Editing Attack on Pearl Harbor (section)

==Salvage==
After a systematic search for survivors, Captain [[Homer N. Wallin]] was ordered to lead a formal salvage operation.{{sfn|Wallin|1968|p=v}}{{refn| Wallin had been assigned to go to [[Massawa]] in East Africa. The harbor there was blocked by scuttled Italian and German ships, which prevented British use of the port. Commander [[Edward Ellsberg]] was sent instead.{{sfn|Ellsberg|1946}}{{page needed|date=December 2021}} |group=nb}}

Around Pearl Harbor, divers from the Navy (shore and tenders), the [[Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard]], and civilian contractors ([[Pacific Bridge Company]] and others) began work on the ships that could be refloated. They patched holes, cleared debris, and pumped water out of ships. [[Melvin Storer]] and other Navy divers worked inside the damaged ships.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Gribble |first=Joanne |date=1975-12-07 |title=Telegram was wrong: 'Dead' man tells tale about Pearl Harbor Day |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/imperial-beach-star-news-telegram-was-wr/126665399/ |journal=[[The Star-News (Chula Vista, California)|The Star-News]] |volume=45 |issue=80 |pages=17 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Within six months, five battleships and two cruisers were patched or refloated so they could be sent to shipyards in Pearl Harbor and on the mainland for extensive repair.<ref name="GrierCSM">{{cite web |last=Grier |first=Peter |date=December 7, 2021 |title=Pearl Harbor resurrection: the warships that rose to fight again |publisher=The Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Decoder/2012/1207/Pearl-Harbor-resurrection-the-warships-that-rose-to-fight-again |access-date=December 10, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008202956/https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Decoder/2012/1207/Pearl-Harbor-resurrection-the-warships-that-rose-to-fight-again |archive-date=October 8, 2021}}</ref>

Intensive salvage operations continued for another year, a total of some 20,000 man-hours under water.{{sfn|Raymer|1996}}{{page needed|date=December 2021}}{{sfn|Wallin|1968|pp=277}} ''Arizona'' and the target ship ''Utah'' were too heavily damaged for salvage and remain where they were sunk,<ref name="usnp-pearl-battleship">{{cite web |title=Battleship Row |url=https://www.nps.gov/valr/learn/historyculture/battleship-row.htm |website=US National Park Service |access-date=4 March 2020 |date=July 2, 2019 |archive-date=March 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312072705/https://www.nps.gov/valr/learn/historyculture/battleship-row.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> with ''Arizona'' becoming a [[USS Arizona Memorial|war memorial]]. ''Oklahoma'', while successfully raised, was never repaired and capsized while under tow to the mainland in 1947. The ''Nevada'' proved particularly difficult to raise and repair; two men involved in the operation died after inhaling poisonous gases that had accumulated in the ship's interior.<ref name="GrierCSM"/> When feasible, armament and equipment were removed from vessels too damaged to repair and put to use to improve the anti-aircraft defense of the harbor or installed aboard other craft.{{sfn|Wallin|1968|pp=274f}}