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Task Force 58: The US Navy’s Fast Carrier Strike Force that Won the War in the Pacific.

Delighted to announce that my new military history book about the legendary US Navy fast carrier Task Force 58 will publish in September 2021.

It was the fast carrier strike force that neutralised the Japanese fortress of Truk, then hit Palau, before devastating Japanese carrier air at the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot off Saipan, as the Allies moved to close Luzon bottleneck and the war moved towards Japan itself and its crashing nuclear finale.

SHIPWRECKS: When History Resurfaces

The 1st season of the new series SHIPWRECKS: When History Resurfaces has started on Sky History with Scapa Flow: Graveyard of the German Fleet, featuring yours truly. Grab yourself a beer and sit back for an hour’s fine entertainment at the bottom fo Scapa Flow. You can get it on demand at Now TV

25% discount on diving books!

My publishers Whittles have launched a promotional 25% discount on diving books. If we can’t actually get diving at the moment, next best thing is reading about it!

Diving the wreck of Hanagawa Maru – Truk lagoon

I’ve just published my latest dive tour video – the Japanese WWII transport ship Hanagawa Maru. She was sunk at Truk on 18 February 1944 by TBF torpedo bombers from the carrier USS Bunker Hill during the surprise 2-day 9-carrier raid by Task Force 58 codenamed Operation HAILSTONE

19 November 2020. Online ADEX chat with David Strike

This should be fun on Thursday 19 November – a one hour chat with the legendary Strikey, a driving force in our tech diving industry for many years. 1030 in the UK.
Thanks to Ewan Rowell for the photo of the deck cargo Type 95 Ha Go tank on the foredeck of Japanese auxiliary San Francisco Maru, sunk by Task Force 58 aircraft at Truk in Feb 1944 during Operation Hailstone

HMS Royal Oak – Scapa Flow

It was a privilege to play a tiny part in the recent detailed survey of the British battleship HMS Royal Oak, torpedoed at the start of WWII with great loss in Scapa Flow by Gunter Prien in U-47.

Here is a link to a beautiful film about the survey released today – it is a fitting tribute to those that perished.

Lest we forget