Batfish, the Champion "submarine-killer" Submarine of World War II [Hardcover]

Hughston E. Lowder (Author), Jack Scott (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 251 pages
• Publisher: Prentice-Hall; First Edition edition (1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130665630
• ISBN-13: 978-0130665638
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,761,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars BATFISH, May 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Batfish, the Champion "submarine-killer" Submarine of World War II (Hardcover)

This review is based on the 1982 paperback edition comprising 276 pages, ten photographs, no charts and no maps. Author Hughston E. Lowder was a plankowner, radio operator and sonar operator on the USS Batfish (SS-310, a thick-skinned boat of the Balao class) for the full duration of its seven war patrols. He describes the boat and crew members as typical, not great. In under two years she earned a Presidential Unit Citation, nine battle stars, sank fourteen enemy ships and damaged two others. In four days in February 1945 she sank three of the four enemy submarines then in Philippine waters. The book presents the facts in a well written readable style with many excerpts from official logs and reports. As the radio operator young Lowder was ideally placed to monitor official traffic and to know what was happening at most times under the boat's three different skippers. The reader can feel the boredom of uneventful patrols, the frustration caused by days and weeks of heavy weather, the nuisance of finding sampans when the boat surfaced, the thrill and disappointment of taking on the Yamato, and the satisfaction of putting down enemy marus and combatants. This is a very good book and I found it impossible to put down.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad but not great either, April 4, 2010

By 

Wayne Cooper "Watercolourman" (North Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Batfish, the Champion "submarine-killer" Submarine of World War II (Hardcover)

This review is for the hardcover version of the book.
There are 4 double sided pages of photographs which enhance the book to some degree but sadly and suprisingly the are placed almost at the end of the book....can't imagine why.
The main sections of the book are written in a 'diary' style with daily entries of the day to day goings on in a sub.
Luckily when there are some interesting happenings the author has chosen a more 'conversational' style which reads much more enjoyably.
The story itself could be a great one and as a sub story lover I have definitely read similar stories with about the same amount of 'action' that read much smoother.
Unfortunately, the action areas in the story are fairly few and far between and I found myself dozing while I waited patiently for the next bit of action.
Spoiler here so go to the end if you don't want to read it.
The 3 Japanese subs they believe they have killed turn out in retrospect to be, at most....2 and there is some doubt about one of them as well.
Again, I know the events happened the way they happened but these 3 events all occur in a few pages near the middle-end of the book and are almost anticlimatic after all the dud torpedoes etc.
Overall, not bad and potentially a great story but somewhat hashed by poor writing.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Batfish, December 23, 2002

By 

Jp (The USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Batfish, the Champion "submarine-killer" Submarine of World War II (Hardcover)

The book gives detailed accounts off the goings on in and around the batfish.
The book tells you all about the 7 war patrols it goes on and how it gets the grand and glorious title of hunter-killer sub.
The writer was actually on all 7 war patrols.
It is just a personall account of what happens and keeps you guessing what will happen to them next.
It also tells how it got to its final resting place.
It is a very good book.
Be ready for some action.

Good reading.