Silent Running

My Years on a World War II Attack Submarine

By: James F. Calvert

Narrated by: Kevin Patrick

Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

In this riveting personal account, an authentic American hero relives the perils and triumphs of eight harrowing patrols aboard one of America's most successful World War II submarines. Courageous deeds and terror-filled moments - as well as the endless hard work of maintaining and operating a combat sub - are vividly recalled in Calvert's candid portrait. From rigorous training and shakedown cruises off the coast of New England to tense patrols within shouting distance of Japan's major cities, the progress of the newly commissioned USS Jack parallels Calvert's own growth from callow ensign to charter member of one of the sharpest attack teams in the fleet. Silent Running is more than a masterful collection of war stories. The greatest drama takes place within Jim Calvert himself, as his values, his training, and his courage are put to test daily, both at sea and ashore. He must come to terms with a forbidden love, overcome fear and self-doubt, cope with the loss of comrades, and face the constant reality that each and every day at sea might be his last. Jim Calvert has created one of the most remarkable World War II memoirs to date.

©1995 by James F. Calvert, Vice Admiral, USN (Ret.) (P)1997 by Blackstone Audiobooks

This has to be one of the finest navy books ever.

From a non navy guy, this has to be one of the finest navy books ever written, Calvert makes you feel like you're there, tells the big picture and then all the little stories that surround it and make it human.

Truly a great book.

Great

The narrator's volume and tone changes frequently and was slightly distracting, other than that it was a great read.

well done

thankyou for this book and for your service. one of the best books I have read of ww2 silent service.

Great listen

Certainly the best account of submarine warfare I’ve listened to or read. It brings to life the movies I saw as a kid and toes it all together.

Incredible Story

I was reluctant to spend a credit on this book because of the audio quality, but I’m extremely happy that I did. The story of James Calvert as he navigated the personal, professional, and existential challenges of surviving a World War are overwhelmingly compelling and also incredibly human. I’m somewhat of a submarine non-fiction junkie and this one is easily top 5 among everything I’ve read so far.

Excellent story & presentation

A page turner; a lot of Pacific Theater histories cover the torpedo issues in limited ways & gloss over the diesel engine problems. This shows the true picture. It also shows how the submarine tactics developed in two short years to destroy Japan’s ability to project military power in the Pacific.

A classic tale of life in WW2 submarines

Jim Calvert went on an astonishing 9 war patrols in WW2 submarines, and later went on to be one of the highest ranking officers in the Navy.

This is an astonishing book, marred by some unevenness in the production quality. Still a great listen.

High Water Mark for Submarine Memoirs

Any additional comments?

An excellent memoir only marred by slight technical imperfections.

Story wise the author tells the war from his point of view and nearly exclusively from his memories (historical facts learned later in life are only occasionally included as footnotes). What this means is the memorable parts of his war are what's told, resulting in lots of action and interesting moments, without being slowed down by any tedious minutia of detail or re-capping of well known war operations.

The author also gives some explanation on the operations of the submarines, certainly enough for someone without prior knowledge to understand and envision the goings on. Along with his time at sea, he also tells some of the rest periods between patrols giving a candid look at the emotions that war brings to the fighters - but again, not bogging the story down with unnecessary details.

Narration wise the reader does a fine job, often employing just a little bit of relevant emotion into the reading. Save for the last chapter, he also avoids using any accents or caricatures when reading quotes. This is where one of my only gripes occurs: the recording is from the 1990s and has some technical flaws - the audio is not clear and crisp, instead often sounding a bit fuzzy and with background noise (sometimes sounding like the reader clicking on a computer). It also has sudden, erratic, volume changes. At random the volume of the narration will suddenly increase or decrease, sometimes with a single sentence in a paragraph being noticeably louder.

The audiobook is divided into 14 chapters, all but the last being 43-45 minutes long. However, these chapters have no relation to those of the book or breaks in narration. Book chapters end anywhere from the middle to a minute from the end of audiobook chapters, meaning you're never sure when your next opportunity to put it down for later will come.

These are minor annoyances, especially when compared to the excellence of the writing. Anyone with interest on the subject would do well to own this audiobook.

Very Good

This depiction of life at sea and at war on an American submarine in the pacific during 1944 is superb. It's gripping of course, but its also very personal and human at the same time. This is the story of men and machines and there is respect felt for both sides of the struggle for control of the pacific islands. The narrator is very good, I had no problem at all with his reading, in fact I think hes a very good choice for this title and felt he became Jim Calvert in his reading.
There are a few glitches in the recording, bad edits and some levels problems, which from a producer's point of view is simply unacceptable. However, it did not detract me from becoming immersed (no pun there) in this excellent story.

Just so impressive and humbling

This is an absolutely magnificent 1st hand full detail of what happened from a raw and real point of view. vivid. Much respect. Thank you.