In The Search for the Japanese Fleet, David W. Jourdan, one of the
world's experts in undersea exploration, reconstructs the critical
role one submarine played in the Battle of Midway, considered to be
the turning point of the war in the Pacific. In the direct line of
fire during this battle was one of the oldest boats in the navy,
USS Nautilus. The actions of Lt. Cdr. William Brockman and his
ninety-three-man crew during an eight-hour period rank among the
most important submarine contributions to the most decisive
engagement in U.S. Navy history. Fifty-seven years later, Jourdan's
team of deep-sea explorers set out to discover the history of the
Battle of Midway and find the ships that the Allied fleet sank. Key
to the mystery was Nautilus and its underwater exploits. Relying on
logs, diaries, chronologies, manuals, sound recordings, and
interviews with veterans of the battle, including men who spent
most of June 4, 1942, in the submarine conning tower, the story
breathes new life into the history of this epic engagement. Woven
into the tale of World War II is the modern drama of deep-sea
discovery, as explorers deploy new technology three miles beneath
the ocean surface to uncover history and commemorate fallen
heroes.