Rod Macdonald – författare

The Empire of Japan formally surrendered to the Allies on 2 September 1945, following the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While the fighting had ended, a new weapon had been unleashed onto the world stage that nations rushed frantically to develop and master.The USA needed somewhere extremely remote to conduct its experimental nuclear weapons testing. They chose Bikini Atoll – a beautiful Pacific coral atoll in the Marshall Islands in the middle of the Pacific and perhaps the most remote group of islands on the planet. The initial nuclear experiments were assigned the codename Operation Crossroads. The 167 local islanders were moved out of their once tranquil tropical paradise whilst American, and captured German and Japanese, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and aircraft carriers were moved to the lagoon and moored strategically around the test area so that the effects of a nuclear blast on them could be studied. In total, the US conducted twenty-five nuclear tests on the atoll between 1946 and 1957.Unsurprisingly, Bikini was closed to all visitors until the 1990s. But with radiation in the waters of the lagoon at safe levels, Bikini was able to open its lagoon to divers - and hosting wrecks of some of the most famous shipwrecks of the Second World War, Bikini soon became a magnet for technical divers. Today, diving the Bikini Atoll wrecks is seen as the ultimate diving experience.A renowned diver, Rod Macdonald is famous for his books about the Second World War shipwrecks of Truk Lagoon and Palau. He has now investigated the Bikini wrecks and presents a detailed analysis of the ABLE and BAKER nuclear tests, alongside a stunning collection of unique images of the wrecks, which graphically portray the effects of the most devastating weapons known to mankind.

The new breed of American fast aircraft carriers could make thirty-three knots, and each carried almost 100 strike aircraft. Brought together as Task Force 58, also known as the Fast Carrier Task Force, this awesome armada at times comprised more than 100 ships carrying more than 100,000 men afloat. By 1945, more than 1,000-combat aircraft, fighters, dive- and torpedo-bombers could be launched in under an hour.The fast carriers were a revolution in naval warfare - it was a time when naval power moved away from the big guns of the battleship to air power projected at sea. Battleships were eventually subordinated to supporting and protecting the fast carriers, of which, at its peak, Task Force 58 had a total of seventeen.This book covers the birth of naval aviation, the appearance of the first modern carriers in the 1920s, through to the famous surprise six-carrier _Kid? Butai_ Japanese raid against Pearl Harbor on 8 December 1941 and then the early US successes of 1942 at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. The fast carriers allowed America, in late 1942 and early 1943, to finally move from bitter defence against the Japanese expansionist onslaught, to mounting her own offensive to retake the Pacific.Task Force 58 swept west and north from the Solomon Islands to the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, neutralising Truk in Micronesia, and Palau in the Caroline islands, before the vital Mariana Islands operations, the Battle of Saipan, the first battle of the Philippine Sea and the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The strikes by Task Force 58 took Allied forces across the Pacific, to the controversial Battle of Leyte Gulf and to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Task Force 58 had opened the door to the Japanese home islands themselves - allowing US bombers to finally get close enough to launch the devastating nuclear bombing raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Task Force 58 participated in virtually all the US Navy's major battles in the Pacific theatre during the last two years of the war.Having spent many years investigating naval shipwrecks across the Pacific, many the result of the devastating effectiveness of Task Force 58, diver and shipwreck author Rod Macdonald has created the most detailed account to date of the fast carrier strike force, the force that brought Japan to its knees and brought the Second World War to its crashing conclusion.

The new breed of American fast aircraft carriers could make thirty-three knots, and each carried almost 100 strike aircraft. Brought together as Task Force 58, also known as the Fast Carrier Task Force, this awesome armada at times comprised more than 100 ships carrying more than 100,000 men afloat. By 1945, more than 1,000-combat aircraft, fighters, dive- and torpedo-bombers could be launched in under an hour. The fast carriers were a revolution in naval warfare – it was a time when naval power moved away from the big guns of the battleship to air power projected at sea. Battleships were eventually subordinated to supporting and protecting the fast carriers, of which, at its peak, Task Force 58 had a total of seventeen. This book covers the birth of naval aviation, the appearance of the first modern carriers in the 1920s, through to the famous surprise six-carrier _Kido Butai_ Japanese raid against Pearl Harbor on 8 December 1941 and then the early US successes of 1942 at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. The fast carriers allowed America, in late 1942 and early 1943, to finally move from bitter defence against the Japanese expansionist onslaught, to mounting her own offensive to retake the Pacific. Task Force 58 swept west and north from the Solomon Islands to the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, neutralising Truk in Micronesia, and Palau in the Caroline islands, before the vital Mariana Islands operations, the Battle of Saipan, the first battle of the Philippine Sea and the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The strikes by Task Force 58 took Allied forces across the Pacific, to the controversial Battle of Leyte Gulf and to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Task Force 58 had opened the door to the Japanese home islands themselves – allowing US bombers to finally get close enough to launch the devastating nuclear bombing raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Task Force 58 participated in virtually all the US Navy''s major battles in the Pacific theatre during the last two years of the war. Having spent many years investigating naval shipwrecks across the Pacific, many the result of the devastating effectiveness of Task Force 58, diver and shipwreck author Rod Macdonald has created the most detailed account to date of the fast carrier strike force, the force that brought Japan to its knees and brought the Second World War to its crashing conclusion.

Early on Sunday, 7 December 1941, Japanese carrier-borne aircraft launched a surprise attack against the US Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor. It was a date that President Roosevelt declared will live in infamy .During the strike, Japanese planes attacked the seven US battleships lined up in Battleship Row - and the flag battleship USS Pennsylvania, in drydock for overhaul. The battleship USS Arizona exploded from a bomb hit at the forward magazine killing 1,177 officers and men. On USS Oklahoma, 429 men were killed - many trapped inside as the great battleship capsized after aerial torpedo strikes. USS West Virginia, meanwhile, was hit by at least seven torpedoes and several bombs, and engulfed in flames; she settled onto the bottom on an even keel. USS California was hit by a pair of torpedoes and a bomb, flooding slowly, she too settled on the bottom. The other four battleships present were more lightly damaged, with the crippled Nevada, the only battleship to get underway during the attack, being successfully beached.By the time the assault was over, eight battleships, three light cruisers, three destroyers, a training ship and other smaller vessels had been sunk or damaged. Hundreds of US aircraft had been damaged or destroyed, whilst 2,403 Americans had been killed.Within a week of the Japanese attack, a great salvage organisation had been formed. Very quickly the lightly damaged battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland and Tennessee had been repaired in naval yards and put back into service to protect the west coast of the USA.Of the eight battleships attacked, all but Arizona were raised, temporarily patched-up and sent back to naval yards on the west coast of America for final repair and modernisation. Main battery guns and ordnance were recovered from the wrecked Arizona, which would then be left to rest on the bottom of the harbour for eternity - as a memorial to the events of that fateful December day. USS Nevada was lifted off the bottom in February 1942, California in March 1942 and West Virginia in June 1942. The capsized Oklahoma, whilst eventually parbuckled and raised, was found to be too badly damaged to be fully rebuilt.Six of the eight battleships would thus return to service, with improved protection against bombs and torpedoes and being fitted with the latest anti-aircraft and gunnery systems. They would re-enter to the war to wreak a terrible revenge - making their presence felt during the reconquest of the Aleutian Islands and the Philippines, and the great battles of Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Nevada would go on Atlantic convoy duty before bombarding German positions off Utah beach as the D-Day Normandy landings began. This is the story of those six.

"...informative and detailed with some interesting and little-known anecdotes as well." — National Maritime Historical Society.Early on Sunday, 7 December 1941, Japanese carrier-borne aircraft launched a surprise attack against the US Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor. It was a date that President Roosevelt declared “will live in infamy”. During the strike, Japanese planes attacked the seven US battleships lined up in Battleship Row – and the flag battleship USS Pennsylvania, in drydock for overhaul. The battleship USS Arizona exploded from a bomb hit at the forward magazine killing 1,177 officers and men. On USS Oklahoma, 429 men were killed – many trapped inside as the great battleship capsized after aerial torpedo strikes. USS West Virginia, meanwhile, was hit by at least seven torpedoes and several bombs, and engulfed in flames; she settled onto the bottom on an even keel. USS California was hit by a pair of torpedoes and a bomb, flooding slowly, she too settled on the bottom. The other four battleships present were more lightly damaged, with the crippled Nevada, the only battleship to get underway during the attack, being successfully beached. By the time the assault was over, eight battleships, three light cruisers, three destroyers, a training ship and other smaller vessels had been sunk or damaged. Hundreds of US aircraft had been damaged or destroyed, while 2,403 Americans had been killed. Within a week of the Japanese attack, a great salvage organization had been formed. Very quickly the lightly damaged battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland and Tennessee had been repaired in naval yards and put back into service to protect the west coast of the USA. Of the eight battleships attacked, all but Arizona were raised, temporarily patched-up and sent back to naval yards on the west coast of America for final repair and modernization. Main battery guns and ordnance were recovered from the wrecked Arizona, which would then be left to rest on the bottom of the harbor for eternity – as a memorial to the events of that fateful December day. USS Nevada was lifted off the bottom in February 1942, California in March 1942 and West Virginia in June 1942. The capsized Oklahoma, while eventually parbuckled and raised, was found to be too badly damaged to be fully rebuilt. Six of the eight battleships would thus return to service, with improved protection against bombs and torpedoes and being fitted with the latest anti-aircraft and gunnery systems. They would re-enter to the war to wreak a terrible revenge – making their presence felt during the reconquest of the Aleutian Islands and the Philippines, and the great battles of Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Nevada would go on Atlantic convoy duty before bombarding German positions off Utah beach as the D-Day Normandy landings began. This is the story of those six.

"...informative and detailed with some interesting and little-known anecdotes as well." — National Maritime Historical Society.Early on Sunday, 7 December 1941, Japanese carrier-borne aircraft launched a surprise attack against the US Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor. It was a date that President Roosevelt declared “will live in infamy”. During the strike, Japanese planes attacked the seven US battleships lined up in Battleship Row – and the flag battleship USS Pennsylvania, in drydock for overhaul. The battleship USS Arizona exploded from a bomb hit at the forward magazine killing 1,177 officers and men. On USS Oklahoma, 429 men were killed – many trapped inside as the great battleship capsized after aerial torpedo strikes. USS West Virginia, meanwhile, was hit by at least seven torpedoes and several bombs, and engulfed in flames; she settled onto the bottom on an even keel. USS California was hit by a pair of torpedoes and a bomb, flooding slowly, she too settled on the bottom. The other four battleships present were more lightly damaged, with the crippled Nevada, the only battleship to get underway during the attack, being successfully beached. By the time the assault was over, eight battleships, three light cruisers, three destroyers, a training ship and other smaller vessels had been sunk or damaged. Hundreds of US aircraft had been damaged or destroyed, while 2,403 Americans had been killed. Within a week of the Japanese attack, a great salvage organization had been formed. Very quickly the lightly damaged battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland and Tennessee had been repaired in naval yards and put back into service to protect the west coast of the USA. Of the eight battleships attacked, all but Arizona were raised, temporarily patched-up and sent back to naval yards on the west coast of America for final repair and modernization. Main battery guns and ordnance were recovered from the wrecked Arizona, which would then be left to rest on the bottom of the harbor for eternity – as a memorial to the events of that fateful December day. USS Nevada was lifted off the bottom in February 1942, California in March 1942 and West Virginia in June 1942. The capsized Oklahoma, while eventually parbuckled and raised, was found to be too badly damaged to be fully rebuilt. Six of the eight battleships would thus return to service, with improved protection against bombs and torpedoes and being fitted with the latest anti-aircraft and gunnery systems. They would re-enter to the war to wreak a terrible revenge – making their presence felt during the reconquest of the Aleutian Islands and the Philippines, and the great battles of Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Nevada would go on Atlantic convoy duty before bombarding German positions off Utah beach as the D-Day Normandy landings began. This is the story of those six.

Early on Sunday, 7 December 1941, Japanese carrier-borne aircraft launched a surprise attack against the US Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor. It was a date that President Roosevelt declared “will live in infamy”.During the strike, Japanese planes attacked the seven US battleships lined up in Battleship Row – and the flag battleship USS Pennsylvania, in drydock for overhaul. The battleship USS Arizona exploded from a bomb hit at the forward magazine killing 1,177 officers and men. On USS Oklahoma, 429 men were killed – many trapped inside as the great battleship capsized after aerial torpedo strikes. USS West Virginia, meanwhile, was hit by at least seven torpedoes and several bombs, and engulfed in flames; she settled onto the bottom on an even keel. USS California was hit by a pair of torpedoes and a bomb, flooding slowly, she too settled on the bottom. The other battleships present were more lightly damaged, with the crippled Nevada, the only battleship to get underway during the attack, being successfully beached.By the time the assault was over, eight battleships, three light cruisers, three destroyers, a training ship and other smaller vessels had been sunk or damaged. Hundreds of US aircraft had been damaged or destroyed, whilst 2,403 Americans had been killed.Within a week of the Japanese attack, a great salvage organisation had been formed. Very quickly the lightly damaged battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland and Tennessee had been repaired in naval yards and put back into service to protect the west coast of the USA.Of the eight battleships attacked, all but Arizona were raised, temporarily patched-up and sent back to naval yards on the west coast of America for final repair and modernisation. Main battery guns and ordnance were recovered from the wrecked Arizona, which would then be left to rest on the bottom of the harbour for eternity – as a memorial to the events of that fateful December day. USS Nevada was lifted off the bottom in February 1942, California in March 1942 and West Virginia in June 1942. The capsized Oklahoma, whilst eventually parbuckled and raised, was found to be too badly damaged to be fully rebuilt.Six of the eight battleships would thus return to service, with improved protection against bombs and torpedoes and being fitted with the latest anti-aircraft and gunnery systems. They would re-enter to the war to wreak a terrible revenge – making their presence felt during the reconquest of the Aleutian Islands and the Philippines, and the great battles of Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Nevada would go on Atlantic convoy duty before bombarding German positions off Utah beach as the D-Day Normandy landings began. This is the story of those six.

Ever wonder what it would be like to give it all up and head to Greenwich Village to become a singer-songwriter? In Reo MacGregors eyes, his law degree represents a spiritual and aesthetic dead end. He leaves it all behind to follow his music to lower Manhattans answer to Pariss Rive Gauche. There, he enters the bohemian scene of The Open Mike, where a new generation of singer-songwriters meets to sing for, and sometimes about, each other. At first alone amid the sea of guitar cases, hes inspired by the cafs fellow performers and sirens. Homeless and broke, he struggles to honor his calling. For Reo, survival means chasing burglars down the fire escape, recording sessions uptown with one of New Yorks major record producers, or hanging out on the Villages famed MacDougal Street. But first, he has to earn the respect of the audience. Rod MacDonald paid his dues in the coffeehouses of Greenwich Village during the 1970s and early 80s, and has caught the feel of the time and place in his new novel. For anyone who was in that place and time, it brings back memories vividly. For anyone who wasnt there, his writing gives a taste of what it was like. David Bromberg

From the best-selling author of four classic UK diving books, comes The Darkness Below - a collection of absorbing adventures gained from a lifetime in diving. As one of the UK's leading Technical Divers, Rod takes the reader on a spellbinding and gripping journey, from first beginnings as a novice scuba diver. Told in intimate detail with a beguiling sense of self-deprecating humour, he recounts epic dives on some of the most fabulous shipwrecks around the world. Terrifying first explorations of virgin shipwrecks far offshore, lost in time and enshrouded in darkness in the silent depths, cram the pages. A daring expedition into the heart of the feared Corryvreckan whirlpool, the third largest in the world, an open sea encounter with Orca killer whales and an agonizing attack of the bends keep the reader engrossed. The palpable gloom, despair and human tragedy of the wrecks is never far away - the cold and darkness of the depths almost resonating with the cries of those who have perished.The fear of entrapment inside a wreck is grippingly described and becomes almost claustrophobic to the reader unfamiliar with the perils of wreck penetration, when snagged nets sometimes billow unseen above the unwary diver. However, there are rewards when survivors from wrecks are keen to speak to someone who has seen and touched their ship that had been lost long ago. This is an unmissable book for all divers and anyone interested in maritime history.

The tragedy of the loss in 1941 of two Royal Navy capital ships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, the core of Churchill's deterrent Force Z, stunned the world. Churchill had hoped that sending a small powerful squadron of ships to Singapore would deter a threatened Japanese invasion of Malaya and Thailand. He was to be proved tragically wrong. Denuded of aircraft cover, Force Z was left disastrously exposed to air attack. Within eight days of their arrival at Singapore both ships were sunk with huge loss of life in a mass attack by 85 Japanese bombers. It was the Royal Navy's greatest loss in a single engagement and the first time a modern battleship had been sunk by air power. With the naval force at the bottom of the sea, and the RAF almost wiped out in Malaya on day one, Singapore was left with no air or sea protection and fell two months later. This is the first book to explore in detail the wrecks of these two vessels and grippingly narrates a summary of the Japanese threat, Fortress Singapore and the subsequent Japanese invasion.Today the wrecks of these two famous British warships lie on the bottom of the South China Sea, 200 miles north of Singapore and 50 miles offshore. The author was invited as a civilian expert on a military expedition to dive and survey these wrecks and now, for the first time, the wrecks are revealed as they are today. Beautifully illustrated with specially commissioned artist's illustrations of the wrecks, each one is looked at in detail. The story of the loss of these two ships, and of the sacrifice of the men who served in them, is remembered. This has been a personal quest for the author whose grandfather was serving in Singapore when Force Z arrived. His wife and the author's father and two brothers were among the last civilians evacuated from Singapore before the final siege. His grandfather was taken into internment at Changi Gaol by the Japanese and suffered there for three years until Singapore was reoccupied by the British in 1945. Had the Fall of Singapore not happened the way it did the author would not be here to write this truly remarkable book.

From the best-selling author of four classic UK diving books, comes The Darkness Below - a collection of absorbing adventures gained from a lifetime in diving. As one of the UK''s leading Technical Divers, Rod takes the reader on a spellbinding and gripping journey, from first beginnings as a novice scuba diver. Told in intimate detail with a beguiling sense of self-deprecating humour, he recounts epic dives on some of the most fabulous shipwrecks around the world. Terrifying first explorations of virgin shipwrecks far offshore, lost in time and enshrouded in darkness in the silent depths, cram the pages.A daring expedition into the heart of the feared Corryvreckan whirlpool, the third largest in the world, an open sea encounter with Orca killer whales and an agonizing attack of the bends keep the reader engrossed. The palpable gloom, despair and human tragedy of the wrecks is never far away - the cold and darkness of the depths almost resonating with the cries of those who have perished. The fear of entrapment inside a wreck is grippingly described and becomes almost claustrophobic to the reader unfamiliar with the perils of wreck penetration, when snagged nets sometimes billow unseen above the unwary diver.However, there are rewards when survivors from wrecks are keen to speak to someone who has seen and touched their ship that had been lost long ago. This is an unmissable book for all divers and anyone interested in maritime history.

Recounted with his usual level of meticulous historical research, Rod weaves an easily readable account of the build-up to and implementation of Operation Desecrate 1 - the raid undertaken to destroy Japanese ships and aircraft in the lagoons of Palau. He uses his intimate knowledge of shipwrecks to reveal in glorious detail each of the 20 major Japanese WWII shipwrecks lying at the bottom of the Palauan lagoons today. On 30th March, 1944 Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters made an Initial fighter sweep of the lagoon to destroy Japanese air cover. Simultaneously Grumman Avenger torpedo-bombers dropped their mines in the channels around the lagoon to block Japanese ships attempting to escape the following onslaught. With the Japanese naval fortress quickly becoming a prison and with Japanese air cover quickly destroyed, successive group strikes of torpedo bombers and dive-bombers swept over the lagoon, sinking the shipping and destroying the airfields. Palau was neutralised as a Japanese naval and air base in a repeat of the same Task Force 58 raid, Operation Hailstone, on Truk Lagoon 1,000 miles to the east just six weeks earlier.Today, 20 major Japanese WWII shipwrecks lie in the beautiful clear waters of the tropical paradise of Palau surrounded by reefs and coral wall drop-offs. A number of long-lost wrecks have recently been relocated including a Japanese freighter filled with depth charges and Army helmets. This was found in 1989 but remained unidentified until now - after painstaking research Rod reveals her identify for the first time in the book. Each wreck is covered in detail and is supported by underwater photography and by fabulous illustrations by renowned artist Rob Ward. The shipwrecks of Palau are now revealed.

For more than 30 years, internationally acclaimed wreck diver and best-selling author, Rod Macdonald, has surveyed and researched shipwrecks around the world. His books such as Dive Scapa Flow and The Darkness Below are household names in the diving world.In Great British Shipwrecks Rod uses his encyclopaedic knowledge and an intimate understanding of shipwrecks, gleaned from a lifetime’s diving, to provide a snapshot in time of some of the best known and most revered shipwrecks around the UK. For each of the 37 shipwrecks covered Rod provides a dramatic account of its time afloat and its eventual sinking – with each wreck being beautifully illustrated by renowned marine artist Rob Ward.Rod’s journey around the UK starts with the classic recreational diving shipwrecks at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands from giants such as the German WWI battleships, Markgraf, König and Kronprinz Wilhelm, to the legendary WWI British cruiser HMS Hampshire on which Lord Kitchener perished on a voyage to Russia in 1916. Rod then travels to the English Channel where he covers such famous ships as the P&O liners Moldavia and Salsette which were lost during WWI with many others such as the SS Kyarra and the British submarine HMS/M M2 – the first submarine to carry a seaplane for reconnaissance.The reader is then taken to the North Channel of the Irish Sea where the famous technical diving wrecks of the White Star liner Justicia, HMS Audacious, the first British battleship lost during WWI, and the SS Empire Heritage, which was lost with its deck cargo of Sherman tanks on a voyage from New York during WWII, are beautifully illustrated. Returning to Scotland, the famous West Coast shipwrecks such as the Thesis, Hispania, Rondo and Shuna in the Sound of Mull grace the pages, in addition to the renowned wrecks of the SS Breda, lost near Oban, and the WWII minelayer HMS Port Napier off Skye. Lastly, Rod covers some major North Sea shipwrecks, revealing for the first time the haunting remains of HMS Pathfinder, the first Royal Navy warship to be sunk by U-boat torpedo during WWI.This is a beautifully illustrated and definitive guide to the greatest shipwrecks around the UK and will be an enlightening and unmissable book for many.

Truk Lagoon is quite simply the greatest wreck diving location in the world. Scores of virtually intact large WWII wrecks filled with cargoes of tanks, trucks, artillery, beach mines, shells and aircraft rest in the crystal clear waters of the Lagoon – each a man-made reef teeming with life.Truk was the main forward anchorage for the Japanese Imperial Navy and merchant fleet during the early days of WWII. Protected by a 140-mile coral barrier reef, with only a few heavily defended entrances, it seemed a well-protected safe anchorage. The lagoon had been fortified by the Japanese in great secrecy during the 1930s – the Allies knew little about it.By 1944, the tide of war had turned against the Japanese – the Allies were pushing westwards across the Pacific islands towards the Japanese homeland. A daring U.S. long range aerial survey showed the lagoon with the full might of the Imperial Japanese Navy; battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, submarines and destroyers, along with scores of large supply ships and transports. The Allies decided to attack immediately. Sensing this, the Imperial Japanese Navy scattered but the merchant ships remained to offload their cargoes of aircraft, tanks, artillery, mines and munitions. Other heavily laden supply ships continued to arrive, unaware of the Allied assault plans.Fresh from the Kwajalein Atoll assault, Task Force 58 was formed for an immediate attack – Operation Hailstone. In total secrecy, nine U.S. carriers holding more than 500 combat aircraft steamed towards Truk – supported by a screen of battleships, cruisers, destroyers and submarines. Before dawn on 17 February, Strike Groups of 12 Hellcat fighters swept in low towards Truk under Japanese radar and immediately began strafing Japanese airfields. Soon, hundreds of aircraft were involved in one of the largest aerial dogfights of WWII which was over within an hour. With air superiority established, U.S dive-bombers and torpedo-bombers spent the remainder of the day and the following day sinking all the large ships trapped in the lagoon.With Truk neutralised as a naval and air base, the Pacific war soon ended. The sunken ships of Truk Lagoon with their war cargoes were largely forgotten about until 1969, when an expedition by Jacques Cousteau located and filmed many of the wrecks. The resulting TV documentary, Lagoon of Lost Ships, went viral. Truk’s secret was out – and the beautiful wrecks, untouched since WWII, have proved an irresistible lure for thousands of divers each year since then.

The tragedy of the loss in 1941 of two Royal Navy capital ships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, the core of Churchill’s deterrent Force Z, stunned the world. Churchill had hoped that sending a small powerful squadron of ships to Singapore would deter a threatened Japanese invasion of Malaya and Thailand. He was to be proved tragically wrong. Denuded of aircraft cover, Force Z was left disastrously exposed to air attack. Within eight days of their arrival at Singapore both ships were sunk with huge loss of life in a mass attack by 85 Japanese bombers. It was the Royal Navy’s greatest loss in a single engagement and the first time a modern battleship had been sunk by air power. With the naval force at the bottom of the sea, and the RAF almost wiped out in Malaya on day one, Singapore was left with no air or sea protection and fell two months later.This is the first book to explore in detail the wrecks of these two vessels and grippingly narrates a summary of the Japanese threat, Fortress Singapore and the subsequent Japanese invasion. Today the wrecks of these two famous British warships lie on the bottom of the South China Sea, 200 miles north of Singapore and 50 miles offshore. The author was invited as a civilian expert on a military expedition to dive and survey these wrecks and now, for the first time, the wrecks are revealed as they are today. Beautifully illustrated with specially commissioned artist’s illustrations of the wrecks, each one is looked at in detail. The story of the loss of these two ships, and of the sacrifice of the men who served in them, is remembered.This has been a personal quest for the author whose grandfather was serving in Singapore when Force Z arrived. His wife and the author’s father and two brothers were among the last civilians evacuated from Singapore before the final siege. His grandfather was taken into internment at Changi Gaol by the Japanese and suffered there for three years until Singapore was reoccupied by the British in 1945. Had the Fall of Singapore not happened the way it did the author would not be here to write this truly remarkable book.

Dive Scapa Flow is THE definitive guide to diving the fabled wrecks of Scapa Flow, one of the world's greatest wreck diving locations.This completely re-written and updated centenary edition was produced to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the scuttle of the 74 warships of the interned German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow on 21st June 1919 - the greatest act of maritime suicide the world has ever seen.And don't forget Scapa Flow's war graves, HMS Royal Oak, torpedoed at the beginning of WWII and HMS Vanguard, which blew up in a catastrophic magazine explosion in 1917.Add in a U-boat, a boom defence vessel, an Icelandic trawler, a number of drifters, WWII vessels, many 'blockships' intentionally sunk to block the smaller channels into Scapa Flow during WWI and WWII and it becomes apparent what Scapa Flow offers divers.

Recounted with his usual level of meticulous historical research, Rod weaves an easily readable account of the build-up to and implementation of Operation Desecrate 1 – the raid undertaken to destroy Japanese ships and aircraft in the lagoons of Palau. He uses his intimate knowledge of shipwrecks to reveal in glorious detail each of the 20 major Japanese WWII shipwrecks lying at the bottom of the Palauan lagoons today.On 30th March, 1944 Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters made an Initial fighter sweep of the lagoon to destroy Japanese air cover. Simultaneously Grumman Avenger torpedo-bombers dropped their mines in the channels around the lagoon to block Japanese ships attempting to escape the following onslaught. With the Japanese naval fortress quickly becoming a prison and with Japanese air cover quickly destroyed, successive group strikes of torpedo bombers and dive-bombers swept over the lagoon, sinking the shipping and destroying the airfields. Palau was neutralised as a Japanese naval and air base in a repeat of the same Task Force 58 raid, Operation Hailstone, on Truk Lagoon 1,000 miles to the east just six weeks earlier.Today, 20 major Japanese WWII shipwrecks lie in the beautiful clear waters of the tropical paradise of Palau surrounded by reefs and coral wall drop-offs. A number of long-lost wrecks have recently been relocated including a Japanese freighter filled with depth charges and Army helmets. This was found in 1989 but remained unidentified until now – after painstaking research Rod reveals her identify for the first time in the book. Each wreck is covered in detail and is supported by underwater photography and by fabulous illustrations by renowned artist Rob Ward. The shipwrecks of Palau are now revealed.

Dive Scapa Flow has been THE definitive guide to diving the fabled wrecks of Scapa Flow, one of the world’s greatest wreck diving locations. This completely re-written and updated centenary edition is produced to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the scuttle of the 74 warships of the interned German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow on 21st June 1919 – the greatest act of maritime suicide the world has ever seen.The dark depths of Scapa Flow conceal the remains of several of the Kaiser’s WWI High Seas Fleet. Three massive 575 feet long 26,000-ton König-class battleships await exploration – huge underwater mountains where divers can see the last 12-inch big guns to have fired at British warships at the Battle of Jutland in 1916; or drift along rows of 5.9-inch secondary battery casemate guns and see massive masts and heavily armoured spotting tops. Four 5,000-ton, 500 foot long, kleiner kreuzers, Brummer, Cöln, Dresden and Karlsruhe lie on their beam ends open for inspection with parts that remained on the seabed of many other High Seas Fleet vessels as they themselves were lifted to the surface during the greatest feat of underwater salvage that has ever taken place.Add in a U-boat, a boom defence vessel, an Icelandic trawler, a number of drifters, WWII vessels, many ‘blockships’ intentionally sunk to block the smaller channels into Scapa Flow during WWI and WWII and it becomes apparent what Scapa Flow offers divers.Scapa Flow’s war graves, HMS Royal Oak, torpedoed at the beginning of WWII and HMS Vanguard, which blew up in a catastrophic magazine explosion in 1917 and HMS Hampshire, which struck a German mine and sunk on 5th June 1916 north-west of Orkney carrying Lord Kitchener and his staff on a secret diplomatic mission to Russia, are off limits to divers today – but their stories are recounted to preserve the memory of those that perished.

Into the Abyss, the first volume in The Diving Trilogy, is a fascinating collection of true life diving adventures from Rod’s long and varied diving career. It follows his progression from novice diver in the 1980s through the dangers of the deep air diving era and on to trimix diving in the 1990s where divers began to use commercial mixed breathing gases as the sport of technical diving was born. This opened up vast, previously inaccessible, swathes of the seabed, ushering in a great era of discovery of virgin shipwrecks, lost in time.

In Deeper into the Darkness Rod takes the reader diving to explore many more famous wrecks around the UK from the Great War. These include HMS Pathfinder and HMS Audacious – the first British battleship to be lost to enemy action in WWI. The wreck of HMS Hampshire on which Lord Kitchener perished on a secret mission to Russia in 1916 is visited along with HMS Vanguard, which blew up at anchor in 1917 in Scapa Flow. The K-class submarines lost in the Firth of Forth during the Battle of May Island in 1918 are dived, along with UB-116, the last German submarine to be sunk in action in October 1918.Rod then leaps forward in time to the Pacific during WWII and visits the American shipwrecks from the Battle of Guadalcanal, along with daring penetrations into the stunning Japanese wrecks lying at the bottom of the Truk and Palau Lagoons.The development of technical diving is brought up to the present day where closed circuit rebreathers utilising mixed breathing gases allow Rod to go deeper into the depths in search of lost shipwrecks.The wreck of the SS Creemuir, torpedoed and sunk off north-east Scotland in 1940, was first dived by Rod in 2012. This exploration reveals the human side of shipwrecks when Rod’s team recover the Creemuir’s bell and present it to the sole surviving crewman, Royal Navy Radio Officer Noel Blacklock.The latest developments in shipwreck exploration taking place at Scapa Flow are recounted before the book concludes with the scandalous desecration of the naval war graves of many nations at Jutland, the South China Sea and the Java Sea.

In Deeper into the Darkness Rod takes the reader diving to explore many more famous wrecks around the UK from the Great War. These include HMS Pathfinder and HMS Audacious - the first British battleship to be lost to enemy action in WWI. The wreck of HMS Hampshire on which Lord Kitchener perished on a secret mission to Russia in 1916 is visited along with HMS Vanguard, which blew up at anchor in 1917 in Scapa Flow. The K-class submarines lost in the Firth of Forth during the Battle of May Island in 1918 are dived, along with UB-116, the last German submarine to be sunk in action in October 1918. Rod then leaps forward in time to the Pacific during WWII and visits the American shipwrecks from the Battle of Guadalcanal, along with daring penetrations into the stunning Japanese wrecks lying at the bottom of the Truk and Palau Lagoons.The development of technical diving is brought up to the present day where closed circuit rebreathers utilising mixed breathing gases allow Rod to go deeper into the depths in search of lost shipwrecks. The wreck of the SS Creemuir, torpedoed and sunk off north-east Scotland in 1940, was first dived by Rod in 2012. This exploration reveals the human side of shipwrecks when Rod's team recover the Creemuir's bell and present it to the sole surviving crewman, Royal Navy Radio Officer Noel Blacklock. The latest developments in shipwreck exploration taking place at Scapa Flow are recounted before the book concludes with the scandalous desecration of the naval war graves of many nations at Jutland, the South China Sea and the Java Sea.

Into the Abyss, the first volume in The Diving Trilogy, is a fascinating collection of true life diving adventures from Rod’s long and varied diving career. It follows his progression from novice diver in the 1980s through the dangers of the deep air diving era and on to trimix diving in the 1990s where divers began to use commercial mixed breathing gases as the sport of technical diving was born. This opened up vast, previously inaccessible, swathes of the seabed, ushering in a great era of discovery of virgin shipwrecks, lost in time.Rod takes the reader to famous shipwreck sites around the world, from the sunken Japanese Fleet at the bottom of Truk Lagoon and Palau in the Pacific, to diving the third largest whirlpool in the world - the Corryvreckan Whirlpool off the west coast of Scotland. He describes this and many other terrifying incidents in which he and his colleagues have come close to death.The book is filled with danger, drama and excitement and chronicles his all-consuming passion, taking the reader on a spellbinding journey beneath the waves.