Unsinkable : five men and the indomitable run of the USS Plunkett / James Sullivan.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [357]-399).

List of crew members -- The dawn. The goddamned harbor ; Boston ; Underway ; Overland ; Casablanca ; Steaming as before -- The Med. Thornton, Colorado ; Sicily ; Palermo ; The boot ; Readying ; Salerno -- The dusk. Overland, Missouri ; The fall ; Anzio ; Aftermath -- Appendix: Killed and missing in action at Anzio.

Documents the true story of a U.S. Navy destroyer that inspired the writings of John Ford and Herman Wouk, drawing on the journals and other writings of five shipmates who witnessed the Anzio attacks and D-Day invasion.

The Plunkett's defining moment was 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 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. Sullivan traces the individual journeys of five incredibly brave men whose stories play out on the decks of the Plunkett in the Mediterranean. -- adapted from jacket