Customer Reviews

War Beneath the Sea: Submarine Conflict During World War II

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Padfield's book is a comprehensive examination of submarine warfare from 1939 to 1945. It includes extensive information about the whole spectrum of boats from manned torpedos through to the Japanese submarine float plane carriers. An appendix provides a day by day important actions over the entire war.

What I particularly like is the macro/micro nature of the book. In this way it has much in common with some works of CEW Bean. There are many single action descriptions that provide a lively counterpoint to descriptions of the strategic situation.

My criticism is that the work is devided into chapters by theatre and time frame - but the text is strictly chronological. This makes many of the chapter titles pointless. None the less the chapters do round out particular periods.

In all a very readable and enjoyable book.

I found Mr. Padfields book to contain some excellent accounts of the various submarine forces' efforts during the Second World War. I also thought that he does a great job of placing the 1st hand accounts within the larger strategic issues he examines.

My only criticism of the work is that he does not treat the US efforts in the pacific with anywhere near the same breadth of analysis that he gives the British in the Med. I found it hard to accept his arguments fully, as he rarely if ever gives alternatives to his positions.

Once I was into page one, I couldn't get away from it. Secondhand accounts they may be in many instances, but you feel as though you're part of the scenery, in the action. Peter's frequent use of his analytical skills helped to stimulate my own thinking. Very good read for anyone interested in the submarine conflicts of WWII.

Padfield goes into greater depth on submarine warfare in the Second World War than any other author I have encountered. While some parts of the book get a bit long, overall it is a fascinating and worthwhile read for any enthusiast, a must for the historian's bookshelf.

I have been reading WWII submarine books for nearly 40 years now and became interested in this one as it offered a comparison of various navies' submarines and their operations in a single volume. As such it is useful and even contained a number of items of information I had not seen elsewhere.

On the other hand, I felt that the book had a tendency to gloss over some of the basic aspects of the period's submarine warfare in a manner that would likely confuse or even lose novices to the subject, and that the same could have been cured through few enough pages to render this a significant criticism. A neophyte to this subject would do better to read Edward L. Beach's *Submarine* (which the author himself relied heavily upon, by the way, in addressing U.S. submarine operations) before attempting this book.

The author also made a couple of startling detail errors in places that seemed to diminish his sense of authority, in particular his misnaming the atomic bombs dropped on Japan as "Thin Boy" and "Fat Boy" rather than by their well-known sobriquets, "Little Boy" and "Fat Man".

I also thought he gave rather short shrift to the U.S. Pacific submarine campaign, considering the numbers of boats and men involved in that fight, as well as it's significance to the outcome of that war, giving the distinct impression that he was addressing the subject more out of a sense of scholarly duty than any sincere interest in the subject. The rather thin treatment that emerges from the text is further reflected by the disappointingly small number of sources he cites in his bibliography in regard to this issue. It actually reminded me of an undergraduate term paper in its apparent disproportionate reliance on just a few prominent sources. This economy of sources would tend undermine his credibility on the subject were it not for the fact that, having read a lot more about it elsewhere, I didn't find any glaring errors.

On the other hand, I thought he gave an interesting account of the British campaign in the Mediterranean, and felt I came away with an overview of that struggle that I never got from merely reading the memoirs of British submarine commanders. He also put the thrust of his emphasis on the Battle of the Atlantic, where for a book of this type it undoubtably belonged, though I do wish he had gone into more detail about allied ASW resources and tactics than he did. Again, it seems that a novice to the subject might be better served with a more detailed treatment. As with his treatment of the U.S. Pacific War, he seemed to wield his generalizations well yet more specificity would have been appreciated.

Finally, I felt the presentation of information could have been more systematic and that it would have benefited materially by including especially maps as well as charts, graphs, and more diagrams. Additionally, in a number of places the prose is a little awkward.

Thus, although the scope of this work is formidable and in some places I thought it impressive, for the these reasons I give it only three stars. Perhaps a future new edition could remedy some of my criticisms.

Overall, Padfield does well to provide an overview of the undersea war in WWII. In my view, he is too critical of the US effort in the early going between December 1941 and early 1944. His contention is that huge tactical mistakes in strategy were made in the focus of the effort against Japan.

In short, what was done then was what had to be done when considered on the world stage, not simply in the Pacific. Second guessing tactics of 1942 with the prospective of 45 years is highly unfair.

A very good book, giving a comprehensive overview of the WW2 submarine war. Of particular value is the comparison between the different tactics used by different navies (for example, comparing the US failure to institute convoys with the British convoy experience, or comparing the US and German difficulties with torpedoes, and many others).

It's true that the chapter headings are not helpful, but that in no way detracts from the excellence of this work.

This book gives a comprehensive account of submarine ops in World War II.Author being a renowned naval historian.Evolution of sub arm of leading naval powers is covered in detail especially doctrines which guided its employment in war .

Padfield then goes on to give a sketch on the technical features of subs at the disposal of these powers.What I particularly liked was author's account of torpedo-aiming devices[vorhaltechner,TDC]developed by U boat arm of Kriegsmarine and Sub Command of US navy.Padfield has correctly pointed out the subs intially were not used the way it should have been used.This particularly applies to US navy.Mainly because naval staff was obsessed with Mahan's thinking of decisive fleet engagement involving capital ships with subs also pressed into attacking the same.

IJN squandered its subarm making them serve as adjuncts to battle fleet instead of using them to assail American supplylines streching from the western seaboard of US across the Pacific.Such a course of action could have possibly scaled down the momentum of Adm Nimitz's Central Pacific offensive.

I am appalled by how Japan ignored maritime security of its island empire.Like Britain, Tokyo was vulnerable to naval blockade.Belatedly Japanese ships started sailing in convoys.But to ensure convoy protection Japanese ought to know the disposition of US subs.This was not to be as American ciphers proved impenetrable which made evasive routing difficult.

As experience in both world wars have shown, rerouting convoys was the best meathod for foiling sub attacks.Japanese were further handicapped by lack of radar.Hence destroyers escorting convoys were unable to locate surfaced subs. Japanese aircraft patrolling seaways never had RWR[radar warning receiver]which would have helped to detect emissions from target locating radars aboard US boats.


Above faults exacerbated by reluctance of Japanese naval leadership to allocate adequate destroyers for escort duties.So the US subs came to exercise a stranglehold over Tokyo's seaborne trade.

I must say much of American fatalities stemmed from the overconfidence of US subcommand.

Padfield's account of U boat war is just a rehash of what had been written earlier by other historians and does not contain any fresh insights.Author's contention that U boat offensive to choke Britain's seaborne trade lost its sting by mid 1941 ,is difficult to endorse. Padfield rests his thesis on the succesful penetration of German naval enigma cipher which made rerouting possible around waiting U boat packs.While not belittling this development I feel Hitler's decision to divert boats to other theatres of war made a big impact on the course of campaign.More boats in the Atlantic would have meant more eyes for locating convoys.

Biggest flaw of this book is most of author's comments are ambigously couched.In the concluding portions of the book author has acknowledged the potency of German U boat arm;that it very nearly brought Britain to its knees.So is the case with atom bombing of Japan which Padfield justifies at the same time arguing that continuation of US sub campaign would have sufficed to bring its capitulation.

Few of author's political pronouncements sound hypocritical especially on the build up of events climaxing in the outbreak of Pacific war.To conclude: book is biased ,subjective.

This book's British point-of-view is as hard on Churchill as on Admiral King. Its prose convolutes with constructions as tedious as the Latin forms on which it is based. Those who know little about undersea warfare in WWII may find value here; others should delve into the materials from which this synopsis was culled.

This book is pretty good but its not the best book I've seen.It only talks about the major events of the war and it does'nt have the tiny bits that nobody knows about thaat makes it interesting. I found some new stuff about the japanese but not that much. The major reason that I got this book was for the british and italian submarines which I could'nt find anything that I did'nt already know.Overall ehhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!