The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan by James Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Drum, Tang and Silversides. Great coverage of the submarine war against the Empire of Japan in World War II. General US Navy battles and accomplishments inserted deftly in the chronology.
During the Epilogue, I couldn’t help drawing comparisons between US Navy Unrestricted Submarine Warfare against Japan and their failed Convoy system and antisubmarine warfare equipment and tactics to those in the Atlantic Ocean. Germany exercised Unrestricted Submarine Warfare against the Allies in the Atlantic, yet lost. Why? Allies kept developing better ASW technology and techniques, perfected the convoy system, produced escorts and Liberty ships to replace losses and increase capacity. Allies in the Atlantic broke Germany’s Ultra encryption and could track their subs. Allies in the Pacific broke Japan’s Maru code and could track their merchant convoys. Hmm.