WITH RARE EXCEPTIONS, the submarines were kept out of the public eye. Press reporting was minimal, especially during the early stages of the Pacific War. The nickname given to the submarine force, the “Silent Service,” was well earned: submarine warriors were instinctively tight-lipped, even in the presence of their colleagues in other branches of the navy. Their base at Pearl Harbor seemed enigmatic, even ominous. Low, sleek, coal-black boats, tucked behind finger piers on East Loch, were distinguishable only by stenciled numbers on their bridge towers.
