Customer Reviews

U.S.S. Barb (SS-220): American Submarine War Patrol Reports

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Thrilling. The Barb commanded by Commander E. Fluckey had one of the most exciting and productive carriers during WWll. The story, taken from lengthly patrol reports,spells out in great detail the many attacks and sinkings of enemy ships. How at sea and in enemy waters the Captain and crew overcame difficult electrical and mechanical break downs by giving the reader insight in their process of problem solving and suggestions to higher command for more perminent fixes. All of this while taking the war to the enemy s front door. A great read.

After reading "Thunder Below" by Adm. Fluckey I had to get the war reports. Even though it is a no nonsense copy of the official reports you can tell without seeing who submitted the report when Adm. Fluckey took command. He interjects his wit into the deadly seriousness of combat which probably raised a few eyebrows at ComSubPac. While his novel contains personal thoughts and conversations, the patrol reports are the actual day to day conditions of the barb. It is a must have companion to "Thunder Below", and is very interesting reading if you are an ex submariner like myself.

Remember Joe Friday, just the facts mam? Well this is the very criptic collection of facts from each of the voyages that returned home.

Thunder Below stands out as a complete book. The Barb Patrol Reports are like outtakes, adding color and a lot of very interesting information. They also help the reader to understand some of the maneuvering required to achieve the spectacular results.

When teaching at the MBA level I encouraged students to get out of their management books, computers and such and around for great leaders. Look at how they viewed achieving greatness as leaders, not managers, John Woode, both Kennedy (space and Reagan (Russia and the berlin wall) . Steve Jobs whose real genius was visualizing what the consumer would want only after they used it and then building a raw materials to customer store experience. All of this done while he was obsessed with every detail, limiting addons to approved and tested software, delivering the music, stores with no sales counters, high quality retail help. I believe the most WW2 sub commanders operating in the distant Pacific were also some of the greatest leaders this nation ever produced. For the most part out from the thumb of senior military after they departed they were alone in the ocean and alone of the bridge.

Lot's of the small but immportant details are only in the Patrol Reports and add great color. If I had both at the beginning I would switch back and forth between the book and the patrol repors or read each patrol report as the patrol ended in the book.

Some of the charts are very interested such as the number of aircraft sighted range and reaction. Lots of medical , munitions data, personnel data

The aircraft sightings fascinated me because I frequently fly at lower altitudes over the Channel islands off California. There's a fair amount of naval activity , commercial shipping fishing boats and pleasue boats. It always seems to me that the airplane has a huge advantage of a larger ship even if only the sail is showing . Must have been the perfect paint jobs. Wakes are certainly visible

I would not buy the book to read alone unless as was the case with me I had already read Thunder Below several times, but packaged with Thunder Below it is a terrific addition.