Silent Victory

Ins and Outs of US Subs in WWII. Subs in the Pacific: Russians in Europe was how the war was won.

Clay Blair's book is one of the greatest single books to keep in your library if you decide to devote your education to matters of the Pacific Theater in WWII. It is a hefty book, packed to the gills with technical details, and enough names to make you think that thousands of small towns and US cities gave their entire citizenry to sub warfare. And in some towns this was almost the case. Many people think that the sailors and other personnel who served on submarines were chosen because they were physically smaller than other fighting men. Not so, and for proof you could do no better than look at author Blair, who in his prime stood a good six feet three, longer than many submarine bunks. He is modest about his own service and prefers to take the larger view. The drawbacks to the book is that it is heavy and even though it's a quality paperback, you have to use it with care. But the brave men who died on their various missions to defeat Japan live on in this book, and thus every time you consult this book, you light a little vigil for their souls.

This is simply a book that any Submarine buff should not be without. Researched in the early seventies when most the submarine skippers from WW2 were still around, the author goes into great detail about the dud skipper problems, the the even worse torpedo problems and the skippers like Fluckey, O'Kane, Morton, Cutter, Burlingame who with others turned the war around and bought the Japanese to their knees by early 1945. Great Reading and an essential addition to any WW2 naval library

I have spent my career doing R & D on weapons, so the sections describing the torpedo problems hit home. The short description of the problem is that the torpedoes were not adequately tested because the Bureau of Ordinance didn't think it was necessary, and in the early years of the war a lot of the torpedoes did not work. It is likely that some US subs were lost because of the bad torpedoes, certainly many opportunities at sinking Japanese shipping were lost. Whenever some manager tries to cut back on testing I slap this book down and tell them to read it. They don't of course, but at least I can say I tried to warn them.

Wonderfully well-written account of the U.S. submarine campaign in the Pacific during WWII. It's all here: Strategy, tactics, personal failures and triumphs. An engrossing work that will endure as a fitting tribute to the U.S. armed force that suffered the highest casualty rate of the war.