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Originally Posted by propbeanie
I have had the book for a good while now, with probably 3 complete reads in. I do use it for some reference. My favorite book though is still "Clear The Bridge".  |
Nice I just ordered it so have a physical copy but am enjoying the audiobook as well. "Clear the Bridge" was excellent, but so was "Wahoo" also by O Kane. So many great memoirs such as those two and of course one of my favorites, "Thunder Below!" by Admiral Fluckey. The other, not as well known as but loved it was "The Luck of the Draw" by Captain Ken Ruiz. Ruiz was a Ensign aboard USS Vincennes at Battle of Savo Island, survived it (barely) after going into the water when she was sunk. Also, he was supposed to be on the bridge but changed watches with another Ensign(a friend of his from Annapolis) for some reason, his friend perished when the bridge was hit by a japanese shell. Ruiz and other survivors ended up at Pearl Harbor in front of Nimitz, were told to keep quiet about the battle for the time being. Some senior officer asked for volunteers for submarines. Ruiz said he decided he never wanted to be in a surface engagement on a big target like a cruiser again, so he volunteered. Went directly to the the old Pollock (Porpoise Class) SS-180, to learn on the job, no submarine school. Been a while since have read it and my dog literally ate it (lol) so need to get a new copy, but he eventually earned his dolphins and he moved up to XO on Pollock before it was all over.
I recall part of the book when they were under depth charge attack and pumps failed, they ended up sinking to 540 feet before could recover. Other was during night surface attack in mid 1943 off home islands, they fired four bow torpedoes and due to dark night did not see the torpedo circle back, which ran under the hull and exploded, knocking out power, propulsion etc. A japanese destroyer spotted the and heard the explosion, came racing in, while they worked to get Pollock back on line, which they managed to just in time. I believe they were able to slip away in the darkness, but may have ended up submerging. Luckily for them, the torpedo ran deeper than set so
Pollock did not take the full force of the explosion. Basically, if not for faulty torpedoes, they would have been killed by the circle runner. Luck of the Draw is an appropriate name for the book, as Ruiz mentions a few times.