UNSINKABLE - Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett

UNSINKABLE - Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett
Jun 24, 2021 12:00 PM
Jim Sullivan
UNSINKABLE - Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett
Unsinkable is a thrilling and vividly told account of the USS   Plunkett—a US Navy destroyer that sustained the most harrowing attack of any US Navy ship by the Germans during World War II, that gave as good as it got, and that was later made famous by John Ford and Herman Wouk.
 
More than the story of a single, savage engagement, 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 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. 
James Sullivan has great slides/photos to go along with his talk.
 
James Sullivan was born and raised in Quincy, Massachusetts, and has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has written for The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler, the magazine. He lives with his family outside Portland, Maine, 3.4 miles from the birthplace of film director John Ford, who steamed into Omaha Beach on Plunkett.