNS Navasota (TAO 106) conducted an underway replenishment with one of the Thai PFs back in 1984.

In publishing The Patrol Frigate Story with its numerous vignettes, Hendrickson provides historical context to those surviving Coasties, for their family and friends of their service to the nation. For this effort, he is to be commended.    

Dr. Winkler is a historian with the Naval Historical Foundation.        

By David Doyle, Squadron Signal, Carrolton, TX, (2011).

Reviewed by Alberto Savoretti, MD

If the title of the USS Arizona caught your interest and enough to read this entry, then do yourself a favor and buy it. David Doyle has fulfilled a very important niche with his volumes, doing to naval photography what Jim Hornfischer has done to naval narrative nonfiction literature. In this book, the reader will find a compelling, sentimental journey into the first half of the 20th century as seen through the USS Arizona with all its attendant trappings. 

The Squadron at Sea series, of which the Arizona volume is the first, focuses on detailing a vessel's lifespan from her construction, to her service and modifications, all the way to her fate and current status if applicable using photographs with captions. Most volumes that deal with the kind of intricate detail this book delivers tend to be heavy, slow reading. Naval buffs go ahead and chuckle, you know yourselves how your collection is brimming with dense tomes. While books that contain this level of detail can be highly informative, the effort and time required to capture that information is substantial. With a touch of the master's hand, Doyle shows a picture is worth a thousand words and using photographs is able to easily contain and share information that even crustiest old sea dogs among us will treasure. 

The story begins with the Arizona's building. Photographs therein show details of how the ship was built, her architecture, going as far as to reveal her initial underwater torpedo tubes. The narratives are interwoven with personal and moving anecdotes. As her service life continues, the photos show the striking changes of her main deck and superstructure such as the series of modifications to the cage, then tripod masts, as well as the addition of torpedo bulkheads through the Arizona's various refits. There are plenty of candid shots of crew members going about their daily life, from napping with the attendant deck, hammock and deck tent configurations to holystoning the decks. The author even takes attention to interpret much of the surrounding activity in the photos in their historical context. For example, the book details the celebrity status that warships like the Arizona enjoyed during the depression due to their ability to bring desperately needed income to local ports and shipyards, and if the crowds' reaction were not enough, he shows photos of pertinent romanticizing postcards, mementos, or film scenes of the period.

In this age of violent video games and gory action films where callous, jaded consumers are used to graphic scenes of wanton destruction, the public has no appreciation for the grim moments those in uniform are called on to endure. Enter the second section of this splendid volume that shows the grim effects of the Japanese bombing at Pearl Harbor and the resultant sinking of Arizona. The surreal images of men in special dive or gas suits working around the hulk around fallen masts and collapsed decks are striking. Most interesting is that above all, just like on many old ships left to their fate as museums or in prolonged mothballs, leaking oil gets everywhere. The black and white photographs of her damaged innards, drenched in and seeping oil, give the impression the ship itself is either weeping or bleeding, possibly both. 

But you won't be able to keep a dry eye when you reach the last section that describes the process of how the Arizona's memorial was built, starting with a simple flagpole and progressing to the museum that is present today, largely in part to the contributions of generous people like none other than Elvis Presley.

Arizona Squadron at Sea was a delight to read. Modelers, historians and naval buffs alike will treasure the many rare, accurately captioned photographs which will take the reader on a sentimental journey like no other. This is a researched, easy to read volume that was highly informative, well-illustrated, and a pleasure to go through several times.

Dr. Savoretti is active with several maritime heritage organizations.  

 Reviewed by Tom Ostrom

Commander Edward C. Raymer was a U.S. Navy diver petty officer in the horrific aftermath of the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Raymer and his Navy colleagues exhibited discipline and professionalism in horrific, dangerous circumstances as they worked to save and raise ships and sailors in the aftermath.

Descent was published in 1996, a year before the author died. The writing and photographs are good and are divided into sections about ships salvaged and their fate. Just one criticism of the book: the absence of a bibliography of sources, and an index.

Descent vividly describes the technologically skilled and courageous divers, the lethal environments they worked in, and the psychological pressures and casualty tolls they endured.
The salvage divers had to descend into damaged, destroyed, and submerged ships to repair structures and search for wounded and trapped sailors who might still be alive. The divers operated in total darkness, polluted waters, jagged and unstable ship infrastructures, dangerous under-sea critters, unexploded ordnance, and volatile gasses, as they maneuvered clumsily between out of place infrastructure and mutilated bodies.

The divers depended on basic and sometimes problematic equipment that included helmets, weighted boots, and air hoses. Well-trained surface crews did their best to manage the technology and challenges on their end, reassure the divers, and respond quickly to emergency situations and understandable instances of panic. Climbing down ship ladders was dangerous and cumbersome, given the weights of 36-pound lead diving shoes and 84-pound belts. The divers were guided by conversations with telephone talkers who used maps, charts, and blue prints to describe, with periodic uncertainty, underwater ship geography that had been changed with the results of combat and undersea currents, wave action, and pressure. Diving crews salvaged and repaired heavy equipment lost on barges; and ships that were damaged by heavy seas, collisions, grounding, sinking, tropical storms, and enemy combat attacks.

After Pearl Harbor, Raymer was transferred to the South Pacific combat theater where he operated out of the 205-ft. salvage tug USS Seminole until that ship was sunk by Japanese gunfire. Initially Raymer went to Guadalcanal, and then other insular combat sites still plagued by Japanese sea and land forces, included snipers in tropical trees. Raymer and his U.S. Navy dive mates earned numerous medals and commendations for their heroism.   

Among the Navy vessels surveyed at Pearl Harbor were the USS Arizona, West Virginia, California, Oklahoma, Utah, and Nevada. The author reveals the fate of each of those historic ships at the end of his compelling book.  

Tom Ostrom is a noted Coast Guard historian.