- Paperback: 301 pages
- Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (May 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1591140587
- ISBN-13: 978-1591140580
- Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,031,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
The Philadelphia Inquirer A genuine World War II thriller....A firsthand account of a lot of guys with a lot of nerve who shortened the war by taking tremendous gambles.
Time The dramatic underside of the Pacific War, as told by a veteran submariner. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
Time The dramatic underside of the Pacific War, as told by a veteran submariner. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
Book Description
Welcomed as the first book about American submarines in World War II to be written by a man who actually fought them, this compelling personal account of the war beneath the sea firmly established Edward L. Beach's reputation as a writer in the early 1950s. Given the survival rate of those in the silent service, it is a story many submariners did not live to tell. In fact, most of the crew of Beach's boat, the USS Trigger, were lost soon after he left for another assignment. A veteran of twelve war patrols, Beach's luck held out, and he authentically recaptures the moments of elation, desperation, and numbing fear that were part of the daily lives of these warriors as they hunted down the enemy in the Pacific.
Beach helped sink the Trigger's first ships and survived more than his share of exploding depth charges from avenging warships. In the book, he weaves the story of his own boat with equally thrilling tales of other battle-hardened submarines and the brave and determined men who fought them against the Japanese. Beach's readers share in the destruction of five destroyers in four days and join in the deadliest game of all--stalking other submarines. They also come to understand the terror and uncertainty of being at the other end of the pursuit, silently sweating out depth-charge poundings in a leaking boat. For an authentic account of what went on under the waves, this book remains one of the very best. 320 pages. Paperback. 6 x 9 inches.
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First Sentence
MY STORY BEGINS on January 1, 1942. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
MY STORY BEGINS on January 1, 1942. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.7 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
"All ships have souls", Jan 18 2005
By Michael J. Mazza - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Submarine! (Mass Market Paperback)
"Submarine!", by Edward L. Beach, tells the story of several submarines of the United States Navy during World War II. The overarching narrative begins in 1942, with narrator Beach "fresh out of Submarine School." We watch Beach rise up the ranks as we learn of his fellow submariners and their ships.Beach treats the subs as characters themselves; he notes, "All ships have souls, and all sailors know it" early in the book. He develops this theme throughout the book. The interwoven stories of the subs are arranged as chapters, each focusing on one or two ships.
Beach's prose at its best is exciting and action-packed, at times reminding me of an old-fashioned motion picture adventure serial. Yet at times he also attains an epic gravitas, and ultimately the book is quite moving. The one criticism I will make is that at times the book felt like it could have used a more judicious editorial hand; I believe that the book's 354 pages might have been reshaped into a leaner and more efficient text without sacrificing the essentials of the narrative.
I found "Submarine!" especially fascinating for the wealth of technical and tactical details that are interwoven into the adventure; it's a virtual encyclopedia of submarine information. Among the many topics covered are test diving, the use of a sub to plant a minefield, dealing with defective torpedoes, how two subs can work together to attack a target, the uses of the periscope, "silent running," and much more.
Within the book are certain chapters that really stand out, and can even stand alone as self-contained mini-epics. Among these is the story of the encounter between the U.S. sub _Archerfish_ and the Japanese supercarrier _Shinano_, a behemoth 50 times as massive as the sub. This section contains some of the book's best writing. "Submarine!" is an important and entertaining contribution to the canon of American war literature.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best personal accounts of WWII, Nov 22 2003
By J. Jeffrey Donahue - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Submarine (Hardcover)
It has been over 30 years since I read this book, yet it is still fresh in my mind. The book is basically the personal war diary of Edward Latimer Beach as he served on various American submarines in the Pacific in World War II. He had the distinction of serving under Dick "Killer" O'Kane, one of the leading American submarine aces of the war. He was also fortunate to be transferred off the USS Trigger before she was sunk, and ended the war with his own sub (the first member of the 1939 Naval Academy Class to receive a command). The book is extremely well written, which is unusual for an "I was there" type war history. Highly recommended, and once you start reading it you will not want to put it down.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
WW II action in US Fleet Submarines, May 19 1998
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Submarine (Hardcover)
This book alternates chapters between the author's personal experiences, starting as a junior officer on the Trigger, and the classic patrols of "boats" such as Wahoo, Tang, Seawolf, Batfish and a host of others. Riveting reading from someone who knows of what of he speaks!
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