December 7th, 1980. The United States Naval Carrier
Nimitz is the finest warship in the world. She is carrying a nuclear payload
that can level a continent. And a fleet of fighter jets that can deliver it.
Her crew is a handpicked one -- like Captain Matthew Yelland, who endured the
torture of the Viet Cong and did not break. And Warren Lasky, the civilian
"think-tank" who designed the warship to weather any battle. But a
nightmare journey has brought her to a place where no amount of brains or
courage can help. To a battle that no man can win. Pearl Harbor, December 7th,
1941...
This is the novelization of the movie of the same name.
This movie has been one of my favorites since I first saw it in the early
1980s, with the intriguing notion of a modern aircraft carrier traveling
through time to the day before Pearl Harbor. How could it change history? Could
it change history? And should it change history?
I am very familiar with the movie, so it was easy to
picture the events described in the book. Computer expert Warren Lasky didn't
expect to be pulled from his current work with Tideman Industries and sent to
spend several days onboard the Nimitz with no instructions other than to be
there. The ship's captain, Matt Yelland, isn't thrilled to have a civilian on
board, but orders are orders. Neither expect the stunning events that occur nor
the moral and ethical choices they face.
Because the book must use words to paint the pictures,
there is a lot of technical description that can get a little overwhelming for
the casual reader. I found myself skimming some of those sections to get to the
meat of the story. When the ship goes through the vortex that hurls it back in
time, Warren figures out what happened well before anyone else. I could feel
the captain's frustration with him as Warren stayed quiet and let him come to
the correct conclusion on his own. The Air Wing Commander, Richard Owens, is a
history buff who knows a lot about the attack on Pearl Harbor, and his input is
critical to the decisions made.
Matters become complicated when two Japanese fighters
attack a pleasure boat off the coast of Hawaii, killing several of the passengers
but leaving two alive. It's an exciting scene in the movie and book, as two
modern fighters intervene. The subsequent rescue of the two passengers and one
pilot creates further headaches for the captain when he discovers who one of
the passengers is. There are some amusing scenes as the two passengers face the
improbability of what they see. There is also a scary scene with the Japanese
pilot when he breaks free of his confinement. Commander Owens plays a pivotal
role in the resolution of that issue.
It was interesting to see how Captain Yelland decided to
handle the situation. Putting the safety of the civilians first, his actions
there had unintended consequences that only became clear at the end of the
book. But when it comes time to take action, who will win - the Nimitz or time itself?
As a fan of the Outlander series, I could see parallels
between the two attempts to change history. In Outlander, Claire and Jaime try
their best to prevent the disaster at Culloden but discover that, while little
things can be changed, significant events are much harder to affect. In this
book, their desire to prevent the destruction at Pearl Harbor runs up against
the same problem.
I loved the ending and seeing the surprise that waited
for Warren on his return to Pearl Harbor. The book has more detail than the
movie, and I found the prospects discussed intriguing.
One of my favorite parts of the book is when the female
passenger, Laurel, an intelligent and ambitious woman who must deal with the
prejudices of the time, says, "Captain, your crew is fabulous. I feel this
is the first time I have been with a group of men who appreciate someone for what
that person is, and that sex doesn't matter." And the captain replies,
"You might say we're just a bit ahead of our time."
I have one small quibble with the back cover copy. The
Nimitz doesn't go back in time on December 7, 1980. According to the book's
text, that happens on July 13, 1980.
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