The Silent Service in World War II

The Story of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force in the Words of the Men Who Lived It

By: Edward Monroe-Jones, Michael Green

Narrated by: Tom Perkins, Jo Anna Perrin

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the US 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), US submarines made an enormous contribution to our war against Japan.

©2012 Edward Monroe-Jones and Michael Green (P)2018 Tantor

Disappointing

The most interesting passage in this book comes in the last chapter, when the crews return to California to deliver their subs to the ship breakers. The sailor who wrote that chapter tells about his Chief of the Boat asking him if he might want to make a career in the Navy. He dutifully says he might, even though he's no longer sure. Maybe one reason is the COB sitting on a bunk before him, this grizzled warrior now smelling of liquor and evidently dreading peacetime life.

The narrator ends with a description of heroic sub after sub being hauled off for scrap. The civilian breaking crews stand on the decks, smoking. The wartime sailors watch their boats from the shore for a while, then walk away.

I learned something about loss in that chapter. It was a little like Audie Murphy knowing he's good with an M1 Garand, but wondering what he's going to do with that skill now that the fighting's over.

I'm sure these sailors went to Hell and Back, too, but for most of the book, you'd never know it. Most of them don't seem to let the reader too deeply into their experience. Maybe it's the pervasive use of the passive voice. People don't seem to do much. Things happen to them, or around them, things that they describe as mildly interesting spectacles. Or maybe it's the editors imposing an oddly flat style to what should surely be gripping stories. Here are young men being depth-charged, or surfacing in the middle of a convoy with all tubes firing, or getting left on deck by mistake when a sub has to dive in a hurry, and it's all oddly uniform in its lack of engagement.

If I had been one of those sailors and had tried to tell what had really happened only to see my story polished flat by the editors, I'd be pretty angry. I can't imagine setting out to tell a story that was important to me and using such lackluster language, working so hard to keep my experience at arm's length. I think I'd either keep my mouth shut, or I'd tell what it was like.

I didn't want blood and thunder. I wanted truth. Most of the time, I got reports.

Different than I thought but great.

Each chapter is a story from an individual submariner. It was quite interesting, very informative, and in some part funny. Definitely worth the listen.

Not What I Expected

Was expecting stories of war patrols not anecdotes about peripheral items attached to a submarine basis.

Voice far too pedantic and precious for nature of story

As indicated in the title of my review, the voice register in this book is far too pedantic and precious for the nature of these 1st person short stories. Otherwise, is interesting.

Great Story

What a wonderful summary of many submarines. Amazing how our boys managed to survive in such a terrible war with Japanese sailors who didn’t care when they took our boys prisoner. AMAZING READ

Heroes of the Deep

As everyone knows, we were not prepared for World War II.  When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the US Navy had 111 submarines but most of them were left over from World War I or were built shortly after that. Only a few were more modern subs but, with fears that the war might eventually reach our shores, there were 73 new ones under construction. But the submarine fleet was key particularly to our victory against Japan. They opened up sea lanes and silently picked off Japanese warships. They rescued other servicemen (including a future president, President George H. W. Bush, though that story is not told here) and more. And this book helps us understand a little of that through the experiences of those who served on them. 

Edward Monroe-Jones and Michael Greene have compiled 46 short accounts from actual submariners and a few others that they picked up along the way about their experiences on board in the war and, even when you discount the tales for our general tendency to exagerate what happens to us as the years go by, there are still some very harrowing accounts here. While all war is terrifying, there has to be a special kind of terror in being in a fragile metal tube underwater where even routine system failures could send you to depths that will crush that tube with no hope of escape or where any hull breach could also result in tons of water under pressure drowning you before you can escape. 

And there are some stories that take you to the edge of either of those scenarios. One of the earlies was of a first training voyage just barely out of its Atlantic home port where the rickety old submarine lost control and went into an uncontrolled dive that resulted in rivets popping and water intrusion that with disaster barely avoided. Some are of routine mistakes that might just be hilarious but might also be disastrous. There is one of an accidental torpedo firing in a training exercise in Pearl Harbor. There was what seemed to be a minor grounding in shallow waters that eventually resulted in the loss of the submarine and a crew that did escape to a nearby island still needing rescue from enemy territory. There is one where a hull breach allowed water in that wrecked electrical control systems that left the crew unable to control the sub as it slowly began to sink to depths beyond its design depth. There was the sub that was damaged in a kamikaze attack. And, among the most frightful was the tale of one seaman who was inadvertently left on deck when they closed the hatches and began to dive. Someone had forgotten to take the count before closing the hatches and only discovered the mistake many minutes after they were many yards underwater. But, there were also stories like the submariner who kept seeing a rat that always disappeared when anyone else turned to look. After a couple of weeks where only he saw the rat, that his shipmates began to think that he might be developing psychological problems and eventually he began to wonder himself until finally in port, other crewmates saw the rat running out a deck hatch and down the gangplank. 

The book is divided into an introductory section describing submarines of the day and especially the old rustbuckets that the US started the war with. Then there is an interesting chapter about the differences between how submarines and submarine life is picture in Hollywood as opposed to the real thing. The 46 personal accounts are of varying length but are arrange chronologically and divided into three parts, 1941-42, 1943, and 1944-45. This allows one to get a better picture of how the situation changed as the newer submarines began to arrive and tactics began to change. One really interesting one that I had never imagined was about the capture of a giant Japanese submarine near the end of the war that was at that time by far the largest submarine ever built, that was large enough to carry and launch sea-planes from its deck. It was originally built for taking the war to the American continent, but by the time it was completed, the war was already almost over and it was, in a sense, without a mission. 

If I were to look for criticisms, I would say that it could have used better editing. There were many editing mistakes and there was nothing to connect the stories together. Still, it was very interesting reading and only made my respect for a submariner grow even more, especially for those old diesel electric subs, very different from the much larger and more technically advanced nuclear subs that are so common today. Those guys are true heroes and this book is an easy read that’s not easy to put down.

First-hand history

Submariners are a special breed.
They have to trust in one another to
Win, lose or draw….this oral history displays the kind of everyday courage
Necessary to accomplish a mission

fantastic book covering a good number of accounts

its a collection of many submariner experiences thru wwii. from pre war on and past the end. excelent listen.

True First hand Accounts

The best history stories are told by those who lived them!

This book of FULL of the best! Well done! Excellent reading!

Inside look

Excellent. Enjoy hearing history from those who lived it. Recommend. Add this to your library

Good at what it does but little context provided

This is a series of biographical clips, many of them interesting and many giving the feeling that much is still missing. The description of a crossing the line ceremony is very good. The big problem is you can't fit the stories together into the wider historical war in the Pacific. A little more history would have gone a long way to making this a better book.