cover image Take Her Deep!: A Submarine Against Japan in World War II

Take Her Deep!: A Submarine Against Japan in World War II

I. J. Galantin, I. J. Galatin. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, $17.95 (262pp) ISBN 978-0-912697-64-2

During the 15-month period when the author commanded the Halibut, nearly everything that could happen to an American sub in action against the Japanese did occur; the vessel was almost sent to the bottom more than once. The climax of this nail-biting narrative is Galantin's account of a depth-charge attack near Luzon Strait in November 1944 and the frantic but choreographed repair work that saved all hands from a one-way trip to Davey Jones's locker. This gripping narrative provides an intimate look at what it was like to fight the submarine war in the Pacific. Readers become familiar not only with the sub's machinery and its workings but with many members of the crew in full dimension. Galantin has a novelist's sense of telling detail, an eye for human quirk and enormous compassion for his loyal, efficient and often terrified crew. Photos. (September)