Detailed History on WW2 subs
 

I'm beginning to fall in love with Silent Hunter since I picked up SH4 a couple of weeks ago. Hunting and killing, then sneaking off while the escorts scratch their heads and DC the crap out my last known position is proving to be alot more fun than I thought it would.

Anyway so far my baby the Grayling has served me well, one patrol with 20,000 tons. Second patrol so far has 80 tons sunk, hopefully more to come. I'm just after a detailed history of the boat, Wikipedia hasnt been of too much use beyond a brief overview of her activities during the war. So can anyone point me to somewhere I can find a detailed history on US Subs of WW2?

Someone will come along and point you to books and resources soon enough.

I personally cant help you really in that department. But I can recommend a few movies you might enjoy.

Das Boot of course, Run Silent Run Deep, The compas rose aka The Cruel Sea.

Of course they will also be quick to point out that 20,000 tons on a single patrol is a bit ... unrealistic.

If you are interested in a more 'realistic' play experience you may want to look into the wonderful mod's available. I wont recommend any off hand as there are quite a few to choose from.

Well thats more than you asked for. Enjoy and good luck.:sunny:

Thats the Sturgeon Grayling, not the WW2 sub. SSN designation gives it away. I'm after SS-208 Grayling.

http://www.powerset.com/explore/go/U...ng-(SS%252D209)

and

http://www.powerset.com/explore/semh...g_%28SS-209%29

and

http://www.csp.navy.mil/ww2boats/grayling.htm

and finally

http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-grayling-209.htm


If you want the ultimate "Bible" to have on hand of EVERY WWII sub including the S-Boats, buy this book. Some sections go into HIGH detail of EVERY patrol of EVERY sub:

http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Victory...9714130&sr=8-1

Around 1,000 pages.

From what I've found, there isn't a lot out there on the Tambor-class submarines from WWII in specific.

For a great overall read of the whole shebang, try "Silent Victory: The US Submarine War Against Japan" by Clay Blair Jr.

There is an upcoming book by Bob Hunt coming out in the Spring of 2009. Bob was a torpedoman on 12 of the USS Tambor's (SS-198) patrols. It has to be some kind of record or something. "We Were Pirates, Robert Hunt: A Torpedoman's View of the Pacific War" by Robert Schultz and James Shell is the name.

http://www.robertschultz.us/nonfiction_wwp.htm

For info on the web, http://www.pigboats.com/ is a great place for unique information. Also, if you want to see JANAC records for each sub (in detail) look at http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Japa...-Losses-6.html for lots of info.

For a really great experience, visit a submarine museum. There are around 26 submarine museum boats across the USA, and around 16 of those were part of WWII. You have a choice of 6 Gato, 8 Balao, and 2 Tench class subs to visit. Sadly there are no Tambor class subs anymore (at least not in this country). If you've never visited a submarine museum, you'll be amazed when you do!

Definitely will be taking a trip to war museums during my trip to the states, currently live in Australia but I have plans to visit the US sometime within the next year or two before the shuttle program ends to see one launch.

The Kennedy Space Center was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced.

Clay Blair, "Silent Victory" in 2 volumes.

sub history
 

Clay Blair, "Silent Victory" in 2 volumes is a good start. Individual ship histories abound.

hi,

Clay blair's book is excellent, also for specific info on Grayling try

http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/2921.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Grayling_(SS-209)

Sadly as she was sunk:

http://www.csp.navy.mil/ww2boats/grayling.htm

http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-grayling-209.htm

Kaleun