"Run Silent Run Deep"

A good book I have read recently is Run Silent Run Deep by Edward L. Beach. It is about a submarine captain named Edward Richardson from World War II who starts off in the training yards of New London, Pennsylvania (just outside of Philadelphia) and works his way to become a veteran captain with more than 30 sunk ships on his belt by 1944. Along with him is his friend and lieutenant, Jim Bledsoe who Richardson commands. With the rest of the crew of their sub, the Walrus, they go into Japanese waters to face a deadly destroyer named Bungo Pete who is very well-known for his accurate depth-charging. Richardson also has a grudge against Bungo Pete because his previous sub that he served as lieutenant on, the Octopus was sunk by Bungo Pete. While in Japanese waters just off the island of Osaka, the crew of the Walrus surprises a large convoy of 2 supply ships, 3 cruisers, and not surprisingly, Bungo Pete himself. All of these ships except Bung are sunk and Walrus gets away. The book shows the bravery of all the crew members of the Walrus and Edward does a great job of showing this by explaining terrifying moments when the whole crew was depending (sometimes without even knowing) on one or two men on the topside who happened to notice something wrong just before they would dive beneath the waves. I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys good war stories.