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A Tale of Two Subs: An Untold Story of World War II, Two Sister Ships, and Extraordinary Heroism
On November 19, 1943, the submarine USS Sculpin, under attack by the Japanese, slid below the waves for the last time in what would become one of the most remarkable stories in U.S. Naval history. Not only did several crewmembers survive the sinking - an extremely rare event in World War II submarine warfare - but several were aboard a Japanese aircraft carrier enroute to...more
Hardcover, 302 pages
Published
May 13th 2008
by Grand Central Publishing
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While the story at the heart of this book is interesting to anyone who enjoys reading WWII submarine lore, McCullough spends the first 70% of the book describing routine patrols and constantly referring to impending doom, while seemingly never getting around to it. It was very frustrating for the author to always be hinting, but never telling (at least until the last 1/3 of the book, and even then he can't resist suggesting what comes next in vague, bookish terms). It really felt like McCullough...more
I did enjoy this book, as it gave me a glimpse into an aspect of WWII I was not so familiar with -- that of submarine warfare in the Pacific. However, I feel the author couldn't settle the tone of the book -- academic or casual, for submariners or the uninitiated. Also, the two halves of the book -- WWII submarines and early WWII radio cryptology -- never really came together. While they were connected, they did not make for a cohesive whole. Each half was very interesting, but it was a disjoint...more
A Tale of Two Subs is a substandard attempt at historical writing however Mr. McCullough missed the mark on his title. In the title he promises to tie the story of the U.S.S. Sculpin and U.S.S. Sailfish (formerly U.S.S. Squalus). The two submarines are tied by fate and misfortune. In 1939 U.S.S. Squalus sank in a diving test in which 26 men lost their lives but the ship was salvaged and renamed as U.S.S Sailfish. In 1943 the U.S.S. Sculpin is sunk by a Japanese destroyer rescuing 42 men from the...more
This is an excellent book about the men of the submarine service in WW 2. It also tells how dangerous subs were.
1 like · like · see review
A good book, actually two books, and that's a bit of a problem. The author spends too much time on the breaking of the Japanese codes when they are peripheral to the main story. The main story is a very good one of the submariners on the two subs and some of the pages devoted to the code breaking could have included more of the submarine tales. Not that the code breaking isn't interesting, it's just that it is a small part of the story and there are other good books on the topic. Nonetheless, it...more
A solidly written book with some good details, but some major flaws.
This is an amazing look at the early war, and the author does a great job explaining the tactical situation with a minimum of ink. The encounters are painstakingly detailed from historical info (and the author clearly mentions when there aren't enough facts available to establish certainty. Daily life aboard a sub is carefully detailed, and quite visceral.
First, the author had a unique style of writing about evasion scenes, u...more
This is an amazing look at the early war, and the author does a great job explaining the tactical situation with a minimum of ink. The encounters are painstakingly detailed from historical info (and the author clearly mentions when there aren't enough facts available to establish certainty. Daily life aboard a sub is carefully detailed, and quite visceral.
First, the author had a unique style of writing about evasion scenes, u...more
Shows what it was like in submarine in WWII
Apr 06, 2010
Craig
added it
9/15/2008
Good read. Amazing the life these men faced underwater in a submarine
May 15, 2013
Dave
marked it as to-read
May 04, 2013
Rox
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Aug 02, 2011 09:34pm