WW2 Sub movies and books
 

Having read a few books on WW2 submarine warfare I was wondering what other books and films to watch on the subject- either fictional or documentary.
Books I have read:- The Bravest Man: Richard O'Kane and the Amazing Submarine Adventures of the USS Tang, The Cruel Sea, The Good Shepherd and Iron Coffins. The last one being a personal account by Herbert Werner (RIP) and is one of the best books I have read.
Movies I have seen are Das Boot, Enemy Below, Cruel Sea, Operation Petticoat and Run Silent Run Deep. (Although the last 2 were quite a few years ago).

Can anyone recommend any others?

Cheers!

War Beneath the Sea, by Peter Padfield. It was recommended by someone here so I bought it and I love it. A scholarly overview of WWII submarine operations.

I have to recommend the Run Silent Run Deep trilogy. Although this is fiction it was written by Edward Beach, a WWI sub skipper and eventual skipper of the Triton nuclear boat which circumnavigated the world submerged the entire way.

The thing about Run Silent Run Deep is that it is goes deeply into submarine tactics. Where other non-fiction and scholarly works tell you what happened, RSRD tells you HOW it happened and what to think about it. It teaches you to do the mental calculations in your head, how to set up a proper attack, discussions about fine points of how to fight a submarine. It is time well-spent and you will be sorry to come to the end of the third book.

Then there's my submarine Bible, Eugene Fluckey's Thunder Below! Just about EVERYTHING about the way I fight a sub in SH4 is based on his methods. He does a fabulous job of explaining how he broke the mold, why, and what results to expect. His name rhymes with "ducky," by the way and you can separate those who knew him from those who don't by how they (mis)pronounce Fluckey's name. His nickname "Lucky Fluckey" should be a clue however.

I have a bunch of great books at home that you could spend altogether too much time locating and reading. I'll post some of them later today.

Operation pacific (1951) was an entertaining sub movie, it was one of John Wayne's :arrgh!:

I'm reading Submarine now which is a collection of stories of most of the popular boats like Tang, Wahoo and Trigger.

I just finished Clear the Bridge which is a real good book about the USS Tang.
The Bavest Man was one of the first books I read which is the story of Richard O Kane.
Another good one is Luck of the Draw. Also Crash Dive.

Also check out Silent Running written by James Calvert.

U 571 was also a good movie.

Wahoo! and Clear The Bridge! both Richard O Kane are excellent.Thunder Below by Eugene Fluckey is probably the best written, most gripping in my opinion.

I really enjoyed The Luck of The Draw by Captain Ken Ruiz.Ruiz was a young Ensign aboard a heavy cruiser at Savo Island, his ship was shot out from under him, he was in the water for many hours.Rescued next day, while at Pearl Harbor Admiral Nimitz himself asked for submarine volunteers, Ruiz was one, he was sent to USS Pollack, old Porpoise class boat and stayed there for two years.The Pollack was old and outdated, even in late 1942 and nearly killed them a few times.Ruiz's account of fighting in the bucket is quite interesting.

Silent Running by James F. Calvert is excellent as is Take Her Down! Admiral Galatin.Take Her Down is about the USS Halibut and her near destruction in Nov 1944 when Japanese used MAD to locate her.

Pigboat 39 by Bobette Gugliotta(wife of an S boat officer) , In the Course of Duty by Don Keith(about USS Batfish, sinking 3 submarines in 1945 in 3 days) and Maru Killer, which is about the USS Seahorse.

There are others I have yet to read but these are all excellent.Fun to get ideas from different books and apply them to the sim sometimes.

Have read the Kane book and Blind Man's Bluff.


Currently reading Submarine Commander by Captain Paul R. Schratz. He takes the reader thru his certification for his dolphins at the beginning of WWII, his experiences during the WWII Patrols culminating with the patrols during the Korean Conflict.


I've got "The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan" by Scott James in the ready rack. The book follows three sub and their skippers.


USS Silverside
• Creed Burlingame— patrols 1– 5 (December 1941– July 1943)
• John Coye— patrols 6– 11 (July 1943– November 1944)

USS Drum
• Robert Rice— patrols 1– 3 (November 1941– November 1942)
• Bernard McMahon— patrols 4– 7 (November 1942– October 1943)
• Delbert Williamson— patrols 8– 9 (October 1943– June 1944)
• Maurice Rindskopf— patrols 10– 11 (June 1944– November 1944)

And of course....

USS Tang
• Richard O’Kane— patrols 1– 5 (October 1943– October 1944)

Been working thru The Pacific Crucible by Ian Toll, and there are passages about the role of subs in the pacific theater, but I’m just after pearl Harbor and before Midway in the book so more to follow on how Toll addresses submarine warefare.

The War Below sounds interesting.I have a special place for the Drum(grew up in FL, 50 miles from here in Mobile, visited many times and stop nearly everytime I drive back home to FL from Louisiana. Actually when I got home in a few weeks for great grandfather's birthday, assuming he feels up to it, we are supposed to go over to the park to see her and the Alabama.) so would like to know more about her patrols.

Thanks for the recommendation Bubblehead, I'm looking for a new book and Thunder Below looks like my next read. Very good descriptions of all the books.

The following authors all have written first-person accounts of their experiences in US submarines during WW2:

Edward l (Ned) Beach, Jr
James Calvert
Eugene Fluckey
I J (Pete) Galantin
Richard O’Kane
William Ruhe
Kenneth Ruiz
Paul Schratz

All were officers, most commanded their own boats, and one won the CMH. Their first-person stories are compelling, and you can learn a lot that is useful in playing SH4 (and SH3 and SH5), from men who did it for real. These men are generally good writers as well. Pick any one to start. You can’t go wrong, and you are likely to read them all.

Here is an excellent video documentary on the Battle of Leyte Gulf...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=posrO...yer_detailpage

It's two hours long but well worth the watch.

http://submarinemovies.com/index.html
Near the top you'll find an A-to-Z list of all known submarine movies. Have fun!

Watched "Operation Pacific" last night with John Wayne. I like how in the movie the crew is watching "Destination Tokyo" and John Wayne's character makes jest at Hollywood WW2 sub movies. Course his character would've been thrown off subs for all the heroics he did in the movie.

What heroics are you referring to? Only one I saw as a bitch much was Wayne diving into the water while plane was strafing. Rest were based on reali life events.

I always liked that movie since it incorporated real life events(Ramming the ship and the Captain sacrificing himself.Sure you know that was based on Howard Gilmore of the USS Growler, awarded MOH for his actions) and the TF at Leyte Gulf(based on Darter and Dace in Palawan Pass) plus the torpedo issues. Sure it had it's campy moments but overall not a bad movie, especially for that time period.I still prefer Run Silent Run Deep.

I just watched that movie too last night for the first time. That actually happened where a sub ramed a ship?