[Chock]

That's a very broad subject, and so you need to identify what 'take' you are going to put on things. If it is a history, then something which lists chronological events will be sufficient, however if you are intending to comment on something such as development or doctrine, you'll need to source specific documents and writings from policy makers.

As a starting point for a general overview, I would recommend The Encyclopedia of US Sumbarines, by Wilbur Cross and George W. Feise Jr. with James W. Blanchard (Capt. USN, retired) and Joseph T Talbert Jr (Capt. USN, retired) (ISBN number 0-8160-4460-0). This covers US subs fom their inception up to its print date of 2003, so it certainly covers your period of interest. However it's an expensive book (I bought it in the UK and it cost me 54 quid - ouch, which makes it well over 100 dollars US), so you might want to see if a library can get hold of it.

It lists pretty much every US sub, with a history of its service, plus other significant subjects and materiel, including some stuff on doctrine and tactics, although none of the info on doctrine is much more than a brief overview.

As you probably know, the US submarine service in WW2 started off badly, with many early skippers being replaced for 'being too timid' and their situation was not helped by the unreliability of the weaponry they had early on, or the condition of the boats, which was generally very poor in the early stages of the war, some famous sub skippers actually refused to leave port in boats assigned to them because of this, and a few others ended their careers because of this. This, coupled with the fact that the US boats were designed primarily for a 'fleet action' type of doctrine, rather than the solo patrols which became their accepted mode of operation, meant that there were many personality clashes over doctrine and this was compounded by there being no love lost between the two major sub pacs, one of which sorted out the problems with torpedoes quicker than the other, and so gained more success early on. This doesn't even begin to touch on Atlantic operations either, where there was also the issues and rivalries cropping up from more combined operations with other Allies.

So all of this info is probably best sought out by 'cherry picking' a few of the famous skippers and commander's autobiographies, although if you have any of the older US submarine simulations, such as Silent Service, you'll find that their manuals actually have quite a lot of info on this type of thing (god bless those manuals from the old days, it's why we miss them so).

There are one or two books on the overall operations of WW2, and it is probably worth seeking out one or two of those to get the 'outside view' of where sub operations fitted into the big picture. I can particularly recommend Victory in the Pacific: The fight for the Pacific Islands 1942-45 by Karen Farrington (ISBN 1-84193-335-X). Although it doesn't cover the European (Atlantic) aspects of US sub ops, it's a great book of its kind, with maps and great text explaining the involvement and actions of most arms of the US assault on Japan. Great for a good general understanding of the campaign.

I'll have a root on my bookshelf and see what else I can find to recommend, check back. Incidentally, it will help if you spell 'research paper' correctly at the top of your work. Yeah, I know it was a typo, couldn't resist!

:-) Chock