THE
DEPTHS OF COURAGE:
U.S. Submariners at War with Japan, 1941-1945
by Flint Whitlock and Ron Smith
Foreword by Vice Admiral Albert Konetzni (Ret.), former ComSubPac
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
Berkley/Caliber Press
($25.95)
SYNOPSIS:
In the early days
of World War II, when U.S. and other Allied forces were taking a pounding in
the Pacific and defeat seemed inevitable, only the tiny American submarine
fleet prevented total disaster.
Beset
initially by obsolescent subs and torpedoes that didn't
work, it was the sheer courage of the men in the “silent
service”
that held the line and bought time for the U.S. to gear up
and eventually defeat the Japanese foe.
In The
Depths of Courage, Flint Whitlock and
ex-submariner Ron Smith (five war patrols on the U.S.S.
Seal) take a detailed look at the Pacific War from
the point of view of the submariners. In this epic
saga, you'll go through training with the young sailors,
sail with them on heart-pounding war patrols, undergo
fearsome depth-charge attacks, and exult when enemy
ships are torpedoed.
You'll
also be along when the U.S.S. Tang is sunk by one of its
own malfunctioning torpedoes and the handful of surviving
members of the crew are rescued by the enemy—only
to be subjected to months of imprisonment and cruel treatment
at the hands of their Japanese captors.
The
Depths of Courage also brings you the
bigger picture—the bloody island-hopping campaign
by soldiers and Marines against a tenacious enemy who
did not know the meaning of the word “surrender;” the
fearsome slugging matches between surface ships; and
the massive aerial battles that eventually enabled
the Americans to gain supremacy of the skies and seas.
From
beginning to end, this is a book that will inspire you
with heroic tales of the war beneath the sea and the thin
line of courageous men who sacrificed themselves to ensure
victory.
WHAT
THEY SAID:
"A lively account of wartime U.S. Pacific submarines...a
rousing good read."
—
William Tuohy (author of The Bravest Man)
"The
Depths of Courage...tells the remarkable
story of these brave and foolhardy souls.... Captures the
raw, hard truth of the job — as told by the men who did
it. No collection is complete without this essential
piece of naval history."
— Military
Book Club
"The near-death experiences aboard a WWII submarine are
very dramatic and will give the reader an appreciation of
the horror these men faced. A great read from two established
writers."
— Ron Martini (amazon.com reviewer)
ORDERING
INFORMATION:
Publisher: Berkley (November
6, 2007)
ISBN:
0425217434
ISBN-13: 978-0425217436
Amazon.com
Barnes
and Noble
Indiebound.org
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