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Unsinkable : five men and the indomitable run of the USS Plunkett  Cover Image Book Book

Unsinkable : five men and the indomitable run of the USS Plunkett / James Sullivan.

Summary:

Documents the true story of a U.S. Navy destroyer that inspired the writings of John Ford and Herman Wouk, drawing on the journals and other writings of five shipmates who witnessed the Anzio attacks and D-Day invasion.
The Plunkett's defining moment was at Anzio, where a dozen-odd German bombers bore down on the ship in an assault so savage, so prolonged, and so deadly that one Navy commander was hard-pressed to think of another destroyer that had endured what Plunkett had. After a three-month overhaul Plunkett (DD-431) plunged back into the war at Omaha Beach on D-Day, and once again into battle during the invasion of Southern France-- perhaps the only Navy ship to participate in every Allied invasion in the European theatre. Sullivan traces the individual journeys of five incredibly brave men whose stories play out on the decks of the Plunkett in the Mediterranean. -- adapted from jacket

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781982147631
  • ISBN: 1982147636
  • Physical Description: xiii, 399 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
  • Edition: First Scribner hardcover edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Scribner, 2020.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 357-399).
Formatted Contents Note:
List of crew members -- The dawn. The goddamned harbor ; Boston ; Underway ; Overland ; Casablanca ; Steaming as before -- The Med. Thornton, Colorado ; Sicily ; Palermo ; The boot ; Readying ; Salerno -- The dusk. Overland, Missouri ; The fall ; Anzio ; Aftermath -- Appendix: Killed and missing in action at Anzio.
Subject: Plunkett (Destroyer : DD 431)
United States. Navy > Biography.
Anzio, Battle of, Anzio, Italy, 1944.
Operation Neptune.
World War, 1939-1945 > Naval operations, American.
World War, 1939-1945 > Campaigns > Italy.
Sailors > United States > Biography.
Italy.
United States.
Genre: Personal narratives.
Biographies.

Available copies

  • 16 of 17 copies available at Missouri Evergreen. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at North Kansas City.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 17 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
North Kansas City Public Library 940.545973 SULLIVAN 2020 (Text) 0001002378378 Nonfiction Available -

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Syndetic Solutions - Summary for ISBN Number 9781982147631
Unsinkable : Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett
Unsinkable : Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett
by Sullivan, James
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Summary

Unsinkable : Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett


In the bestselling tradition of Indianapolis and In Harm's Way comes a "captivating...gripping" ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review) account of the USS Plunkett --a US Navy destroyer that sustained the most harrowing attack on any Navy ship by the Germans during World War II, later made famous by John Ford and Herman Wouk. "A reflection on the nature of storytelling itself" ( The Wall Street Journal ), Unsinkable traces the individual journeys of five men on one ship from Casablanca in North Africa, to Sicily and Salerno in Italy and then on to Plunkett's defining moment at Anzio, where a dozen-odd German bombers bore down on the ship in an assault so savage, so prolonged, and so deadly that one Navy commander was hard-pressed to think of another destroyer that had endured what Plunkett had. After a three-month overhaul and with a reputation rising as the "fightin'est ship" in the Navy, Plunkett (DD-431) plunged back into the war at Omaha Beach on D-Day, and again into battle during the invasion of Southern France--perhaps the only Navy ship to participate in every Allied invasion in the European theatre. Featuring five incredibly brave men--the indomitable skipper, who will receive the Navy Cross; the gunnery officer, who bucks the captain every step of the way to Anzio; a first lieutenant, who's desperate to get off the ship and into the Pacific; a seventeen-year-old water tender, who's trying to hold onto his hometown girl against all odds, and another water tender, who mans a 20mm gun when under aerial assault--the dramatic story of each plays out on the decks of the Plunkett as the ship's story escalates on the stage of the Mediterranean. Based on Navy logs, war diaries, action reports, letters, journals, memoirs, and dozens of interviews with the men who were on the ship and their families, Unsinkable is a timeless evocation of young men stepping up to the defining experience of their lives. "If you were moved by Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It , by William Kent Krueger's This Tender Land ...by the values we hold dear, decency, sacrifice, steadfastness , then Unsinkable will take you to a place long dead in your soul, and flood it with light" (Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers ).

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