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Descent into Darkness

Pearl Harbor, 1941, A Navy Diver's Memoir

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Descent into Darkness

By: Edward C. Raymer
Narrated by: Peter Johnson
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About this listen

On December 7, 1941, as the great battleships Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah lie paralyzed and burning in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A crack team of U.S. Navy salvage divers headed by Edward C. Raymer are hurriedly flown to Oahu from the mainland. Their two-part orders are direct and straightforward: (1) rescue as many trapped sailors and Marines as possible, and (2) resurrect what remains of America's once mighty pacific fleet. Descent Into Darkness tells their story.

©1996 Edward C. Raymer (P)2013 Audible, Inc. Armed Forces Historical Military Military & War Naval Forces World War II War Memoir
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Most relevant
The young divers who tackled the seemingly impossible task of raising the wrecked ships at Pearl Harbour put themselves in harms way in a nightmare confined space shared with decomposing bodies. I liked the stories of the dives, less so the recounting of their exploits with women ashore.

Raising wrecks, against the odds

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Gritty recounting of history ,men at the sharp end of War. Bravery to the fore

War History

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A fascinating look into what came after all the headlines and the things you hear and read about in textbooks. Enlightening and very informative. Would highly recommend!

A deep dive into history

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Most people have heard of the sneak attack on the morning of December 7th, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was a key historical event that slowly turned the tide of the second World War. There have been numerous books and movies about the tragedy, heroism and courage on that day, but next to nothing about the monumental efforts it took to raise many of the sunken battleships from their resting places in order to fight another day.

The aftermath of Pearl Harbor and the salvage efforts have long been forgotten about and so I was delighted to stumble across this book as a result of a YouTube video comment.

Descent into Darkness charts the efforts of a small group of divers to refloat the various wrecks, including the USS Utah, USS California, The USS Nevada, USS West Virginia, USS Oklahoma and the USS Arizona. To those, like me, who wondered what these salvage efforts must've been like, the horrors of trapped bodies they would've encountered ... all these things are described in this excellent book. Perhaps one of the saddest tragedies of all, and a truly terrible and unspeakably terrifying way to die, was those of three trapped men aboard the West Virginia who lingered in a dry compartment for something like two weeks.

The work required to raise these huge wrecks was truly remarkable and none of which would be possible without the brave services of the dive team that helped it happen.

The chilling prologue alone will paint the sort of horrific picture these divers had to face as the author described entering the USS Arizona some five weeks after its sinking. These men exhibited incredible courage in the face of death all around them as well as the very real inherent dangers to themselves of such endeavours.

The story also takes us beyond Pearl harbour and out into the Pacific war at large as the author ventures out to put his salvage and diving skills to good use. What this section goes to show, is how historians often get things wrong, as the author puts right some of the inaccuracies regarding his time aboard the Seminole.

The only very minor omission I felt here, was my lack of understanding of the technical issues that led to the death of a diver. He drowned in his suit, but readers unfamiliar with the type of diving suits used would not understand why this occurred, only that it did. The diving rig used was described right at the start of the book, so perhaps I missed a key detail, but it's workings, limitations and vulnerabilities weren't so clearly explained.

I would like to recommend a companion book, one I reed a few years back, called Trapped at Pearl Harbor
Escape from the Battleship Oklahoma
By: Stephen Bower Young which details the harrowing events while trapped inside the capsized USS Oklahoma.

Descent into Darkness is a fascinating book and anyone with a remote interest in the events of December 7th, 1941, or those into diving in general, should have.

Forgotten Courage

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As other reviews had warned this is a personal account of the life of a US Navy Diver. It’s full of personal interactions and off duty stories but actually gives very little detail on the wrecks involved or the experience of entering them as a recovery diver.
I say this with the huge respect warranted to someone who has been through the author’s military career - it’s just not very interesting. The author’s monotonous American drawl doesn’t help.
Sorry but really disappointed.

Not a diving story

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