Wahoo: The Patrols of America's Most Famous WWII Submarine (Paperback)

by Richard O'Kane (Author) "From the dock, Wahoo appeared ready for sea, but the coming and going of Navy Yard workmen at a hurried pace told that there was..." (more)
Key Phrases: conning tower chart, stadimeter ranges, normal approach course, Captain Morton, Pearl Harbor, Mare Island (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The USS Wahoo's performance in sinking Japanese ships in the farthest reaches of the empire is legendary.

Product Details

• Paperback: 342 pages
• Publisher: Presidio Press (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0891415726
• ISBN-13: 978-0891415725
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #345,320 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How the Silent Service came to wage "Unrestricted Warfare", July 5, 2001

By A Customer

Submariners accounted for less than 2% of the entire U. S. Navy in World War Two - but they accounted for 60% of Japanese merchant marine losses and 30% of Japanese navy losses. After the war, Japanese officials conceded that the virtual strangulation of the Japanese home islands - largely by the U.S. submarine force - was the primary cause for the defeat of the Japanese military. How this victory was won is told in microcosm by Dick O'Kane's fine book on USS WAHOO (SS238). O'Kane served as Executive Officer on WAHOO for every patrol but its last - and went onto to command his own boat, the legendary USS TANG (SS306) - which was also one of the most successful submarines of the war. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the only effective offensive weapon available in the Pacific was the submarine, and the U.S. immediately commenced unrestricted submarine warfare. Unfortunately, the submarine force - like the rest of the Allied world - was not quite ready from the start to take on this new challenge. Boats immediately deployed long distances to take the war to Japan, but the results were mixed. Pre-war tactics - largely based upon remaining undetected as forward elements of battleship-based fleet movements - were of very limited value in independent, forward deployed operations against the Japanese. WAHOO's first patrols reflected this defect - the CO was unwilling and untrained to engage in aggressive actions to find and pursue (for the most part in surface transit) and engage in risk taking to ensure the destruction of high value Japanese targets. It was only with the insertion of younger officers - WAHOO's LCDR "Mush" Morton was among those that showed the way early on, revolutionizing the submarine force and its tactics - that significant victories were realized. The courage of these crews - sailing alone thousands of miles from base to engage the enemy in their home waters - cannot be denied. Their intelligence, innovation, hard work and persistence should also be credited. The challenges that were overcome were intimidating - one of the greatest being the U. S. Navy's own Ordnance Bureau. The gross deficiencies in the quality and effectiveness of the U.S. Navy's torpedoes in World War Two were criminal. The WAHOO deployed in the Sea of Japan - on their penultimate patrol - and every warshot fired was a dud. The Navy Bureau's response was to deflect blame on to the boats for poor shooting - an unconscionable act of cowardice, when the facts were that torpedoes had never been tested to accurately judge their performance in realistic scenarios. Improvements were made, but the U. S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance never delivered an effective weapon to the U.S. Navy submarine force in World War Two. O'Kane's "WAHOO" reads like a thrilling novel of fiction - but in fact documents the emergence of the dominant force in winning the war in the Pacific against Japan. The price paid was high. 22% of submariners never returned from patrol - the highest rate of attrition of any arm of any service in the U.S. military in World War Two. The WAHOO never returned from their seventh patrol - assumed sunk by aircraft after another successful series of raids in the Sea of Japan. We are fortunate that these men were willing to sacrifice all and volunteer to take the war to the Japanese - and fortunate that Dick O'Kane has documented the valor of the submarine force forever in this fine volume. O'Kane also wrote of USS TANG in his book "Clear the Bridge!", another book well worth the read.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worthy of 7 Stars , December 1, 2005

By	Steve Dietrich (Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Monica CA, United States) - See all my reviews

O'Kane fills this fantastic book with a great account of courage, leadership and seamanship. It is easy to get wrapped up in this as a "war book" since it goes to the top of the class. However, rather than repeat what other fine reviews have noted I would also expand the book to a classic on leadership.

O'Kane is onboard with legendary Skipper Mush Morton.

I run into a lot of people in business who complain about the challenge of motivating both their company personnel and their suppliers/customers. What greater motivational challenge than to take a group of young sailors on a 12,000 mile cruise, packed like sardines in a tube and surrounded by people attempting (far too often with success) kill you.

His and his fellow officer's leadership kept the boat on the offense, with the crew believing in the mission and their fellow sailors.

There's enough detail to get out a plotting board ( or at least arrange the cocktail almonds) to duplicate the seamanship involved in putting the submarine in the middle of enemy convoys on a dark night at the right place to fire at several targets.

I have a strong feeling that in today's society we tend to confuse heroism with victims. True heroes are those who understand the risks they are taking and yet continue their mission despite the risks. For O'Kane and the crew it is a story of functioning as true heroes for months on end.

UPDATE : This fall (2006) the Navy confirmed that the sunken submarine located recently in the Sea of Japan was in fact the Wahoo. After 50 years the final resting place of Morton and the crew has been located.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a history by a man who was there, December 8, 1999

By	Daniel Ford (at danford dot net) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I actually liked this book better than O'Kane's first-person account, Clear the Bridge! Before he skippered Tang, O'Kane served as exec aboard Wahoo. Using American and Japanese records, he was able to do a magnificent job of recreating Wahoo's final patrol, which resulted in the loss of the sub and all hands aboard. Readers who enjoy this solid bit of historical re-creation ought also to buy Clear the Bridge!, which details O'Kane's patrols and loss of Tang, and his imprisonment at Omori camp along with Pappy Boyington of VMF-241. (Like Boyington, he won the Medal of Honor for his war service.)