What got you interested in WWII submarines?

[DrewC]

Hey everyone!
I'm 19 years old and would like to regard myself as a WWII history buff. Without a doubt the main thing that got me interested in WWII at a young age (9 or 10) was the constant watching all the old war movies with my dad and brothers- Run Silent Run Deep, The Enemy Below, The Great Escape, Stalag 17, The Desert Rats, Patton, Guadacanal Diaries, Kelly's Heroes, etc, etc. This led to discovering for myself a ton of great war books as well: Das Boot, multiple books by Ambrose, etc. My favorite has got to be Robert Sherrod's account of the Battle of Tarawa. However, the submarine scene has always captivated me the most, and I have to say that I can trace the roots of that back to when my father came home with a awesome surprise for me back in the day: Silent Hunter II.
I guess my question to the subsim community is this. What got you interested in WWII history, and submarines in particular?

[SilentPrey]

I'm 29, just FYI. First real book I read was Shirer's Sinking of the Bismark. I repeated it and an Edwin Hoyt book about PT Boats called Deadly Craft so many times that both of them are just covers holding loose pages now. Those and a copy of the Reader's Digest World War II in Europe video cassettes and I was thoroughly hooked on WWII.

For submarines, Tom Clancy's books and movies. WWII submarines because that's the last time they were actually in combat and the games for WWII are so much more refined than the modern ones are. Also, almost everything about the WWII subs is declassified. I'm a purist and it irks me to know that what I'm reading or playing is intentionally altered away from reality whether it's for a good cause or not.

[Sailor Steve]

Watching Silent Service on TV in the '50s.

[Red October1984]

Silent Hunter 2 and Subsim.

I started playing an old copy of SH2 on my old Windows 98 Desktop in my basement about two years ago...

I haven't looked back yet.

[u crank]

Funny you should mention SH2 Red.

Actually I came at it from the other end. I was always interested in all things naval, especially WW2 and the Battle of the Atlantic, but from the Royal Navy and RCN point of view. One day I saw this



on sale and bought it mainly for IL2. I tried SH2 and was hooked.

I've been under water ever since.

[razark]

It's been so long I don't even remember. My first subsim was 1983's Gato, followed by Silent Service a few years later.

Damn, I've been subsimming for 30 years?!?

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by u crank

Funny you should mention SH2 Red.

Actually I came at it from the other end. I was always interested in all things naval, especially WW2 and the Battle of the Atlantic, but from the Royal Navy and RCN point of view. One day I saw this



on sale and bought it mainly for IL2. I tried SH2 and was hooked.

I've been under water ever since.

Similar Story. I have the exact same Commander's Pack thing.

I started getting into SH2 about 2.5 years ago and now I'm a Wolf of the Pacific.

[DrewC]

I still can remember the first time I actually hit something with manual targeting in SHII.

[Overkill]

Play'n MicroProse Silent Service on the Commodore 64 as a kid. I can still remember the very first time I played it. Instantly hooked.


Now if we can just get 'em to remake TF1942 and PAW1942...

[razark]

Originally Posted by DrewC

I still can remember the first time I actually hit something with manual targeting in SHII.

I remember the first thing I hit with manual targeting. My head against the desk! I never really caught on to manual targeting until I'd been playing SH4 for a few years.

Originally Posted by Overkill

Now if we can just get 'em to remake TF1942

I could get behind that. I miss the good old Microprose simulations.

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by DrewC

I still can remember the first time I actually hit something with manual targeting in SHII.

I remember missing hundreds of times trying to figure it out on my own.

[Bubblehead1980]

Visiting the USS Drum in Mobile, AL(grew up 50 miles or so away in Florida) as a kid and watching the old submarine movies...Run Silent, Run Deep, etc as a kid.However, being from the "Cradle of Naval Aviation" I was hooked on WW II Naval Aviation growing up (frequent trips to the National Museum of Naval Aviation) but always found it interesting.Anyway, few years ago was in a terrible car accident, spent a summer stuck in the house, my girlfriend at the time saw SH 4 at Best Buy, knowing I am a "history nerd", she purchased it to keep me occupied.I was hooked the moment I played it, but after finding subsim, reading some of the skipper's books etc it has evolved into a major interest of mine. The impact of US submarines in WW II is still largely not known, a lot of it has to do with the silent service culture.

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead1980

The impact of US submarines in WW II is still largely not known, a lot of it has to do with the silent service culture.

I had no idea that the Americans even operated Submarines in WW2 until like 6 months after I signed up for Subsim. I always thought it was a German thing.

But I've gotten smarter since then....the US Silent Service is my main interest under the category of submarines. I've been hooked ever since I got SH4...and now I have Pacific Aces and I love those old submarine movies.

Run Silent Run Deep, Destination Tokyo, Crash Dive, and Operation Pacific are among my favorites.

[pabbi]

Silent Hunter I commanders edition, although i have been interested in subs and WWII since i was a young boy.

[CapnScurvy]

My interest in WWII came naturally, from my father, who was involved in the Pacific Theater for nearly three years. His U.S. Army Tank Battalion was one of the first to be sent to the Pacific (they had trained in Pine Camp New York thinking they would be sent to Europe, but in '42 they were heading west to the Pacific). Dad's island hopping while in the Solomon Islands, then on to the liberation of the Philippines, gives me a special interest in the Pacific war. Dad/Mom took us kids to his Tank Reunions whenever they went. It was great to hear some of their stories as I got older, since Dad never talked much about the war.

It was only later could I understand that those that "bragged" about their efforts really didn't see much combat. Those on the front lines, day after day, didn't need to talk about it unless it was with someone who had experienced the same. Actually it took Dad many years to open up about the horror of war to anyone other than his Battalion buddies. It wasn't until just before his death, did I learn of his valor with receiving a Bronze Star, and Purple Heart while in the Battle of Manila. I knew he had been wounded. I had seen his scars, and heard he still had a piece of metal in his knee, but, he never brought it up.

My interest in Subs came with one of my first PC games titled "Sub Battle Simulator" by Epyx. I first played it on a Mono Chrome monitor (black and white for those who aren't as old as me), then added a 13" RGB monitor to my system.......that cost 500 dollars!! Talk about being on the cutting edge!!