Customer Reviews

Bacalao

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There have been many excellent books written about WWII submarine warfare over the decades. One would think that this genre was over done and that nothing new or better could done with this theme--and you would be wrong! J. T. McDaniel has a great tale to tell through a fictional sub and its crew in his novel called "Bacalao." This one will eventually join the ranks of old naval classic submarine stories like "Run Silent, Run Deep" and a very short list of others that are considered classic war stories.

McDaniel has captured the emotions of the sub crews and what seems to me, as a technically accurate portrayal of what these subs were really like. He paints with his words visual images that are mixed into real historic back drops of time and place to create a feeling that this all could have happened. I believed in the story line and the people and the sub itself.

The writing is brilliant and the reader will have little trouble following the plot. The book takes you from the construction of the submarine in Connecticut, through Pearl Harbor and onto patrol in the Pacific. The author allows the story to unfold from the view point of Laurence Miller who rose from junior officer to the commanding officer of the Bacalao. This works very well for telling this story.

The book is a good read and will keep you interested from the first couple of pages to the ending. It is given the MWSA TOP RATING - FIVE STARS!

2005 Distinguished Honor Award from the MWSA!

Bacalao may just be the best World War II submarine novel published in the last 30 years. It is certainly the most technically accurate. From diving procedures, to torpedo firing, to the way orders are given and executed, everything is done right.

The technical stuff will certainly please the submariners. But what about the other readers, who may not know a TDC from a growler phone and just want interesting characters and realistic situations? You get those, too. The main character, Lawrence Miller, is introduced as a retired admiral arriving at a reunion, but by the third page he's back in 1940 as a young lieutenant watching his new boat being built in Connecticut.

A lot of characters are introduced in the first chapter. There is Morgan, a year older than Miller, and a born engineer. And Kenneth Ohara, an electrician's mate who will become a key character. Carl Hammersmith, U.S.S. Bacalao's prospective commanding officer, appears briefly, but is killed in a car wreck before the boat is launched. His replacement, "Andy" Morley, will command the boat through the end of her first war patrol. Also introduced in this chapter is Fred Ames, the executive officer and Morley's old Academy roommate. Before the story is over Ames, Morgan, and Miller will all find themselves in command of Bacalao.

With Bacalao completed and in commission, she is sent to Pearl Harbor, where she is tied up at the Sub Base during the Japanese attack. The boat is immediately sent on her first war patrol, after being rearmed with new, top secret magnetic fuses for her torpedoes. An attack on a Japanese troop convoy, ruined by defective torpedoes, is followed by heavy depth charging. During the course of that battle Morley wins a Navy Cross, and Ames a Navy Distinguished Service Medal. Ohara, risking his life in a flooded motor room, literally saves the boat and everyone aboard, also getting a DSM.

A lot more action follows. In the midst of all this, Miller meets his future wife, an Australian Navy officer called Sarah. When Morgan unexpectedly gets command of Bacalao, Miller becomes his XO, later leaving for his own command, an ancient S-boat in Alaskan waters. When he returns, a year later, to take over Bacalao, he is able to marry his Sarah during an overhaul in San Francisco before returning to the war.

Bacalao has just about everything you could want in a sub story. The characters are believable, with even the minor players fully fleshed out. The technical details are right on, and there's plenty of action to keep the story moving. I read a lot of sub books, mostly non-fiction, but I read my share of novels, too. This is one that sets the standard others will have to meet.

In a word, this book is brilliant. Join the crew of USS Bacalao for adventure on the high seas. J. T. McDaniel takes us from the builder's yard in Connecticut to white hot combat in the Pacific Theater. McDaniel's writing has the human understanding of Edward L. Beach, and the technical precision of Tom Clancy. Don't miss this one. If you're a fan of naval combat novels, this is as good as it gets.

Jeff Edwards, Author of "Torpedo: A Surface Warfare Thriller"

This is the story of an American submarine, the USS Bacalao, taking part in the WW2 Pacific war theater. We follow the birth of the boat and - but, we don't want to give away the spectacular ending. If you're a submarine fan, you'll enjoy it to your heart's content.

J. T. McDaniel has proven himself with his second submarine novel, after "With Honor In Battle". There are not that much novels about American submarines fighting in the Pacific, and anyway not describing in full detail how a boat is conceived and how life aboard develops, from the maiden trip to its exploits against the Japanese empire. McDaniel is not a former submarine sailor; he spent his tour of duty with the 101th Airborne, which is totally the wrong experience to tell about submarines. But he does it like he has been a commander all the way, and perhaps he has been in a former life.

You will experience love, war and death as it happened and along the way you'll enjoy places like Hawaii, Australia and the northern hemisphere. You'll be part of the Pearl Harbor attack as well, so climb on the Bacalao and read that ever exciting book. And if you're lost with the technical stuff, at the end you'll find a nice glossary!

Bacalao is the name of a fictional Gato class submarine. McDaniel brings us inside the sub. He gives look at what it must have been like to fight the war against the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the frustrations encountered.

This is a very credible read about a war that is fading into history for many these days.

Mr. McDaniel may not have served aboard an active-duty fleet boat but you certainly can't tell it from his book. He knows submarines and when you read "Bacalao" so will you! He entwines fiction with historical fact in a manner that is very similar to the way W.E.B. Griffin does. You very quickly begin to care about what happens to his characters. A "page-turner"! As a former Navy man, I'm pretty critical of the "technical stuff" in books of this nature and Mr. McDaniel has it right. I recommend it highly

The action is a bit long in coming, but it's pretty hot when it does kick in. But even before the shooting starts this story is interesting. The author gives his submarine a human face and he makes us feel the hopes, fears, and pain of the men who crew her. Nicely done! I'll be watching for more by Mr. McDaniel.

We think of the submarine as a silent, deathly hunter. However, within seconds the sub can become the hunted. Only the skill and ingenuity of the commander, his officers' staff and each member of the crew will enable them to elude the determined enemy surface force bent upon destroying them. McDanels doesn't sugar coat things. Events happen quickly! Attention to duties is paramount! Your response must be instantaneous and correct.
Other options are not acceptable if you are to fight another day.
This is a must read!

For those interested in WW II 0n a historical,or adventure story base this a good book

If you enjoy naval stories, then you may enjoy it.
It's readable but not a must read.