Japan's declaration of war, the attack on Pearl Harbor, started just before eight o'clock in the morning (Hawaii-Aleutian Time) on December 7, 1941. With this latest work, Harding (The Castaway's War) investigates whether a Japanese submarine may have fired some of the first shots of the day, between Seattle and Honolulu. The book, originally published in the UK as Voyage to Oblivion, traces the history of the freighter SS Cynthia Olson from her origin as a military cargo ship built too late to be used in World War I up to her final voyage carrying lumber for the U.S. Army. Harding's thorough research reconstructs the Cynthia Olson's last days through military records and personal narratives of the crew of the 1-26, the Japanese submarine that sunk the ship. While the story of the Cynthia Olson often appears as a side note in other histories about Pearl Harbor, this harrowing account brings it to the fore, telling how a Japanese submarine was able to sail close to the U.S. mainland and sink an unarmed ship in the hours before America entered World War Ⅱ. VERDICT Harding's detailed history of the Cynthia Olson and her connection to Pearl Harbor will appeal to nautical and military historians alike.
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