On 31 and 31 March 1944, just over five weeks after the attack on Chuuk Lagoon, the American Navy launched a series of attacks codenamed Desecrate 1 on the Japanese fleet sheltering in the Palau Lagoon. The attack by Task Force 58 (the same one that attacked Chuuk) is covered in great detail by Mr Lindemann and there are 144 pages devoted to the planning and actual attack. This book is a bit reversed to his previous book in that the wrecks are detailed first (132 pages) followed by 16 pages of colour and black and white photographs. The attack information follows and then there are another 82 pages on information about the second attack (25 to 27 July 1944), salvage work after the war and details about the participating ships and planes.

This is an excellent reference book with valuable information for any person interested in World War II or shipwrecks. It is a "must have" for any person planning a visit to Palau and who wants to learn more about the shipwrecks in the lagoon. From reading the book, it seems that these wrecks are almost as good as the Chuuk Lagoon wrecks, just a bit harder to get to from Australia.

Desecrate 1 by Klaus Lindemann is published by Pacific Press Publications, Association, of 318 Brain Avenue, Belleville, Michigan, 48111, USA. I got my copy from Mountain Ocean and Travel Publications in Victoria Australia.