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Boys of the Battleship North Carolina | 
 enlarge | Author: Cindy Horrell Ramsey
Publisher: John F. Blair Publisher
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $8.33
You Save: $11.62 (58%)
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 568136
Media: Paperback
Pages: 368
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0895873397
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.545973
EAN: 9780895873392
ASIN: 0895873397
Publication Date: April 30, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
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Product Description
On July 11, 1942, the USS North Carolina steamed into Pearl Harbor. She was a magnificent ship the first in a new class of battleships, simultaneously monstrous and fast. She was two and a half football fields long and so wide she could barely pass through the Panama Canal on her journey to Hawaii. At any given time, 2,339 sailors manned the ship a total of more than 7,000 during the six years she served. As she glided into the ravaged harbor, past the wreckage of sunken American ships, the morale of the men in the surviving Pacific fleet soared.A little over two years earlier, more than 57,000 people had gathered in the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the day she was launched. As she went through her "shakedown" period, she returned repeatedly to that same naval yard for adjustments and modifications. Many New Yorkers, including radio commentator Walter Winchell, often witnessed the ship entering and departing New York Harbor and began calling her the "Showboat." In this book, Ramsey tells the story of the battleship through the eyes of the men who served her. After doing research about the ship at the National Archives in 2000, Ramsey spent six days helping the staff of the memorial compile a living-history archive of personal interviews conducted with the surviving crewmembers when they attended the ship's annual reunion. She became fascinated with the stories these men told. For the next few years, she continued talking to the men to flesh out their stories. The result is this narrative about one of the most decorated American battleships in World War II, as seen through the eyes of the young sailors who matured into men while manning this floating fortress. As Ramsey says in her introduction, "Sailors know the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story. A fairy tale begins, 'Once upon a time.' A sea story starts simply, 'Now, this is no bullshit.' This book is a sea story."
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| Customer Reviews:
An Honor to Those Who Served August 3, 2007
D. Crews (North Carolina)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have visited the battleship about 10-15 times in my 50+ years of life. This book brings the history of the ship and the young men who served her into a greater perspective.
The book covers in detail the ship from it's inception up to the end of the war. No detail is missed in the lives of the sailors. Especially gripping are the accounts of the ones who were killed in action. The book wraps up with a final chapter with touching details of some of the recent reunions for the surviving crew members.
This is a must read for anyone interested in history, and especially for those with an interest in the naval history of WWII.
Good account of the ship and her crew December 15, 2007
S. Belanger (Newport, NC USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Interesting and pleasant book to read that tells the story of the USS NC through the experiences from certain crewmen.
The author has interviewed numerous former crew stationed throughout the ship and focuses primarily on their personal observations, duties, and lives (personal and onboard). Some crew for example that the book follows are a 5" mount crewmember, a radioman, Kingfisher pilot, bow 20mm gunner, and many more.
Rather than simply tell the more common (and possibly dry reading) "bio" of the ship, the author uses the experiences of the crew to tell the story. For example, because of this, rather than simply stating how many crew were killed or injured at such-and-such occasion, the author put them in a personal perspective where you know their names, duties, and where and what they were doing when they died or were wounded. In each case where a crewman was killed in action, by accident or natural causes the authore tells their stories. The lives of the crew are also followed on liberty in the pacific and in the US - some visting the ladies, bars, others sightseeing, etc.
Throughout the book there are numerous photos of the crewmen that the book relates to, the ship/equipment, and other random interesting images from the battleship's archives (like the purple heart cake made for the USS Kidd after the friendly fire incident.)
In short, the book tells the story of certain crewman and in doing so tells the story of the USS NC.
For a good companion piece that focuses more on the in-depth service history and techincal/machine side of the battleship, check out Ben Blee's "Battleship North Carolina."
Best book I've read on WWII May 12, 2007
Foye L. Brewer
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book that gives you an insight of what our young men were like and their personal experiences during WWII aboard the USS Battleship North Carolina. I'll have to admit that I cried several times as I read the book; the experiences were powerful and the writer portrayed them with such insight and feeling.
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