When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the U.S.
Navy had a total of 111 submarines. However, this fleet was not nearly
as impressive as the number suggests. It was mostly a collection of
aging boats from the late teens and early twenties, with only a few of
the newer, more modern Gato-class boats. Fortunately, with the war in
Europe was already two years old and friction with Japan
ever-increasing, help from what would become known as the Silent Service
in the Pacific was on the way: there were 73 of the new fleet submarines
under construction.
The Silent Service in World War II tells the story of America's
intrepid underwater warriors in the words of the men who lived the war
in the Pacific against Japan. The enemy had already begun to deploy
advanced boats, but the U.S. was soon able to match them. By 1943 the
new Gato-class boats were making a difference, carrying the war not just
to the Japanese Imperial Navy, but to the vital merchant fleet that
carried the vast array of materiel needed to keep the land of the Rising
Sun afloat.
As the war progressed, American success in the Solomons, starting with
Guadalcanal, began to constrict the Japanese sea lanes, and operating
singly or in wolfpacks they were able to press their attacks on convoys
operating beyond the range of our airpower, making daring forays even
into the home waters of Japan itself in the quest for ever more elusive
targets. Also taking on Japanese warships, as well as rescuing downed
airmen (such as the grateful first President Bush), U.S. submarines made
an enormous contribution to our war against Japan.
This book takes you through the war as you learn what it was like to
serve on submarines in combat, the exhilaration of a successful attack,
and the terror of being depth-charged. And aside from enemy action, the
sea itself could prove to be an extremely hostile environment as many of
these stories attest. From early war patrols in obsolescent, unreliable
S-boats to new, modern fleet submarines roving the Pacific, the
forty-six stories in this anthology give you a full understanding of
what it was like to be a U.S. Navy submariner in combat.
