Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan [Paperback]

Clay Blair Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001 | Series: Bluejacket Books

Part reference and part thriller, this is a comprehensive chronicle of the U.S. submarine war in the Pacific.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Clay Blair saw service on the fleet submarine Guardfish in World War II and later wrote for Time and Life magazines before becoming editor-in-chief of The Saturday Evening Post. The author of several other popular books on submarines, he died in 1998.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1071 pages
• Publisher: Naval Inst Pr (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155750217X
• ISBN-13: 978-1557502179
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back in print, this classic account of WWII subs triumphs..., November 25, 2003

By 

Alex Diaz-Granados "fardreaming writer" (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan (Paperback)

One of the deadliest weapons used in naval warfare during the two World Wars was the submarine. In the Atlantic, Germany's U-boats did extensive damage to Allied shipping and twice threatened to starve Britain. In the Pacific, the Japanese submarine force, tied to a rigid doctrine of stalking enemy capital ships, scored a few outstanding kills of carriers and the USS Indianapolis but did little to harm Allied cargo ships.

In Clay Blair, Jr.'s Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War against Japan, reissued by the U.S. Naval Institute (the same publishing company to release a Tom Clancy novel) after several decades of being out of print, is a fascinating and detailed look at the officers, sailors and submarines of the Silent Service and their nearly four-year-long campaign against Japan's Imperial Navy and her Merchant Fleet.

Blair, himself a former submariner, pulls no punches and details the many difficulties faced by the American submarine force. Sub skippers who in peacetime were among the best often failed the test of battle. The S-class boats were too slow, had fewer torpedo tubes than the newer T and Gato-class fleet boats. Like Japan's submarine force, targeting priority was on capital fleet units (battleships, carriers and cruisers). Worst of all, the Mark XIV torpedo, the Navy's wonder weapon, proved to be less than wonderful until Admiral Charles Lockwood, Commander, Submarines, Pacific Fleet (ComSubPac) and other officers fixed several defects in the arming mechanism.

But once the Navy fixes most of its personnel- and torpedo-related problems and unleashes the Silent Service against Japanese merchant shipping, the efforts of admirals such as Lockwood, Ralph Christie, James Fife, Robert English (Lockwood's predecessor as ComSubPac before his death in a plane crash) and Richard Voge pay off as hundreds of Japanese freighters, troop transports and, more critically, tankers go to the bottom of the Pacific, crippling the island Empire's ability to sustain its war effort. In conjunction with the loss of island territories to the Allied soldiers and Marines advancing from several directions and the bombing campaign that got underway in 1944, the submarine force had placed a stranglehold on Japan's economy, doing to the Japanese what the Germans had failed to do to Britain.

Highly detailed and full of colorful characters and suspense-filled descriptions of undersea warfare, Silent Victory is a must-read for any buffs of naval warfare and World War II history. Interestingly, this book was cited as one of the sources of information for MicroProse's classic World War II submarine simulations "Silent Service" and "Silent Service II."

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A World War II History Must, March 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan (Paperback)

Mr. Blair offers a complete history of the unsung role of U.S. Navy submarines during World War II. This book is an encyclopedic and essential resource for those who wish to further explore how the Pacific War was fought and won.

Thankfully, this book is now available in softcover after years of being out of print. My only complaint is that the Naval Institute Press did not make an effort to clarify and update some of the information (classified and otherwise) that has come to light since the initial publishing of this book in 1975 (hence 4 Stars out of 5). Sadly, Mr. Blair was not around to do such work as he passed on in 1998. Still, all in all, this book must be read for those seeking a full picture of the Pacific War. Hopefully, some ambitious naval historian will take advantage of Mr. Blair's work and recently available archives to craft a contemporary history of U.S. submarine warfare during World War II.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The ultimate US WWII sub history, March 28, 2002

By 

Dr. Heiko Martin (Osaka, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan (Paperback)

The title says it all, indeed: there's no better book on this subject available, nor a more detailed one. Are you looking for details about what happened during which cruise? Do you want to share the worst scares of WWII US submariners? The greatest successes? Do you want to know who was behind the decisions taken? Who took care of the torpedo problem? Which kind of help intelligence provided? Which boat sank what? What happened to the book's "heroes" later, in real life?

Well, it's all in there, plus detailed tables, numbers, all you could possibly want. If you're interested in this subject, or at least in WWII, there will be no better book, don't hesitate to buy it!

My only criticism, though, is readability. Don't misunderstand me, it's well written, but there is too much of everyting, simply. Too many names of unknown one-time submarine commanders, too many names of less important staffers, and so on. And while the book's chronological order of events may be the most obvious choice, it further dilutes information about specific persons. You will frequently wonder "Captain XYZ, my God, who was that? I've read that name before, but in which section?" It's no easy-to-read childrens' book, that's for certain. Others than naval enthusiast might better be advised to look elsewhere...