Ebook: Battle Submerged: Submarine Fighters Of World War II

BATTLE SUBMERGED was originally published in 1951 by W. W. Norton & Company.

From the Foreword:
"THE PRIMARY purpose of this book is to describe the extraordinary versatility of what will probably be the most important fighting craft in the next war the submarines. The method the authors have chosen is to relate each of the war missions that the submarines of the United States Navy were sent out to perform, in the narratives of as many ships. Any one submarine can do, and in the last war did do, virtually everything herein described.

The secondary purpose of the book is to demonstrate that even in this age of gadgetry and electronics, the sea is still the source of extraordinary adventure that it was in the days of sail and galleys.

This is not a history, or even intended as a preface to the history, of the United States submarine in World War II. Consequently the authors must deeply regret the conspicuous omissions from this volume, but no apologies are offered because none are expected by men of the stripe of Joe Willingham, Barney Sieglaff, Creed Burlingame, Slade Cutter, Reuben Whitaker, George Grider, Johnny Coy, Burt Klakring -- which is to say, every sub skipper who creased enemy waters with torpedoes. In the editorial judgment they exercised in selecting the one episode out of a hundred like it to describe a particular function of the submarine, the authors had only
one motive, to do the most comprehensive job possible for the reader's benefit., and especially for the reader who never saw a submarine and wouldn't ride in one for the traditional, if devalued, million dollars."