Gallant Lady: A Biography of the USS Archerfish [Hardcover]

Ken Henry (Author), Don Keith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0765305682 | ISBN-13: 978-0765305688 | Edition: First Edition

She looked like just about like the other diesel powered, Balao-class submarines crafted in the '40s. But there the similarity ends. Because the Archerfish--named for a fish that kills its victims with a lethal blast of water from below--won a unique, heroic place in military history and the memories of her crew members.

Here is her story: from her assembly in New England, her dedication at the hand of Eleanor Roosevelt, her service in World War II, where she broke the back of the Japanese Navy and sank the largest ship ever sunk by a submarine, to the details of her critical role in the Cold War, crisscrossing the oceans for six years to foil Soviet naval intelligence.

Here too, is the story of her officers and enlsited men, who waited years to serve on the Archerfish. In their own words, these men tell how, against all odds, they sent a Japanese aircraft carrier to the ocean floor . . . served in peacetime in the Navy's only all bachelor crew . . . steered their ship into exotic ports all over the world . . . welcomed B-girls, Japanese war veterans, royalty, Playboy bunnies and a goat aboard ship, with equal hospitality. As they helped their sub outlast fires and even an earthquake, they worked hard, played hard and lived even harder.

An extraordinary real-life odyssey, Archerfish is a vivid, unforgettable portrait of submariners' life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The next best thing to serving on the Archerfish is reading this book. It's a great Navy story about a great ship and crew."--Stephen Coonts

About the Author

Don Keith is an Alabama native and attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he received his degree in broadcast and film. He has won numerous awards from the Associated Press and United Press International for news writing and reporting, as well as Billboard Magazine's "Radio Personality of the Year" during his more than twenty years in broadcasting. His first novel, The Forever Season, won the Alabama Library Association's "Fiction of the Year" award.

Keith lives in Indian Springs Village, Alabama, with his wife, Charlene, and a black cat named Hershey.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765305682
• ISBN-13: 978-0765305688
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,044,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Award-winning and best-selling author Don Keith was born in 1947 and has lived in the South all his life. He attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he received his degree in broadcast and film communication with a minor in English and literature. While working as a broadcast journalist, he won awards from the Associated Press and United Press International for news writing and reporting. He was also the first winner of Troy State University's Hector Award for innovation in broadcast journalism. As an on-the-air broadcaster, Don won the Billboard Magazine "Radio Personality of the Year" in two formats, country and contemporary. Keith was a broadcast personality for over twenty years in Birmingham and Nashville, and also owned his own consultancy, co-owned a Mobile, Alabama, radio station (WZEW-FM), and hosted and produced several nationally syndicated radio shows.

His first novel, THE FOREVER SEASON, was published by St. Martin's Press in the fall of 1995 to commercial and critical success. It called heavily on Keith's own athletic and academic experiences. Reviewers praised its unique approach and powerful story. The novel won the Alabama Library Association's "Fiction of the Year" award in 1997, joining works likewise honored from Harper Lee and others, and was re-issued in the fall of 2002 by the University of Alabama Press as part of its prestigious Deep South Books series. His second novel, WIZARD OF THE WIND, was based on Keith's years in broadcasting. As was the first book, the second work was published under the imprint of widely praised New York editor Robert Wyatt as A Wyatt Book for St. Martin's Press. Keith next released a series of young adult/mens' adventure novels co-written with Kent Wright. They are set in stock car racing and titled THE ROLLING THUNDER STOCKCAR RACING SERIES. The works were released in paperback by Tor Books, as audiobooks by Durkin-Hayes Publishing, and in hardback by Econo-Clad Books.

Don's next novel, a thriller co-written with former nuclear submarine commander George Wallace, FINAL BEARING, was released by Forge Books of New York City in April 2003 and quickly became a national bestseller and great reviews. A mass-market paperback edition is also available and a Kindle edition is now available from Amazon.com. A sequel to that novel, which is set for publication as an audio book in November 2011 and in hardback in 2012, has been optioned by a major film studio and a motion picture is in the works.

Keith's first non-fiction work, GALLANT LADY, the true story of a remarkable World War II submarine, the USS Archerfish, was written with the significant help of former Archerfish crewmember Ken Henry. It was published by Forge Books in June 2004. A trade paperback edition was published in 2005 and an audio version was released by Blackstone Audiobooks.

Don's next work of military history, IN THE COURSE OF DUTY, was published by the Caliber imprint of Penguin USA. The book deals with another amazing WWII submarine, the USS Batfish, her heroic efforts in the Pacific and the wonderful story of how she came to rest today high and dry in a former bean field in Muskogee, Oklahoma--the middle of the Dust Bowl and the Cherokee Nation.

In 2006, he published FINAL PATROL, another Caliber/Penguin release, which tells the personal, behind-the-scenes stories of each of the 17 WWII submarines that are open to the public around the country as museum ships. Each of the non-fiction submarine books were offered as featured selections of The Military Book Club.

Also in 2006, Cumberland House Press released Don's unique series of vignettes about legendary college football coach "Bear" Bryant titled THE BEAR: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF COACH PAUL "BEAR" BRYANT.

Don's next work was THE ICE DIARIES, the untold story of America's first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, and her historic Cold War trip to the North Pole in 1958. The book was co-written with Captain William R. Anderson, the skipper of Nautilus on that world-changing, top-secret voyage. The book was submitted for consideration for the Pulitzer Prize.

The next work was another true story of a series of events aboard the World War II submarine USS Billfish. WAR BENEATH THE WAVES reveals the previously untold story of how a young officer took charge of a submarine during a vicious depth-charge attack and, with the help of a couple of chiefs and brave crewmembers, saved the boat. It, too, is pubished by Caliber/Penguin and is also available in an audio-book version.

Don's next non-fiction historical work will be UNDERSEA WARRIOR, the remarkable story of Commander Dudley "Mush" Morton, a young submarine skipper who literally--and almost single-handedly--changed the course of submarine warfare. And he did it in only ten months as the captain of a submarine.

Don also writes under the pseudonym of Jeffery Addison and has published three novellas, co-written with Edie Hand, THE LAST CHRISTMAS RIDE, THE SOLDIER'S RIDE, and THE CHRISTMAS RIDE: MIRACLE OF THE LIGHTS. Each is an inspirational story of life's ride, the rough patches we run into along the way, and how we overcome them with faith, family and friends.

Don lives in Indian Springs Village, Alabama, with his wife, Charlene. He is also an active "ham" radio operator (call sign N4KC), is a member of the Alabama Writers' Forum and actively supports local and statewide literacy efforts. Don's web site is www.donkeith.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Archerfish's varied history, May 5, 2005

By 

Thomas J. Dougherty (Ayer, Ma. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gallant Lady: A Biography of the USS Archerfish (Hardcover)

This book follows the exploits of the Balao class submarine USS Archerfish (SS-311). Launched in May, 1943, Archerfish's first year of service in the Pacific was lackluster, with two skippers and only 2 sinkings to her credit. Her next skipper had earlier lost his confidence when in command of USS Dace after missing the Japanese carrier Shokaku, and had asked to be relieved of command. Archerfish was Joseph Enright's second chance. Initially Archerfish draws "lifeguard duty" for B-29 raids south of Tokyo Bay. After being released from this duty, the submarine was patrolling near Tokyo when it picked up an uncharted island on radar. Shortly it was determined that the "island" was moving. Closing in for a look, Enright ran the submarine parallel to the large, indistinct target. They determined that it was an aircraft carrier, and slowly outrunning Archerfish. Just as they were losing the race, the target turned to the west, heading directly for Archerfish. Enright submerged the boat, and continued periscope observations, plotting course and speed. Although he could not identify the type of aircraft carrier, he did draw a sketch on paper of the target. As shooting time was near, one of the escort destroyers passed directly over Archerfish, and as soon as she passed, Enright came to periscope depth and fired six torpedoes. The crew heard them strike the target, and believed they heard breaking up of the target. Initially Archerfish was given credit for sinking a 28,000 ton Hayataka class carrier. After the war, it was found to be the 72,000 ton Japanese supercarrier Shinano, built in secret on a battleship hull, and as big as a postwar Forrestal class supercarrier. It remains to this day the single largest warship sunk by a submarine.

One of the authors (Henry) served on board the Archerfish in the early 1950's, and he describes the postwar exploits. After the war the submarine was inactivated in 1946, and with the Korean War and the Cold War was reactivated in 1952. The submarine was not modernized to Guppy configuration, but rather retained her original fleet boat look. She participated in a number of operations, including making movies (Operation Petticoat), testing early SubRoc, and acting as a diving bell target in rescue simulations. The most unusual operation commenced in 1960, in which an "all-bachelor" crew was selected for an around the world cruise, termed "Sea Scan". The story was that she would make a complete hydrological and meteorological survey during the cruise, and she was loaded with impressive racks of equipment. In fact, her true mission was to submerge every 60 miles to provide a stable platform for extremely sophisticated gravimetric measurements under the oceans. Early missile launches were straying from their tracks due to fluctuations in the Earth's gravitational field. These sensitive measurements, which mapped small variations in the Earth's gravitational field, were essential for accurate ICBM targeting. To prepare Archerfish for the cruise, she was sent to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Because of the cover story and the very limited number of "need to know" personnel, the Navy Yard assigned little priority to outfitting the submarine for the hydrographic science mission. In order to prepare their ship, the crew engages in "creative requisitioning" that is reminiscent of the better episodes of "McHale's Navy" and "MASH". We the get to follow the crew on a series of adventures and mishaps as they make their way around the globe, disguised as an aging submarine with a randy bachelor crew and a mission that no one would want. Eventually, Sea Scan takes until 1967 to complete all phases, and shortly after that, at the end of 1968, USS Snook (SSN-592) sinks Archerfish in a torpedo exercise off of San Diego. Many books focus on the exciting SSN operations during the Cold War. This book is a look at the DBF part of the Cold War, when even second line fleet submarines had their role to play. I highly recommend!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gallant Lady, August 5, 2004

By 

F. S Virden "vivahaus" (Gulf Shores AL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gallant Lady: A Biography of the USS Archerfish (Hardcover)

"Rollicking" is probably the term Hollywood would use, and probably such a movie from the latter part of this book would be a hit. There is little question of the drama of ARCHERFISH wartime patrols and her singular distinction in stalking and sinking the world's largest enemy ship on its maiden voyage. Like many other accounts of submarine warfare, GALLANT LADY vividly describes the stuffy quarters, grimy tension, and grim excitement of WWII submarine life. Where the book becomes unusual is in the story of ARCHERFISH's third commission as auxiliary to a modernized fleet in which she has become an anachronism. Not intimidated by her diminishing status, she forges her own direction for the next ten years, embracing with gusto a series of routinejobs and a unique assignment that no other ship can be spared for. In the process her maverick (and envied) crew lives an experience of exploration, adventure, and hi-jinks worthy of the sea sagas of earlier centuries. No other commissioned ship of the Navy has enjoyed such a voyage, and no others are likely to. This is a fascinating tale of camaraderie and initiative in service to our country that belongs in every seafarer's locker. Frank S. Virden, Captain, USN (Ret.)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A book with 2 personalities, October 19, 2007

By 

J. Peterson (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gallant Lady: A Biography of the USS Archerfish (Hardcover)

This book gives the impression of being 2 books pieced together. The first part is a somewhat cursory account of Archerfish's famous exploit of sinking the Shinano, a story recounted elsewhere much more comprehensively. Once that part is out of the way, the remaining 3/4 of the book deals with the boat's later history, or more accurately, the hijinks of the various crews, which all sound like the submarine equivalent of McHale's Navy personnel. This is probably entertaining to ex-USN enlisted types but didn't entertain me much and I started losing interest fast. I think that the bargain price reflects the true value of the book.