U.S. Subs Down Under: Brisbane 1942-1945 [Hardcover]

David Jones (Author), Peter Nunan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2004

For three years during World War II, US submarines sailing from Brisbane were at the forefront of the war against Japan, but the story of this "Silent Service" is not well known, overshadowed as it was by the larger Pearl Harbor and Fremantle task forces. Jones and Nunan trace the subs' contribution to the Allied victory in the Pacific and also des

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a valuable contribution, enriching the reader's understanding of a theater that was extremely important to America's ultimate victory." -- Associated Press, Norman N. Brown, January 2005

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press; First Printing edition (November 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591146445
• ISBN-13: 978-1591146445
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,836,657 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Reference about WWII Submarines, November 17, 2006

By 

G. C. Harper "Glynns Book Reviews" (San Augustine, Texas, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: U.S. Subs Down Under: Brisbane 1942-1945 (Hardcover)

U.S. Subs Down Under: Brisbane, 1942-1945
by David Jones and Peter Nunan

U.S. Subs Down Under is an excellent reference work about an important part of the war in the Southwestern Pacific during WWII. It is thoroughly researched and the writing is clear and accessible. Although the book does not provide a reader with the excitement of undersea warfare in more dramatic books, such as William Touhy's The Bravest Man, which covers the exploits of submarine commander Richard O'Kane, nevertheless it is a valuable reference work.

Jones and Nunan sort out the complexities of the two major operating commands in the Pacific theater; in the Southwest Pacific, under the overall command of General Douglas MacArthur in Australia, and those commanded in the rest of the Pacific by Admiral Nimitz from his headquarters in Pearl Harbor. Because submarines and other forces were constantly moving from one command to the other, it is sometimes difficult to determine who reported to whom from one month to the next, and Jones and Nunan are a great help in keeping track of who was directing submarine missions.

U.S. Subs Down Under also provides a great deal of detail about shore-based support of the submarines operating out of Australian ports; the rest facilities, repair facilities, and of course the degree to which the citizens and government of Australia both encouraged, fed, and entertained submarine sailors. The book also includes many details about the tasks submarines performed besides sinking enemy ships: in landing coast watchers, rescuing downed aviators, evacuating civilians, reconnaissance, and supporting invasions forces.

Jones and Nunan also provide statistics on the patrols and sinkings of individual submarines (including the dates of their patrols and the names of the Japanese ships they sunk) and the dates, names and circumstances of each submarine that was lost during the war in the Southwest Pacific theater of operations.

Because I served on the USS Bream (SS-243) from 1960 to 1963, reading about Bream's operations during the war was of particular interest to me. Although the book included information about Bream's two patrols and the fact that "my" sub sunk the freighter Yuki Maru on June 16, 1944 and torpedoed and damaged the Japanese cruiser Aoba on October 23, 1944, a mystery remains for me. I learned when I served in Bream that the boat had been depth-charged sometime during the war and the hull was permanently deformed by the attack, which limited the submarine's test depth. Unfortunately U.S. Subs Down Under did not mention the depth-charging, although it does state that Bream and was fired on (although not hit) by an American Liberty ship in April of 1944. Perhaps the depth-charging occurred after Bream attacked the cruiser Aoba, but U.S. Subs Down Under does not mention it. After the war Bream was modified as an SSK, or hunter-killer sub for anti-submarine warfare. She had a large, bulbous sonar dome on her bow, which reduced her surface speed to about 11 knots.