Trapped at Pearl Harbor

Book excerpt: Author Stephen Young was a seaman first class assigned to gunnery duty in turret no. 4 on the battleship Oklahoma when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The battleship was struck by several torpedoes and began to sink, trapping Young and others when it overturned. With incredible realism, Young recounts this terrifying experience, recalling the frantic search for an escape route, the horror of finding the exit blocked, and such unforgettable detail as the water's inexorable rise, the sickening taste of fuel oil, the foul smell of the air, the nervous wisecracks, and finally the silence as the possibility of rescue became ever more remote.