"Silent Victory" by Clay Blair, jr.

[DiabloTX]

I've had this book in paperback form since about 1975.  I convinced my father that, at the time, I really really wanted the book so I could read it, even though I was only 8 years old.  Well, he did but I never did.  I've had the thing for over 30 years and never did read it's 850+ pages and another 150 pages of references and data.  Until now that is.

Wow.  What a book.  It's sole focus is on the U.S. Navy submarine warfare conducted in the Pacific.  If you want absolute proof of the failings of a completely imcompetent fleet command, look no further than here.  Failings from area commanders on up to the BuOrd on it's denial of the defects of the Mk. XIV torpedo and the Mk. VI magnetic exploder.  It's an absolute stunning read both for the casual WWII fan and the die hard navy ops addict like me.  How those boat commanders took those weapons into combat for 24 months without an ear to listen to them (except for Adm. Lockwood who DID believe the skipper's complaint's about the Mk. XVI running deeper than the firing setting) is beyond me.  Most of the skipper's complaints fell on total, or near total, deaf ears up in the chain of command.  I really do have a hard time putting it down.

I'm only about halfway through this massive tome but I heartily recommend it for the exhaustive research that went into it's production.

 

[AquaShrimp]

Magnetic torpedos didn't work properly because the magnetic fields in the Pacific were much different than the magnetic fields in which the torpedos were calibrated.

Navy torpedo bombers finally resorted to setting the torpedos to impact detonation and began dropping the torpedos as bombs on Japanese ships.

The old Aces of the Pacific Manual had a real neat table that showed the percentage of malfunctions that early U.S. torpedos incurred.  The malfunction rate was over 100% because some torpedos had more than one problem during the test.

[storch]

I read that lengthy book back in 1975

[C(Sea)Bass]

I can totally beleive the 100% malfunction rate. I fish in the area off of newport. RI that some of those tests were conducted in and have seen small lumps on an others flat sand spot on a point of the map with an unexploded torpedo warning. Those torps ended up doin some damage...to my wallet, i've got hundreds of dollars in tackle stuck to the dang things.

Anoher goo WWII book if you interested is "Masters of the Air". It's about the eight airforce bomber crews flying against germany. The author I beleive is Donald L. Miller.

[Swager]

I read this book in 1977.  You will also like "US Submarines Operations In WWII" by Roscoe.  Not as good as Silent Victory but a damn fine read.

[soda72]

John Wayne easily fixed the torpedo problem in his movie 'Operation Pacific'....

[Charon]

That's a fantastic book. The detail is staggering and it provides a deep coverage of the submarine campaign in the pacific at virtually all levels from BuOrd to the bridge of a Gato class fleet boat.

A bit dry to those more action focused, perhaps, not that there isn't plenty of war patrol coverage.

Charon

[DiabloTX]

Originally posted by Charon
That's a fantastic book. The detail is staggering and it provides a deep coverage of the submarine campaign in the pacific at virtually all levels from BuOrd to the bridge of a Gato class fleet boat.

A bit dry to those more action focused, perhaps, not that there isn't plenty of war patrol coverage.

Charon

Agreed.  I also like his focus on the details and not trying to romance up the history at all.  In fact I've been quite surprised at the amount of editorial comment he makes calling out anyone from meek boat skipper's to the idiot admirals sticking to the "by the book" when all returning boats say to do otherwise.

[storch]

surely you have heard this axiom "two hundred years of tradition unmarred by progress".  my chief used to mutter that quite a bit.  I don't think he thought it up either.