The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal: Exploring the Ghost Fleet of the South Pacific
Dozens of battered warships lie beneath the constricted waters off Guadalcanal, justifying the macabre moniker of Iron Bottom Sound. Unseen for 50 years, this submarine battlefield received its first visitor in 1992, aquanaut Robert Ballard. The twisted, encrusted shapes he saw are here spread out with the same lavish pictorial formula used in his enormously popular albums on theTitanicand theBismarck. Prewar photos of battleships in dress regalia contrast graphically with eerie paintings and photos of shell and torpedo strikes that destroyed them and their crews. Now--as in the moment of foundering during the half dozen sharp, short naval battles around the island--guns aim askew, fatal holes gape wide, and turret plates peel back. TheTitanicand theBismarck--both on maiden voyages--sailed to the deep with ill-fated majesty. But Ballard treats these unheralded ships--American, Australian, and Japanese--with the same technical accuracy and awesome reverence. The author's name alone should trigger demand. Where will Ballard dive next? Jutland? Trafalgar?Gilbert Taylor