The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan Paperback – Illustrated, May 20, 2014

In this remarkable book James Scott has, in only 311 pages of text, told a complete story of US Navy submarine operations in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. He has been able to accomplish this task, starting on December 7th, 1941, when the United States had just 51 submarines in the Pacific, until the cease-fire order 1,347 days later when 182 subs were on duty, by focusing on three fleet submarines, USS Tang, USS Drum and USS Silversides and their combined thirty-two war patrols.Scott, a former investigative reporter with the " The Post and Courier" in Charleston, South Carolina, spent five years researching and writing this book and it is in the detail and background development which actually takes you aboard these subs on their perilous missions. A good example is Chapter Four in which Scott describes the fourth war patrol of Silversides as she cut through the waves off the Japanese stronghold of Rabaul. Scott points out that submarines did not carry a doctor and Navy regulations instructed the pharmacist's mates ( one aboard every sub) never to resort to surgery. If confronted with a case of suspected appendicitis the Navy instructed that patients remain on absolute bed rest with an icepack over the right lower quadrant and sedatives to ease the pain and sulfa drugs to fight infection.Then Scott gives a brief summary of the two cases where the Navy's conservative approach collided with medical necessity. In the words of the author, "......three months earlier on USS Seadragon. With the submarine submerged to 120 feet to avoid rough swells, Pharmacist's Mate 1st Class Wheeler Lipes sliced open a young sailor on the wardroom table to discover his appendix had turned black and gangrenous. The successful surgery--- the first ever on a submarine--required extraordinary creativity, resourcefulness and a medical instruction book." Scott then adds that three days before Silversides departed Australia for the current patrol a pharmacist's mate on USS Grayback also operated successfully on a sailor whose appendix already had burst.Back to Silversides and again in the words of Scott. " Creed Burlingame, the skipper, listened to the grim news from Pharmacist's Mate 1st Class Tom Moore. The young medic had been up since about 5 a.m.carrying for Petty Officer 3rd Class George Platter, a nauseated fireman who complained of pain in his upper abdomen. Since Silversides had departed Australia, several sailors had suffered similar symptoms followed a day later by severe diarrhea before the men returned to normal. Moore had suspected Platter battled the same illness and gave him paregoric to ease his pain. But Platter had returned several hours later. His temperature had climbed and his abdomen was rigid and his right lower quadrant tender. The diarrhea that had stricken others had failed to materialize. This was not the same illness that had sidelined others. This was worse. Much worse."After a series of meetings with the Captain at which Moore described Platter as writhing in pain all jackknifed up Captain Burlingame ordered the sub to dive after getting a full charge in the batteries. The next five pages of " The War Below" reveal in great detail the surgical feat that was carried at a depth of 100 feet. The boat surfaced prior to dawn to charge batteries. Seventy five minutes after surfacing the lookouts spotted a darkened ship, a Japanese destroyer. Two torpedoes were fired, one porpoised before it exploded prematurely, the other torpedo failed to hit. The skipper had no choice but to dive and rig for depth charges.The final paragraph of Chapter Four contains a sentence from Creed Burlingame's report as follows. " The patient convalesced the morning following his amateur appendectomy to the tune of a torpedo firing, two depth charge attacks,two crash dives and an aerial bombing which knocked him out of his bunk on the wardroom transom."In the last third of the book attacks in the East China Sea are intensified and the toll of Japanese merchant ships becomes a critical factor for the population in the Home Islands and their wartime industry. Late in October 1944 USS Tang intercepted a small convoy in the Formosa Strait at night and the skipper, Richard O'Kane, opted for a night surface attack. Scott's account of the melee which occurred is vivid and hair raising but the action which took place just 48 hours later was even more intense as they had spotted a 12 ship convoy. The submarine campaign was now being directed to sinking merchant ships and the role of the submarines of scouting for the fleet and rescuing downed flyers ( Tang had picked up 22 airmen on her last patrol and returned to Pearl Harbor with all 24 of her torpedoes, but with a load far more precious: twenty-two rescued American aviators. All toll submarines rescued 504 flyers during the war) now shifted to the heart of the Empire and shipping which was its lifeblood.At this point Tang's story becomes central in the book as the unthinkable suddenly becomes stark reality when O'Kane, during a night surface attack, fires his last torpedo. The crew knows this means the end of the fifth patrol and homeward bound. Scott writes, "O'Kane watched in horror as the weapon suddenly surfaced in a spume of bright phosphorescence just yards in front of Tang's bow....O'Kane had fired enough fish to recognize immediately what had happened: an erratic torpedo, every skipper's nightmare.....Like a boomerang the out-of-control bomb now circled back toward Tang, each second growing closer. All ahead emergency, O'Kane shouted."The torpedo ripped open the port side of Tang at 2:30 a.m. just twenty seconds after the skipper had fired his last shot and Scott's investigative reporter skill and experience then proceed to describe the scene as Tang went down by the stern and her survivors, there were nine, were cast in the sea along with the survivors of the ships they had just sunk.The last 85 pages cover the final nine months of the war for not only the Tang POWs ( which included O'Kane) but also the thousands of prisoners being transported to the home Islands many of whom died when their unmarked ships ( the Japanese had refused to mark and illuminate ships carrying POWs) were torpedoed. Again Scott leaves no stone unturned in his account of the travails of the POWs. Chapter 22 is a bittersweet story of the liberation of the prisoners but it is also a story which should warm the heart and make every American proud of the massive plans and effort directed by the most senior naval officers, Nimitz and Halsey, and executed without delay after Emperor Hirohito addressed the Nation, even though General MacArthur had ordered the Navy to wait for the Army before liberating the prisoners.This book is a " Teaching Moment" of our recent history made complete by the careful inclusion of the strategic situation in the Pacific Theater and how the naval leaders from the CNO down to the submarine commanders brought victory after the devastation of the surprise attacks from Pearl Harbor to the Philippine Islands. Admiral William (Bull) Halsey, a Naval Aviator, when asked about the weapons used to win the war offered the following, " If I had to give credit to the instruments and machines that won us the war in the Pacific, I would rate them in this order: submarines first, radar second, planes third, bulldozers fourth."In my opinion " The War Below" should be a text book for a history and leadership course at all the Service Academies.

Listening to the audiobook version of Enemy Below helped bring some of the pace, nuance and story telling alive even more so probably then reading this well written book about world war two submarine battles in the Pacific against Japan. There were times that I was thinking so much about the content of this audiobook that I lost track of what I was doing either mowing the yard or driving while listening to the book -- thankfully no accidents occurred on my behalf.The narrator of the book expressed well the drama, boredom and interruptions of battles and engagements in sheer terror back to boredom and uncertainty these men faced in the submarines during word war two. The stories being told such as music being played in one of the subs to the individual unique behaviors of several of the captains in their detailed 'by the book' to 'seat of the pants' cowboy like mode of operation helped bring personalities into play as to what made these three subs successful in battle operations in their own unique ways. It was great hearing about some of the quirks, fears and take charge attitudes of some of these skippers and officers. I'm so impressed at the humbleness these captains were portrayed as having and willing to risk life, limb and even pride for unorthodox or bold actions all for doing well in battle and caring for their men pushing them to excel.The broad big picture details, such as the number of ships in the war at start to wars end, down to what was causing problems such as torpedo issue in the early part of the sub campaign were fascinating as how design of these weapons played a role in many early battles. The play by play battle strategies used in many encounters was also very interesting. I found myself lining up the ships in an imaginary battle field to grasp the close and distant nature of how many of these battles went down either quickly or drawn out for days.My utmost respect goes out to the guys of this generation of submariners. Overall, this is an excellent and well written book. Recently, I heard James Scott speak and show additional materials and stories not included in the book and through his work gained an even higher level of admiration for the world war two generation of US Navy personnel. James is a very good speaker as well as an excellent writer.