I don’t normally send out videos as posts, but I am making an exception for these because they are so good. Naval history podcaster Drachinifel, whose expertise lies in engineering, did a stellar job of mixing available video and photographic sources to explain the history of recovery operations after the Day That Will Live In Infamy. Ships had to be saved, fires put out, rescues and sad recoveries completed, all before anyone could think of raising and scrapping and cannibalizing ships. Altogether, the job took two years. Meanwhile, the war sent a stream of mauled ships and men into Pearl, requiring hard choices.

Compare this mission to another, more recent cleanup after an attack on the United States: it took just nine months to clear Ground Zero — but of course, New York wasn’t underwater, and there were no ships limping into the same space all the while.