Platapus
12-26-12, 06:45 PM
Milton, K. M., (2000) Subs against the rising sun. Yucca Tree Press: New Mexico
I got this book for Christmas. It is not a book to read, but more a reference book on the 249 US Submarines that fought in the Pacific against Japan during WWII.
It starts with the S Boats and finishes with the Tench class submarines. There are also some appendices with some of the same statistics that are in many other sub books.
The book lists each submarine in approximate chronological order. It is approximate because the submarines are listed in “SS” number order. Ship yards were issued blocks of “SS” numbers and that is why in some rare cases a submarine with a higher SS number may have been built sooner than another submarine.
Each submarine has it’s own page. Each page consists of
1. Photograph of the submarine at some point in its career
2. The name and “SS” number of the submarine
3. Where it was built and when was it commissioned
4. The submarine’s war time patrols with the Captain’s name, date of the patrol, duration of the patrol, it’s base, the patrol area, claimed tonnage and confirmed tonnage.
For each ship that was confirmed sunk, the date, name of the ship, size in tons, type of ship, Captain of the sunk ship, and location are given.
The page ends with the disposition of the submarine which was usually decommissioned and sold for scrap.
On many of the pages, there is, at the bottom, an interesting tid-bit of WWII sub trivia which is unrelated to the specific submarine on the page.
All in all, a nicely laid out reference book. :up:
There are, however some nits that I want to pick until they bleed.:down:
I really think that book would have benefited if the author had included some technical data on the submarines. There is none. Granted that this technical information can easily be found in a multitude of other books; but having in this book would increase the research value. For each class of submarine, there is a one page description with some technical information, but not much.
There are some instances where incomplete information is given. For example: S-28 (SS-133)
S-28, after patrolling the Alaskan waters, was assigned to training duties. Tie was while performing this type of duty that a diving accident off Pearl Harbor caused the loss of S-28. The exact cause has never been determined, but she went to the bottom with all hands in 1500 fathoms.
Interesting bit of history, but when did this happen? How can you write about a sub being lost in a training accident and not give a date?
There is another bit of incomplete data on page 41.
… The most famous rescued airman was LT(jg) George W. Bush when he was picked up by the USS Finback. … It was George H. W. Bush. George W. Bush is that other guy. Hard to believe an oversight like this in a book written in 2000.
These are minor nits, but they do tend to detract from the credibility of the book. These were simple omissions that should have been caught in the editing process.
All in all, a nice book with all 249 subs listed in an easy to read format. For completeness, I would give it a C+. Overall, I would give this book a solid B. It is a nice book to have in your Sub library, but I probably would not like to pay full price $33.00 for it. :nope:
I got this book for Christmas. It is not a book to read, but more a reference book on the 249 US Submarines that fought in the Pacific against Japan during WWII.
It starts with the S Boats and finishes with the Tench class submarines. There are also some appendices with some of the same statistics that are in many other sub books.
The book lists each submarine in approximate chronological order. It is approximate because the submarines are listed in “SS” number order. Ship yards were issued blocks of “SS” numbers and that is why in some rare cases a submarine with a higher SS number may have been built sooner than another submarine.
Each submarine has it’s own page. Each page consists of
1. Photograph of the submarine at some point in its career
2. The name and “SS” number of the submarine
3. Where it was built and when was it commissioned
4. The submarine’s war time patrols with the Captain’s name, date of the patrol, duration of the patrol, it’s base, the patrol area, claimed tonnage and confirmed tonnage.
For each ship that was confirmed sunk, the date, name of the ship, size in tons, type of ship, Captain of the sunk ship, and location are given.
The page ends with the disposition of the submarine which was usually decommissioned and sold for scrap.
On many of the pages, there is, at the bottom, an interesting tid-bit of WWII sub trivia which is unrelated to the specific submarine on the page.
All in all, a nicely laid out reference book. :up:
There are, however some nits that I want to pick until they bleed.:down:
I really think that book would have benefited if the author had included some technical data on the submarines. There is none. Granted that this technical information can easily be found in a multitude of other books; but having in this book would increase the research value. For each class of submarine, there is a one page description with some technical information, but not much.
There are some instances where incomplete information is given. For example: S-28 (SS-133)
S-28, after patrolling the Alaskan waters, was assigned to training duties. Tie was while performing this type of duty that a diving accident off Pearl Harbor caused the loss of S-28. The exact cause has never been determined, but she went to the bottom with all hands in 1500 fathoms.
Interesting bit of history, but when did this happen? How can you write about a sub being lost in a training accident and not give a date?
There is another bit of incomplete data on page 41.
… The most famous rescued airman was LT(jg) George W. Bush when he was picked up by the USS Finback. … It was George H. W. Bush. George W. Bush is that other guy. Hard to believe an oversight like this in a book written in 2000.
These are minor nits, but they do tend to detract from the credibility of the book. These were simple omissions that should have been caught in the editing process.
All in all, a nice book with all 249 subs listed in an easy to read format. For completeness, I would give it a C+. Overall, I would give this book a solid B. It is a nice book to have in your Sub library, but I probably would not like to pay full price $33.00 for it. :nope: