USS Pampanito: Killer-Angel [Hardcover]

Gregory Michno (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2000

Most World War II submarine stories are glorifications of war written by submarine captains about their own boats. The USS Pampanito, however, was not a typical submarine. The sub and its crew caused plenty of destruction, but they found the pinnacle of their honor and fame in a dramatic sea rescue. Gregory F. Michno relates the experiences of the crewmen--both enlisted men and officers--who served on the USS Pampanito.

The Pampanito story begins with the boat's construction in 1943, continues through its six combat missions, and concludes with its decommissioning after the war in 1945. The heart of the book is the September 12, 1944, attack on a Japanese convoy carrying English and Australian POWs from the Burma-Siam Railway (of Bridge on the River Kwai fame) to prison camps in Japan. The Pampanito helped sink two of the prison ships, unwittingly killing hundreds of Allied soldiers, but then returned to rescue the victims. The crew picked a record seventy-three men from the sea.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gregory F. Michno is the son of a USS Pampanito crewman. To write this book, he reviewed audio and video tapes, diaries, and letters and interviewed fifty Pampanito veterans. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806132051
• ISBN-13: 978-0806132051
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,635,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent look at "ordinary" submariners at war, April 24, 2000

By 

Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: USS Pampanito: Killer-Angel (Hardcover)

There have been many books written about individual US Navy submarines during World War Two in the Pacific, but almost invariably they are written from the viewpoint of the commander or executive officer. "USS Pampanito: Killer-Angel" is different. This is a book which, for the most part, tells the story of a submarine at war through the eyes of her crew, the men who kept her engines running, who scanned the skies for enemy aircraft when surfaced, who strained to load the torpedoes into her tubes during convoy attacks.

Sparked by the stories told by his late father, a crewman aboard the Pamapanito during her first two combat patrols, Greg Michno collected the tales of fifty of the men who served aboard her from her launch in 1943 till the end of the war. Together with extensive research into official records, Michno has woven these firsthand accounts into an absorbing portrait of ordinary men at war. His recounting of a harrowing depth charge attack with the Pampanito at a depth of over 600 feet could have come right out of "Das Boot". But the story is more than just combat. Day-to-day shipboard life in insanely cramped quarters, jury-rigged repairs upon vital malfunctioning equipment, wild R&R escapades ashore which could cause as many casualties as a battle at sea, conflicts and comradeship among the men and officers ... it is all here in this book.

The Pampanito appeared on no one's list of "top" submarines as measured by merchant tonnage sunk or major warships sent to the bottom. All too often her successes were more than balanced by bad luck or, perhaps, less than stellar leadership. But on one remarkable occasion, the boat rescued 73 Australian and British POW's whose ships had been sunk during an attack on a Japanese convoy. The story of this rescue and the subsequent close bond formed between these former prisoners, many of whom had worked on the notorious "River Kwai" railroad construction, and their saviors creates an emotional high point of the book. Many of the Pampanito's crew felt that saving those men was more important than the sinking of any ship.

As it happens, the Pampanito is still afloat today. Spared the scrapyard, the fate of most of her contemporaries, the Pampanito has been declared a National Historical Landmark and is docked at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco for visitors to board.

The book is well illustrated with maps of the combat operations plus numerous photographs of crewmembers, both as impossibly young men during their war and as elderly veterans visiting their boat during a recent crew reunion.

"USS Pampanito: Killer-Angel" is an excellent look at ordinary men on an ordinary submarine during an extraordinary time.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Enlisted man's view of submarine life, March 23, 2000

By 

William H. McCollum (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: USS Pampanito: Killer-Angel (Hardcover)

This is an excellent portrayal of life on a WWII submarine. It is a good picture of what life was like for the enlisted men, and for the service in general. I served on the Pampanito with the author's father. This is what it was REALLY like on a submarine in the Pacific during WWSII. I commend the author for his thorough research into the history of an unusual submarine and the living conditions aboard them during the war.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Visit to a Real Live Boat!, June 27, 2001

By 

The Traveler - See all my reviews

This review is from: USS Pampanito: Killer-Angel (Hardcover)

After a recent tour thru the actual USS Pampanito (twice!) at Fishermen's Wharf in San Francisco, I bought the book at the bookstore next to the sub which is run by volunteers of this wonderful floating National Historic Landmark. What a thrill to actually see the sub in real life and then read a book about its' six patrols during WW2. As a son of one of the sailors who served on it, author Michno said he used to listen to his dad's war tails with some disinterest as they grew with each beer and retelling. Later he visited the sub with his own son and after realizing that it was his father's boat he was inspired to research and write a book about it, saying he wished that he had been a better listener. The book starts by giving a brief early biog. of six or eight men, where they were born, educated, etc., and how they came to be on the Pampanito. How it was built in New Hampshire, its' commissioning and shakedown and then an interesting and never boring account of each of its' six wartime patrols in the Pacific. It brings alive the details of the boats' activities and daily lives of the men, developed through oral histories given by them. Containing numerous photos, especially interesting were the recent photos of and recaps by the men, now in their eighties, who attended the fiftieth reunion in 1995, aboard the Pampanito. Touching was reading about the tolling of the bells ceremony where the ships bell in rung once as each of the names of the fifty-two subs lost in WW2 was called off. Well written and researched, Michno provides an exhausting list of footnotes on many of the details in the book. An interesting and scholarly work that is a fascinating and easy read.