The USS Ward: An Operational History of the Ship That Fired the First American Shot of World War II

ISBN-13: 9780786464296 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 282 str.

Richard P. Klobuchar

Opis

In 1940, with the threat of war in the Pacific imminent, the United States was forced to expand its fleet as quickly as possible. This included reconditioning and recommissioning four stackers from the navy's reserve fleet. It was here that the USS Ward came into her own, earning the distinction of firing the first shot in America's war against Japan and serving three years in combat until it was sunk--with no loss of life--on December 7, 1944. From the first confrontation at Pearl Harbor through the Ward's last mission in the Philippines, this history gives a detailed account of the life and times of the ship and her crew of 125 men.