The Silent Service in World War II

by Edward Monroe-Jones
The Silent Service in World War II
Author: Edward Monroe-Jones
Publisher: Casemate
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2012-12-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612001378
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From the naval battle of Guadalcanal to rescuing George Bush Sr. in the Pacific, here are the stories of US submariners in WWII. The Silent Service in World War II tells the story of America’s intrepid submarine warriors in the words of the men who served and fought in the Pacific against Japan. When Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, the enemy had already deployed naval forces, but the United States was soon able to match them. By 1943, new Gato-class submarines were making a difference, carrying the war not just to the Japanese Imperial Navy, but to the vital merchant fleet that transported essential resources to the island country. Starting with the American victory at Guadalcanal, US submarine forces began to constrict the Japanese sea lanes. Operating independently and in wolfpacks, they attacked convoys operating beyond the range of American airpower, making daring forays even into Japanese home waters. Taking on Japanese warships, as well as rescuing downed airmen—including the grateful first President Bush—US submarines made an enormous contribution to our war against Japan. Aside from enemy action, the sea itself could be an extremely hostile environment—as many of these stories attest. From early war patrols in obsolescent, unreliable S-boats to modern fleet submarines roving the Pacific, the forty-six stories in this anthology offer a full understanding of life as a US Navy submariner in combat.

U.S. Submarines in World War II

by Larry Kimmett
U.S. Submarines in World War II
Author: Larry Kimmett
Publisher: Navigator Pub
Total Pages: 159
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781879932012
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A comprehensive illustrated history of the U.S. submarine campaign in World War II. Includes animated CD highlighting famous submarine patrols.

Silent Hunters

by Theodore P. Savas
Silent Hunters
Author: Theodore P. Savas
Publisher: Savas Publishing
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2013-09-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1940669006
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The compelling true stories of six little-known U-boat commanders and their dramatic WWII careers. When World War II erupted across Europe in 1939, Germany knew it couldn’t hope to compete with the Royal Navy in a head-to-head naval war. Left with no viable alternatives, the U-Bootwaffe wagered everything on the submarine in a desperate attempt to sink more tonnage than the Allies could construct. Some of these “silent hunters” who slipped out of their shelters along Europe's shores to stalk their prey have enjoyed considerable recognition in the years since. While most aspects of the bitter struggle have been told and retold from both the Axis and Allied points of view, the careers of some highly effective U-boat commanders have languished in undeserved obscurity. The profiles of six such commanders are presented in this collection of essays. They include Englebert Endrass, whose spectacular career before being lost off the coast of Gibraltar is described here by his best friend and fellow ace Enrich Topp, who wrote this while on his fifteenth War Patrol; Karl-Friedrich Merten, who was ranked among the war’s top tonnage aces; Ralph Kapitsky, whose U-615 suicidal surface-to-air battle in the Caribbean allowed many of his fellow submariners to escape into the Atlantic; Fritz Guggenberger, who sank an aircraft carrier and organized the biggest POW escape attempt in American history; Victor Oehrn, a former staff officer of Karl Dönitz's; and Heinz Eck, who was executed by the British. Includes photographs

Unrestricted Warfare

by James F. DeRose
Unrestricted Warfare
Author: James F. DeRose
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2008-04-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 0470312807
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Unrestricted Warfare reveals the dramatic story of the harsh baptism by fire faced by U.S. submarine commanders in World War II. The first skippers went to battle hamstrung by conservative peacetime training and plagued by defective torpedoes. Drawing extensively from now declassified files, Japanese archives, and the testimony of surviving veterans, James DeRose has written a fascinating account of the men and vessels responsible for the only successful submarine campaign of the war. They clearly charted a new course to victory in the Pacific. ADVANCE PRAISE FOR UNRESTRICTED WARFARE "James DeRose has done an excellent job-- surprisingly so, in view of his lack of true WWII submarine experience. He obviously contacted everyone he could find who served on one of the three boats he concentrated on, and he read, as well, everything he could find that was written about them. . . . DeRose shines by his interpretation of events as the Japanese must have seen them. . . . His reconstruction of how Wahoo came to her end may well be pretty close to correct. . . . He does the same with Tang."-CAPTAIN EDWARD L. BEACH, USN author of Submarine! and Run Silent, Run Deep "An outstanding addition to the literature of the Silent Service. . . . The depth of research is wonderful. . . . This is fine history . . . that rivals Blair's Silent Victory."-PAUL CROZIER, sitemaster, "Legends of the Deep" (www.warfish.com) Web site on the USS Wahoo "I knew all of the book's main characters quite well. . . . I am also completely familiar with submarine operations in the Pacific. With that background I couldn't fail to thoroughly enjoy DeRose's book. It is well written and has the right feel."-CHESTER W. NIMITZ JR., rear admiral, USN (Ret.) "Sail with American submariners into tightly guarded Japanese home waters; undergo the horror of a depth charge attack; experience the thrill of victory with some of the U.S. Navy's ace submarine skippers. All this--and much more--is contained in James F. DeRose's compelling Unrestricted Warfare. No one interested in the naval side of World War II should be without it."-NATHAN MILLER author of War at Sea: A Naval History of World War II

Sink ÕEm All: Submarine Warfare in the Pacific

by Charles A. Lockwood
Sink ÕEm All: Submarine Warfare in the Pacific
Author: Charles A. Lockwood
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2017-11-27
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1387400738
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Sink 'Em All by Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, the U.S. Navy commander of the Pacific submarine fleet during World War 2, is the exhaustive and definitive account of submarine warfare between the US and Japanese 1942-45. Lockwood's intricate narrative is the breathless story of every submarine in the US fleet and what they did during the war, their misses, near misses and hits. He takes us into the cramped quarters of mess-halls and control rooms and brings the chief actors in the grueling conflict to life.

Take Her Deep

by I. J. Galatin
Take Her Deep
Author: I. J. Galatin
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781591142997
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On 12 August 1943, on Midway Island, Lt. Cdr. I. J. Galantin took command of the fleet submarine USS Halibut. For the next fourteen months, Galantin and his officers and crew would play their part in the unrelenting attack on Japan's navy and merchant marine. But it was in Luzon Strait in November 1944 that the submarine and its crew underwent their greatest ordeal. Detected and driven down while attacking a decoy, Halibut was subjected to an assault of appalling ferocity. Badly damaged, the crippled sub and crew endured hours of desperate maneuvering and helpless waiting before the enemy finally gave up.

The USS Flier

by Michael Sturma
The USS Flier
Author: Michael Sturma
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2008-02-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813172896
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The fate of the USS Flier is one of the most astonishing stories of the Second World War. On August 13, 1944, the submarine struck a mine and sank to the bottom of the Sulu Sea in less than one minute, leaving only fourteen of its crew of eighty-six hands alive. After enduring eighteen hours in the water, eight remaining survivors swam to a remote island controlled by the Japanese. Deep behind enemy lines and without food or drinking water, the crewmen realized that their struggle for survival had just begun. On its first war patrol, the unlucky Flier made it from Pearl Harbor to Midway where it ran aground on a reef. After extensive repairs and a formal military inquiry, the Flier set out once again, this time completing a distinguished patrol from Pearl Harbor to Fremantle, Western Australia. Though the Flier's next mission would be its final one, that mission is important for several reasons: the story of the Flier's sinking illuminates the nature of World War II underwater warfare and naval protocol and demonstrates the high degree of cooperation that existed among submariners, coast watchers, and guerrillas in the Philippines. The eight sailors who survived the disaster became the first Americans of the Pacific war to escape from a sunken submarine and return safely to the United States. Their story of persistence and survival has all the elements of a classic World War II tale: sudden disaster, physical deprivation, a ruthless enemy, and a dramatic escape from behind enemy lines. In The USS Flier: Death and Survival on a World War II Submarine, noted historian Michael Sturma vividly recounts a harrowing story of brave men who lived to return to the service of their country.

Wake Of The Wahoo

by Chief Petty Officer Forest J. Sterling
Wake Of The Wahoo
Author: Chief Petty Officer Forest J. Sterling
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Total Pages: 443
Release: 2015-11-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1786257734
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From Pearl Harbor to her last and fatal voyage—the heroic story of America’s most daring World War II submarine, as told by the only surviving member of the crew. The U.S.S. Wahoo was the most successful submarine in the World War II Pacific fleet. She was the first to penetrate an enemy harbor and sink a Japanese ship. She was the first to wipe out an entire enemy convoy single-handed. In her 11 short months of life she managed an incredible 21 kills. Just 45 minutes before leaving Midway for her last—and fatal—patrol, her Chief Yeoman Forest Sterling was transferred to other duty. The result is this book—Sterling’s fantastic yet completely authentic account of a remarkable crew and captain, and the ship they lived and died for. “Many will remember the newspaper stories during World War II and the photo of Wahoo with a broomstick tied to her periscope signifying a clean sweep...But (here is) the full story from the yeoman who made all the patrols...except the last one.”—Medal-of-Honor winner Captain E. B. Fluckey, USN

Wahoo

by Richard O'Kane
Wahoo
Author: Richard O'Kane
Publisher: Presidio Press
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2009-11-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 0307548848
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The career of the USS Wahoo in sinking Japanese ships in the farthest reaches of the Empire is legendary in submarine circles. Christened three months after Pearl Harbor, Wahoo was commanded by the astonishing Dudley W. “Mush” Morton, whose originality and daring new techniques led to results unprecedented in naval history; among them, successful “down the throat” barrage against an attacking Japanese destroyer, voracious surface-running gun attacks, and the sinking of a four-ship convoy in one day. Wahoo took the war to Japan’s front porch, and Morton became known as the Navy’s most aggressive and successful sea raider. Now, in a new quality paperback edition, her full story is told by the person most qualified to tell it—her executive officer Richard O’Kane, who went on to become the leading submarine captain of the Second World War. Praise for Wahoo “The accounts of the patrols are spine-tingling, both in triumph and tragedy. It is a tale of great courage, brilliant leadership, and daring innovation in a new type of submarine warfare fought largely on the surface in waters closely controlled by the enemy. Well-written, a gripping story for anybody with a love of the sea or adventure in submarine combat.”—Naval War College Review “This is an exceptional story of American men who rose to the occasion time and again under dangerous circumstance.” —Abilene Reporter News “A first-hand—and first-rate—narrative, told by the former executive officer of this legendary WWII submarine, which gives readers an intimate feel for life aboard the ‘boats’ that helped beat the odds in the battles of the Pacific and put Japan on the defensive.”—Sea Power “Like Clear the Bridge!, [Richard] O’Kane’s bestselling account of the Tang’s 33 confirmed sinkings, [Wahoo] is a rousing, authentic war adventure that could well become a classic of its type, crack[ling] with the tensions, boredom, and occasional exhilaration of submarine life under the Pacific, O’Kane is a superb storyteller, and his credentials are impeccable.”—Springfield Sunday Republic