Slade Cutter: Submarine Warrior

by Carl P. LaVO

Slade Cutter's heroic feats as an athlete and World War II submarine commander left an indelible mark on the U.S. Navy. From a humble upbringing on a depression-era farm in Illinois, he won an appointment to the Naval Academy and went on to become one of America's most formidable and decorated naval officers in World War II. As commander of the USS Seahorse, he sank twenty-three enemy ships in the Pacific, earning four Navy Crosses and a Presidential Unit Citation. Although Cutter's brilliant tactics and unusual exploits are the stuff of legend, this is the first biography published about him. With complete and exclusive access to his subject, journalist Carl LaVO presents a remarkably candid portrait of the storied captain. He draws on countless interviews with Cutter and with many of his shipmates and admirers - as well as a few detractors. Cutter's own views about his naval career and the inner workings of the Navy's hierarchy are always forthright and contribute uniquely to the official record.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lavo's Slade Cutter: Submarine Warrior was a pleasure to read. The book has everything a biography should have. This book is different from Lavo's other biography on Eugene Fluckey in that LaVo wrote more in depth about Cutter and conducted more research on his topic. In LaVo's other books on submarine his writing was reflective of being a newspaper reporter. Being a biographer is much different than being a reporter. Slade Cutter shows that LaVo took his time in writing and explained Cutter's life in a clearer manner.

The best part of the book is that it is what a good biography should be. It covers the most significant moments of the subject's life. It doesn't bog down in the minutia. As a good friend said to paraphrase, a good biography (they used essay) should be like a lady's skirt, long enough to adequately cover the subject but be short enough to be interesting. This is what LaVo does with Slade Cutter. It filled in missing pieces from other submarine books most notably Salt and Steel by Edward Beach (Beach called a submarine commander a moral coward in typical Beach fashion without revealing who he was calling a moral coward). LaVo covered the WWII US torpedo controversy without going into great detail (again the skirt analogy).

Slade Cutter: Submarine Warrior is a very informative and easy to read book about an influential submarine captain. While not able to recommend LaVo's other books because Peter Maas covered the Squalus better in the Terrible Hours and the best book on Fluckey is by Fluckey himself in Thunder Below (LaVo's Galloping Ghost ((Fluckey Bio)) read as review of Thunder Below until the last two chapters), Slade Cutter is highly recommended and a must read for anyone interested in the US submarine campaign during World War II.