thorough as this work is—it will swiftly become a central reference for other researchers stepping off into other branches of this complex story. Nathaniel Howe Seattle, Washington Unsinkable: Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett by James Sullivan (Scribner, New York, 2020, 399pp, notes, illus, biblio; isbn 978-1-9821-47631; $30hc) James Sullivan’s Unsinkable: Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett is a front row seat in World War II in Europe aboard a US Navy Gleaves-class destroyer. Europe? Not the Pacific Theatre of Operations? Three-quarters of a century after the end of World War II, the popular recollection of the conflict has the US Army winning the fight in Europe, while the US Navy and its Marine Corps brought victory at sea in the Pacific. No one questions the Navy’s role in transporting troops and their supplies from the New World to the Old, but few are aware of the heavy fighting that sailors and their ships endured in support of the Army. Likewise, the Navy and Marines won the Pacific war with the rarely heralded fighting of the Army. The role of the US Army in the Pacific has received little of the respect it deserves. The brilliant performance of the Marines and the Navy notwithstanding, there would have been no victory in the Pacific without the US Army. Sullivan’s work throws light into a dark corner of WWII history—the role of the US Navy in the European Theatre of Operations (ETO)—by featuring the career of USS Plunkett and highlighting the roles of five men associated with the ship. One of those five, James D. Feltz, water tender 3rd-class, was in his nineties when interviewed by the author. Another died a violent death on the ship at Anizo, one of fifty-three who lost their lives to a 500-pound bomb dropped on the ship by a Luftwaffe bomber. The loss of John J. Gallagher in a way represents all those who died from the Plunkett. He had family that deeply grieved his loss, just as thousands of other families that had suffered the loss of loved ones. War is hell on the homefront too.
Anne T. Converse Photography
Neith, 1996, Cover photograph
Wood, Wind and Water
A Story of the Opera House Cup Race of Nantucket Photographs by Anne T. Converse Text by Carolyn M. Ford Live vicariously through the pictures and tales of classic wooden yacht owners who lovingly restore and race these gems of the sea. “An outstanding presentation deserves ongoing recommendation for both art and nautical collections.” 10”x12” Hardbound book; 132 pages, 85 full page color photographs; Price $45.00 For more information contact: Anne T. Converse Phone: 508-728-6210 anne@annetconverse.com www.annetconverse.com
SEA HISTORY 175, SUMMER 2021 61