What are you reading right now?

[mr chris]

Have just finshed Shadow Divers, Great read have just started Grey Wolf Grey Sea. Am slowly making my way through the 12 odd U-Boat books i got for Xmas.

[hocking]

I also took a break from Blair's first U-Boat book. But I plan on getting back to it very soon, and will start his second book shortly afterwords. I do agree with Blair's opinion of the U-Boat war. I think Blair may get a little misinterpreted due to the way he presents his opinion from time to time. He clearly does not like the fact that the U-Boat war gets so much attention why the American Sub War gets very little attention. But, if you really look at what Blair is saying, he is really just saying what Donitz was saying during the entire war. Hitler simply did not fund the U-Boat war in a way that made it effective. It isn't that the U-Boats, or their crews, were not effective. It is that the numbers of U-Boats available for operations were never at a level to make them effective as an overall force.

Blair only says the factual truth, and backs it up with actual numbers. Hitler never had enough U-Boats to make his U-Boat war effective, and he misused his U-Boat forces on a regular basis. This is simply fact. Well over 90% of allied shipping made it to their final destination. There were always just a handful of U-Boats chasing down huge convoys, and the lact of U-Boat numbers is why the U-Boat effort never really was that big of a threat. If Hitler would have properly funded the U-Boat war, and built hundreds of U-Boats like he did tanks, I think it could have definitely changed the outcome of the war in the early 1940's.

[Puster Bill]

Originally Posted by hocking

I also took a break from Blair's first U-Boat book. But I plan on getting back to it very soon, and will start his second book shortly afterwords. I do agree with Blair's opinion of the U-Boat war. I think Blair may get a little misinterpreted due to the way he presents his opinion from time to time. He clearly does not like the fact that the U-Boat war gets so much attention why the American Sub War gets very little attention. But, if you really look at what Blair is saying, he is really just saying what Donitz was saying during the entire war. Hitler simply did not fund the U-Boat war in a way that made it effective. It isn't that the U-Boats, or their crews, were not effective. It is that the numbers of U-Boats available for operations were never at a level to make them effective as an overall force.

Blair only says the factual truth, and backs it up with actual numbers. Hitler never had enough U-Boats to make his U-Boat war effective, and he misused his U-Boat forces on a regular basis. This is simply fact. Well over 90% of allied shipping made it to their final destination. There were always just a handful of U-Boats chasing down huge convoys, and the lact of U-Boat numbers is why the U-Boat effort never really was that big of a threat. If Hitler would have properly funded the U-Boat war, and built hundreds of U-Boats like he did tanks, I think it could have definitely changed the outcome of the war in the early 1940's.

I haven't read Silent Victory yet, I'm still slogging through "The Hunted" right now. But something strikes me as being part of the psychology of Blairs writing. Essentially, the boat(s) he was on were roughly the equivalent of a Type IX. I wonder if after researching all of those Kriegsmarine boats on eternal patrol, if there isn't a little bit of 'there but for the grace of God go I' creeping into his writing. After all, compared to the Allies the Imperial Japanese Navy was downright incompetent when it came to ASW, despite having some significant advantages (namely, plenty of shallow water operations, going against large boats that made dived slowly and made good sonar targets) on their side.

Even though there are times in 'Hitlers U-Boat War' where his bias creeps in, so far those two volumes are the gold standard of the history of that campaign (at least in English). I do think that he supports those biases rather well with facts, so I can't argue with him.

My personal opinion is that it isn't what he says that puts some people off, but the way he says it. And yes, the books can be somewhat dry, but there is a lot of history there, and a finite amount of space to cover it.

My biggest complaint: His repetitive use of the word 'doggo' to describe bottoming the submarine and waiting. Doggo. Doggo. Doggo. Doggo.








Doggo.









Doggo.

When we get another cat, I'm going to name it 'Doggo' in Blair's honor (MHRIP)

[Sailor Steve]

Well, since my last post here (January 9) I've had fun reading all of the seminal hard-boiled private eye novels; the entire short stories and novels of both Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

Now back to sea: I've just started reading The Battle Of The Atlantic, by Terry Hughes and John Costello; Wm Collins Sons & Co, Great Britain, 1977.

It starts at the beginning and ends at the end, and covers pretty much everything, including the politics and behind-the-scenes machinations. So far it's a lot of fun.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Now back to sea: I've just started reading The Battle Of The Atlantic, by Terry Hughes and John Costello; Wm Collins Sons & Co, Great Britain, 1977.

I've got that book, great book!

As for me Subsim Almanac 2007

[AirborneTD]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Now back to sea: I've just started reading The Battle Of The Atlantic, by Terry Hughes and John Costello; Wm Collins Sons & Co, Great Britain, 1977.

I have Costello's "Pacific War" book. Very good. I may have to check out this one.
thanks.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by AirborneTD

I have Costello's "Pacific War" book. Very good. I may have to check out this one.
thanks.

Of course having just discovered this one, I had no idea that one existed. Now I have another to take a look at. Thank YOU.

[flintlock]

I have a steadily growing list of books on the Pacific Theatre, suggested by a few people at subsim. With the imminent release of SH4, I may have to put Norman Davies' monster down for a while and get acquainted with the contents of the Amazon package arriving next week (hopefully).

[Donner]

I have approximately 150+ books on WW2 (u-boats and fleet boats) submarine warfare and I am constantly adding to my library. I also have copies of the war patrol reports of 34 US boats...and I am adding to that as well.

Currently reading Stephen L. Moore's Spadefish: On Patrol with a Top Scoring World War II Submarine, an infinitely readable account of US submarine warfare. Moore uses many Spadefish veteran interviews coupled with extensive use of Spadefish's war patrol reports. I have copies of those patrol reports and Moore does a wonderful job with his narrative. This book covers Spadefish's career from launching, fitting out, commissioning, shakedown, five patrols through to her mothballing at the end of the war. Cannot recommend this book enough...easily compares with Dick O'Kane's classics, Wahoo and Clear the Bridge.

I just finished Mike Ostlund's Find 'Em Chase 'Em Sink 'Em: The Mysterious Loss of a WWII Submarine Gudgeon. Ostlund had an uncle that was lost on Gudgeon and thus drove his mission to find out about his uncle's sub and attempt to find the location of Gudgeon. Again, extensive interviews with veterans who served on Gudgeon before her final fateful patrol are used to fill-in the details. The book is written in two parts with the first having chapters dealing with all 12 of the sub's war patrols and the second part detailing Ostlund's detective work in locating his uncle's final resting place. Ostlund's detective work rivals that of Sherlock Holmes with elementary reasoning...something that it hindsight seems to have clearly eluded the US Navy. Highly recommended as well.

On deck is Kenneth Ruiz's submarine memoir Luck of the Draw. I am looking forward to reading that immensely.

[Bort]

At the moment I'm reading The Winds of War by Herman Wouk, the author of The Caine Mutiny. Its a good read, recounting WWII from the fictional perspective of a Navy family. BTW, anyone who hasn't read The Caine Mutiny (Winner of the 1951 Pulitzer Prize), it's a must read for anyone interested in the workings of the Navy and its role in WWII from a very human and realistic view. Wouk writes at a high level so you have to work at reading his books, but believe me, its worth it!

[flintlock]

Originally Posted by Donner

I just finished Mike Ostlund's Find 'Em Chase 'Em Sink 'Em. <snip> ...Dick O'Kane's classics, Wahoo and Clear the Bridge.

Fine recommendations.

<image deleted>

Cheers.

[Subnuts]

Right now I'm about 50 pages into Silent Running: My Years on a World War II Attack Submarine by James F Calvert, who was the TDC operator onboard the Jack.

[bradclark1]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Now back to sea: I've just started reading The Battle Of The Atlantic, by Terry Hughes and John Costello; Wm Collins Sons & Co, Great Britain, 1977.

I just donated that to the library last week.
Right now I'm reading Retreat Hell the 1st Marine division in Korea.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Bort

At the moment I'm reading The Winds of War by Herman Wouk, the author of The Caine Mutiny. Its a good read, recounting WWII from the fictional perspective of a Navy family. BTW, anyone who hasn't read The Caine Mutiny (Winner of the 1951 Pulitzer Prize), it's a must read for anyone interested in the workings of the Navy and its role in WWII from a very human and realistic view. Wouk writes at a high level so you have to work at reading his books, but believe me, its worth it!

A good novel, Winds of War. If you don't know, there are two successors, or better book two and three, title is "War and Remembrance, parts 1 and 2". It is a fluid continuing from the first book, and they all belong together. I liked how the amosphere and the "breath of that time" was brought to life, on multiple continents. A good example of history book meeting fiction. Sometimes you learn more from a more subjective approach on things, like here. So far I have red the complete work twice. The TV series was not en par with the books, but Robert Mitchum as Pug Herny did well.

What I read currently: during siesta time after midday, "The Plumed Serpent" by DH Lawrence and "Silk" bei Alessandro Baricco (short book and an artful narration, a most exquisite little surprise), and in bed some easier stuff, a thriller: "Lautlos" (noiseless) by Frank Schätzing.

[Bort]

Originally Posted by Skybird

A good novel, Winds of War. If you don't know, there are two successors, or better book two and three, title is "War and Remembrance, parts 1 and 2". It is a fluid continuing from the first book, and they all belong together. I liked how the amosphere and the "breath of that time" was brought to life, on multiple continents. A good example of history book meeting fiction. Sometimes you learn more from a more subjective approach on things, like here. So far I have red the complete work twice. The TV series was not en par with the books, but Robert Mitchum as Pug Herny did well.

What I read currently: during siesta time after midday, "The Plumed Serpent" by DH Lawrence and "Silk" bei Alessandro Baricco (short book and an artful narration, a most exquisite little surprise), and in bed some easier stuff, a thriller: "Lautlos" (noiseless) by Frank Schätzing.

Cool! I'll have to get started with those when I'm done with this one, but it could be a while, its a big 'un!