Rachel

“Hydrogen sulfide is formed by polluted water working on paper products. It was found in compartments of every large ship, sometimes in lethal doses. After the Nevada incident, in which two men were lost, great care was taken with regard to sending men into spaces recently unwatered. Tests were taken of the air and frequent inspections made by experts of this industrial hazard. Each man wore some litmus paper on his tank suit to reveal the presence of gas.”
― Homer N. Wallin, Why, How, Fleet Salvage And Final Appraisal [Illustrated Edition]

“An actor is someone who in early childhood consents to exhibit himself for the rest of his life to an anonymous public. Without that basic consent, which has nothing to do with talent, which goes deeper than talent, no one can become an actor. Similarly, a doctor is someone who consents to spend his life involved with human bodies and all that they entail. That basic consent (and not talent or skill) enables him to enter the dissecting room during the first year of medical school and persevere for the requisite number of years.”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“In all over 400 dives were made on Nevada totaling over 1500 diving hours. The divers performed all manner of work from underwater cutting with oxy-hydrogen and electric torches to hydraulic and syphon excavating, to using dynamite to remove sections of the docking keel, to the use of hand and pneumatic tools for drilling and setting patches. They also did much interior work for pumping operations, adjusting watertight closures, etc. The successful accomplishment of all assigned diving tasks without casualty or injury was the result of excellent supervision on the part of Lieutenant Commander H. E. Haynes, who was in general charge of all diving, plus Gunner Duckworth of Widgeon, Gunner Arnold Larson of Ortolan, and Carpenter Mahan of the Salvage Division.”
― Homer N. Wallin, Why, How, Fleet Salvage And Final Appraisal [Illustrated Edition]

“Nevada won seven stars in World War II as follows: one star for Pearl Harbor-Midway, one star for the Aleutian operations, one for the Invasion of Normandy (including bombardment of Cherbourg), one star for the Invasion of Southern France, one star for the Iwo Jima Operation, one star for the Okinawa Gunto Operation, and one star for the Third Fleet Operations against Japan. She also received the Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp). While Nevada was noted for the accuracy of her main battery of 14-inch guns. These were used in bombardment in France and in the island campaigns against Japan. 6.”
― Homer N. Wallin, Why, How, Fleet Salvage And Final Appraisal [Illustrated Edition]