Sink the Shigure

Jack Tremain Submarine Thriller

By: R. Cameron Cooke

Narrated by: Tim Campbell

Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

October 1943: Lt. Commander Jack Tremain is back on duty with a new sub and a new mission. But when he spots the Shigure - the Japanese destroyer that sank his beloved first command, the Seatrout - he declares his own personal war on the dreaded ship known as the "Submarine Killer".

©2007 R. Cameron Cooke (P)2014 R. Cameron Cooke

Critic Reviews

"Cooke once again puts his extensive naval expertise to fine use providing rich procedural detail and tactical suspense..." ( Publishers Weekly)

Action packed sea adventure

I picked up this bite of fact from this book: Cooke states that the US Navy underwater forces in the Pacific fought the only successful submarine campaign in either 20th century world conflicts.

The Shigure was a Japanese destroyer equipped with the latest anti-submarine weapons. It sunk the USS Seatrout. Jack Tremaine was newly assigned to command the USS Whitefin. The Seatrout was his first command so he was seeking vengeance on the Shigure.

The book is well written but I do not think it is as well written as Cooke’s prior book “Pride Runs Deep”. The second half of the book is nonstop action under the sea and on land. Cooke does a good job with battle scenes. Overall it makes a good action packed get- away- from- it- all book.

The book is about 14 hours long. Tim Campbell does a good job narrating the book.

Lazy Writer

The writer couldn't be bothered to keep the small details true to the times. He calls the Chief of the Boat (COB) a Master Chief, the rate of Master Chief was not established until 1958. The author refers to the UCMJ several times, the UCMJ was not enacted until 1951. Before that U.S Navy used what was known as Rocks and Shoals. In addition 600Psi air is used to blow main ballast tanks ,not 3000psi as he often states. These and other small details that are wrong or did not exist at that time frame make this book unlistenable for me.

A good read

It would be best if the readers knowledge of WW 2 fleet boats was limited so the Whitefins actions would be more believable. Other than military nomenclature being misused and liberty being taken with the boats operating practices this is a very good historical fiction book.

Great book

This book was a page-turner for me. Very good adventure story. I'll be looking to read more books like this from this author.

Fantastic

Fantastic book very well written and very riveting !! The book flows very well and keeps you excited. Knowledge of us Navy and U.S. Navy submarine action . Highly recommend !!!

Submarine Thriller

If you like non stop action and great Narration this is your next WW2 read !

A very interesting and fascinating naval WW 2

story with twists and turns that held my interest for two days of listening !!

Not as Good as "Pride Runs Deep"

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The constant portrayal of twin dolphin navy personnel being money grubbing scum and criminals ruined this complicated story. I've read too many first hand accounts to accept many of the characters in this book.

Would you ever listen to anything by R. Cameron Cooke again?

He's 1-1 with me so far. Not as likely after this book.

What about Tim Campbell’s performance did you like?

The voice characterizations are good. The narrator was fine.

Could you see Sink the Shigure being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Starring Donald Trump as Shelby, yes.

Any additional comments?

It's just fiction. No one got hurt. None of the characters really exists.

"Thunder Below" "The Bravest Man" and many other nonfiction books about the US submarines are so much better.

excellence

Excellent follow up to pride runs deep, sure we could see a third. Enjoy the read

Loved this book from the moment the story began

Great story, great characters, wonderful narration. What courage the submariners had. Brings their story to life.

Good Stuff!

Sink the Shigure is the second, and sadly it appears last, in the Jack Tremain series from R.Cameron Cooke. I'd hoped this series would continue for at least one more book, but this does not appear to be the case.

Fresh off the heels of finishing the first in the series, Pride Runs Deep, I eagerly got stuck into this story. The opening pages depict the demise of a U.S submarine and its crew in visceral and terrifying detail and is once more a testament to the experience Cooke brings to this story, given his former submariner status.

Interestingly, we meet Tremain aboard a U.S destroyer en route to his next assignment. During that trip, the trio of destroyers forming the squadron Tremain is riding, get into a battle with Japanese forces. The enemy ships include the Shigure and Tremain ends up among the survivors of the Japanese assault.

Thereafter the pace slows up a bit as plot guidelines are established. My only real critique of this book revolves around the length of time things take before the main plot really starts. this is not a show-stopper for me, just like to get into things a bit quicker, especially given this is the second in the series and so some elements need no second going over here. Tremain has a new crew and a new boat, the White fin, and is tasked with a routine mission until his personal need for vengeance sees him wanting to sink the Shigure, the expert Japanese destroyer responsible for the loss of his first command, the Sea Trout.

I like the way Cooke uses historical elements to give his stories a more realistic feel. The Shigure was a destroyer that survived all the major naval battles of the Pacific that she was present at, unlike most of her brethren. Note: For those interested, the real story of the Shigure, its captain and crew can be found here on Audible in the form of the book Japanese Destroyer Captain by Captain Tameichi Hara and is an excellent read.

Cooke has an interesting second main character here, just as he did in the prior book. This time, it's a destroyer man who hates submariners and has come aboard after a challenge laid down by Tremain after their destroyer was sunk. Cooke captures the feel of life aboard a U.S fleet submarine during the Pacific campaign. In particular, the awesome power of the sea is depicted vividly when the White Fin sails into a typhoon, perhaps one of the most powerful storms on the planet. There is once more historical precedent here as Typhoon Cobra" was so powerful, it ended up sinking three U.S destroyers and taking hundreds of sailors with them. Life is pretty grim aboard a submarine as it battles for days on the surface against huge waves and howling winds and it rather reminds me of the scenes in Das Boot where we see the towering waves of an Atlantic storm pounding the small U-96.

I find I have to chuckle when American authors write British characters. This book is no exception. Sure, British officers back then probably all spoke with a classic crisp English accent as the narrator, Tim Campbell does so well, but to emphasize the point, Cooke perhaps goes over the top with the characters name. I can't spell it here, so won't mention it, but as soon as you hear it, you'll know what I mean. And on the subject of accents, as mentioned, Tim Campbell does an excellent job. I've tended to find that many Americans find it hard to do a good English accent, but Campbell delivers. he also does good Japanese English speakers too.

This book has Tremain go on two linked missions, so we get double the story in a single book here. The second mission has quite a bit of land based action and Cooke handles that with aplomb. The action on the island is brutal and also contains scenes of torture, so perhaps not to everyone's taste.

One minor historical note: In the early stages of this story, the lethal Japanese torpedoes fired from their destroyers are referred to as "Long Lances". I may be wrong, but I heard that this term wasn't coined until after the war.

All in all, an excellent story and I'm just a little disappointed not to have any more Tremain based books to read.

An enjoyable listen and the captain finally got his ship.

A good book and really enjoyed the suspense. A little slow in some parts but overall good