# Amazing WWII Photos (Pacific Theater) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 26, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953 "2010-11-26T04:43:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/21 "2010-11-27T06:18:51Z")
Amazing pictures. I got a kick out of #53. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/22 "2010-11-27T10:30:08Z")
Wow, these are amazing. Looking at the pictures, I realize I don’t know that much about the Pacific Theater. I didn’t even know there was a land battle on US soil at all! Does anyone have a book on the topic they could recommend? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/23 "2010-11-27T11:03:21Z")
I have questions about the accuracy of the captions for these pictures. At the very least, the photograph I’m most familiar with (#2) is misreported. The caption claims to be showing Battleship Row before the attack, but that photograph shows the ships of Battleship Row _after_ the attack has started. Looking closely at the water outboard of the ships you can see the effects of oil on the waters, as it leaks from strikes on both _West Virginia_ and _Oklahoma_. A closer look will reveal that both _West Virginia_ and _Oklahoma_ are beginning to list. _West Virginia_ managed to counterflood in time to keep from capsizing. _Oklahoma_ didn’t, and would capsize within minutes of this image being taken. [Here’s a link to the National Archive’s version of that image](http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h50000/h50931.jpg) - it also includes _California_ at the far right, showing the effects there from more strikes from torpedoes going in. Similarly you can see traces, in the water, of more torpedoes heading towards _West Virginia_ and _Oklahoma_. If you look at the ship on the far left, _Nevada_, you can see that alone of all the ships on Battleship Row, she has her ensign raised at the stern. According to the deck logs, by the ship’s clock, the attack came just at 8 AM, while most other vessels in Pearl Harbor had the attack occurring between 0745-0755. [Here’s a link to an image taken a few minutes later](http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h50000/h50472.jpg) - you can see more oil in the water, and the port side of _Oklahoma_ is visibly underwater. IIRC it was later determined that _Oklahoma_ was struck by as many as nine torpedoes in a matter of minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/24 "2010-11-27T11:11:56Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > :smack: > Yes, 27. 26 is of a damn jeep! > > 🙂 Man with rifle in the Grassy Knoll… My God, they were right! :eek: I couldn’t help it, looking at photos like #60, to be disturbed by the soldiers stepping all over the corals. Makes any self respecting diver cringe. Point aside, the captions are atrocious, example #46 “The Allied forces made a second big invasion operation of the Japanese occupied island in an attempt to capture the big air base…” I bet they used big guns too. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/25 "2010-11-27T13:24:03Z")
Astonishing. Thanks for sharing. Question: in pisc #71 and #72 we see a large number of landing ships disgorging armaments and men. How did those boats travel over the ocean? Were they seaworthy for trans-Pacific travel, or did they made in a nearby allied country, or moved in some other way? I’m guessing they were oceangoing and picked up their cargo some way offshore, but would love to have this confirmed (I’ve read _The Naked and the Dead_ but don’t remember this detail). If they were oceangoing , however, how did they get by on the open seas with a very shallow displacement and (presumably) no keel - or did they have retractable keels, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/26 "2010-11-27T13:29:28Z")
Ok, [I just found an article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_Ship,_Tank#Design) answered my own question: > [@](#): > > To meet the conflicting requirements of deep draft for ocean travel and shallow draft for beaching, the ship was designed with a large ballast system that could be filled for ocean passage and pumped out for beaching operations. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/27 "2010-11-27T13:39:44Z")
#20 - The Marines are still wearing the old WW1 ‘borrowed from the Brits’ tin hat. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/28 "2010-11-27T14:59:21Z")
They’re Australians. The rifle over that guy’s shoulder is an Enfield. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/29 "2010-11-27T17:40:41Z")
Thanks for sharing. **#91** really tells a story. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/30 "2010-11-27T18:03:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Wow, these are amazing. Looking at the pictures, I realize I don’t know that much about the Pacific Theater. I didn’t even know there was a land battle on US soil at all! > > Does anyone have a book on the topic they could recommend? Get a copy of “The Thousand Mile War” by Brian Garfield. Fantastic read - I never knew just how nasty that Alutians campaign was until I read that. Or how utterly awful the weather is up there. Googling on the title will bring up a ton of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/31 "2010-11-27T22:22:32Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > Thanks for sharing. **#91** really tells a story. Yeah, that’s really bizarre, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/32 "2010-11-27T22:35:43Z")
Number 16. The three guys in the water. What is the one on the right carrying? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/33 "2010-11-27T23:02:51Z")
Hard to tell. He doesn’t appear to be armed, so he may be a corpsman. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/34 "2010-11-27T23:24:11Z")
Is it the components of a Bangalore torpedo? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/35 "2010-11-27T23:30:49Z")
Some of those guys in #16 look like they’re smiling. It’s not meant to be fun guys! ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/36 "2010-11-27T23:41:41Z")
These photos really hammer home what these guys did in such adverse conditions. Remember to thank a WW2 vet, next time you meet one. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/37 "2010-11-27T23:42:15Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Is it the components of a Bangalore torpedo? Doesn’t look like it. He’s wearing a plain helmet with no netting, and no visible weaponry. Does anybody have one of those magical CSI computers that can enhance to infinity? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/38 "2010-11-28T01:45:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Doesn’t look like it. He’s wearing a plain helmet with no netting, and no visible weaponry. > > Does anybody have one of those magical CSI computers that can enhance to infinity? 😃 The guy on the left has no netting on his helmet, nor does the BAR guy. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/39 "2010-11-28T02:06:58Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > Somewhere in the Guadacanal mess is my dad. I’ve always wanted to find a picture of him. Heh, I was looking for my Dad in the pics too. He was unlucky enough to serve in both WWII and Korea. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953/40 "2010-11-28T02:20:17Z")
I just sent the page to my FIL who spent most of the war in the pacific. He’ll be thrilled, and we’ll hear about them for weeks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-wwii-photos-pacific-theater/561953.md?page=3)