First Shot: The Untold Story of the Japanese Minisubs That Attacked Pearl Harbor - Paperback

by John Craddock (Author)

"If we had only known even a bit of what John Craddock tells us now, our own history could have been so very different."
--Sherry Sontag, coauthor of Blind Man's Bluff

In First Shot, John Craddock investigates a little-known but clear eleventh-hour warning that, had it been heeded, might have enabled the Navy's Pearl Harbor command to blunt the Japanese assault and save ships and lives. Craddock reveals that the attack plan of Japan's Admiral Yamamoto included five midget submarines, each carrying two men and two torpedoes. First Shot vividly recreates the action on the deck of the U.S.S. Ward on the morning of December 7 as the outmoded relic of an earlier war engaged a tiny, state-of-the-art undersea fighting machine.

Back Jacket

Sent ahead of the air assault on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese mini sub was destroyed, nearly destroying Japan's deadly surprise. If we had only known even a bit of what John Craddock tells now, our own history could have been so very different. --SHERRY SONTAG, co-author of "Blind Man's Bluff; The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage"

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF PEARL HARBOR AND THE JAPANESE WORLD WAR II NAVAL STRATEGY

America's first shot of World War II was fired by a worn-out World War I destroyer. An hour before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S.S. Ward hit its mark--a tiny but lethal Japanese submarine--but no one heeded the captain's report. Before the morning was out, more than 2,400 people were dead, thousands more were wounded, and more than 100 American warships were destroyed or crippled.

What became of the Ward's message? Why didn't Pearl Harbor command sound a general alarm? And what was the mission of the midget submarine and four others like it--deemed critical enough by Admiral Yamamoto, mastermind of Japan's Pacific naval war, that he was willing to risk the element of surprise on which his entire plan depended? "First Shot" is the compelling examination of a missed opportunity and the role of midget submarines in Japan's Pacific war strategy.

Author Biography

John Craddock, an author of several books and a journalist, helped launch a series of guidebooks for The History Channel.