War Beneath the Waves: A True Story of Courage and Leadership Aboard a World War II Submarine [Hardcover]

Don Keith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2010

From the national bestselling author of Final Patrol-a gripping story of heroism under the sea.

In November 1943, while on war patrol in the Makassar Strait, the USS Billfish submarine was spotted by the Japanese, who launched a vicious depth charge attack. Explosions wracked the sub for fifteen straight hours. With his senior officers incapacitated, diving officer Charlie Rush boldly assumed command and led key members of the crew in a heroic effort to keep their ship intact as they tried to escape.

Now, in War Beneath the Waves, this intense story is finally told in all its harrowing detail. It is an inspiring tale of one man's leadership and courage under fire, and of the remarkable efforts of a submarine crew to do their duty and save their ship.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A seasoned chronicler of submariners’ exploits now tells the tale of a heroic feat of endurance in the fall of 1943, when U.S.S. Billfish endured a 15-hour depth-charging by some uncommonly skilled and persistent Japanese antisubmarine vessels. Further handicapping her was the fact that her captain was better at being a staff officer than he was at the extraordinarily demanding and personal job of leadership required in submarines. Nor was he the only one whose skill or nerve failed to meet requirements. On the other hand, many of the crew rose to fill gaps and bring the ship safe home. Dealing equally with the hardware and the interpersonal dynamics of WWII submarining, Keith will inform and please both the rank newcomer to the subject and the well-read expert on it. Invaluable for the WWII submarine annals. --Roland Green

Review

[Audio Review] Listeners can expect to survive a fifteen-hour depth-charge attack upon a U.S. submarine by the Japanese. Cruising enemy waters in WWII s Pacific campaign, the boat came under such a severe bombardment that three officers, including the captain, stopped functioning mentally. The diving officer and the chief of the boat assumed command, saving the submarine. Narrator Stephen Hoye keeps himself from becoming subsumed in the characters and remains the storyteller. He separates sentences with a slight pause without causing discontinuity. The technique prevents him from racing through the technically difficult descriptions that are so important to the story. In capturing the terror of the situation, Hoye credibly portrays how men under such pressure can find themselves unable to think. Today we would recognize the condition as traumatic stress disorder. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2010] --AudioFile --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: NAL Hardcover (April 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451229282
• ISBN-13: 978-0451229281
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #647,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Award-winning and best-selling author Don Keith was born in 1947 and has lived in the South all his life. He attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he received his degree in broadcast and film communication with a minor in English and literature. While working as a broadcast journalist, he won awards from the Associated Press and United Press International for news writing and reporting. He was also the first winner of Troy State University's Hector Award for innovation in broadcast journalism. As an on-the-air broadcaster, Don won the Billboard Magazine "Radio Personality of the Year" in two formats, country and contemporary. Keith was a broadcast personality for over twenty years in Birmingham and Nashville, and also owned his own consultancy, co-owned a Mobile, Alabama, radio station (WZEW-FM), and hosted and produced several nationally syndicated radio shows.

His first novel, THE FOREVER SEASON, was published by St. Martin's Press in the fall of 1995 to commercial and critical success. It called heavily on Keith's own athletic and academic experiences. Reviewers praised its unique approach and powerful story. The novel won the Alabama Library Association's "Fiction of the Year" award in 1997, joining works likewise honored from Harper Lee and others, and was re-issued in the fall of 2002 by the University of Alabama Press as part of its prestigious Deep South Books series. His second novel, WIZARD OF THE WIND, was based on Keith's years in broadcasting. As was the first book, the second work was published under the imprint of widely praised New York editor Robert Wyatt as A Wyatt Book for St. Martin's Press. Keith next released a series of young adult/mens' adventure novels co-written with Kent Wright. They are set in stock car racing and titled THE ROLLING THUNDER STOCKCAR RACING SERIES. The works were released in paperback by Tor Books, as audiobooks by Durkin-Hayes Publishing, and in hardback by Econo-Clad Books.

Don's next novel, a thriller co-written with former nuclear submarine commander George Wallace, FINAL BEARING, was released by Forge Books of New York City in April 2003 and quickly became a national bestseller and great reviews. A mass-market paperback edition is also available and a Kindle edition is now available from Amazon.com. A sequel to that novel, which is set for publication as an audio book in November 2011 and in hardback in 2012, has been optioned by a major film studio and a motion picture is in the works.

Keith's first non-fiction work, GALLANT LADY, the true story of a remarkable World War II submarine, the USS Archerfish, was written with the significant help of former Archerfish crewmember Ken Henry. It was published by Forge Books in June 2004. A trade paperback edition was published in 2005 and an audio version was released by Blackstone Audiobooks.

Don's next work of military history, IN THE COURSE OF DUTY, was published by the Caliber imprint of Penguin USA. The book deals with another amazing WWII submarine, the USS Batfish, her heroic efforts in the Pacific and the wonderful story of how she came to rest today high and dry in a former bean field in Muskogee, Oklahoma--the middle of the Dust Bowl and the Cherokee Nation.

In 2006, he published FINAL PATROL, another Caliber/Penguin release, which tells the personal, behind-the-scenes stories of each of the 17 WWII submarines that are open to the public around the country as museum ships. Each of the non-fiction submarine books were offered as featured selections of The Military Book Club.

Also in 2006, Cumberland House Press released Don's unique series of vignettes about legendary college football coach "Bear" Bryant titled THE BEAR: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF COACH PAUL "BEAR" BRYANT.

Don's next work was THE ICE DIARIES, the untold story of America's first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, and her historic Cold War trip to the North Pole in 1958. The book was co-written with Captain William R. Anderson, the skipper of Nautilus on that world-changing, top-secret voyage. The book was submitted for consideration for the Pulitzer Prize.

The next work was another true story of a series of events aboard the World War II submarine USS Billfish. WAR BENEATH THE WAVES reveals the previously untold story of how a young officer took charge of a submarine during a vicious depth-charge attack and, with the help of a couple of chiefs and brave crewmembers, saved the boat. It, too, is pubished by Caliber/Penguin and is also available in an audio-book version.

Don's next non-fiction historical work will be UNDERSEA WARRIOR, the remarkable story of Commander Dudley "Mush" Morton, a young submarine skipper who literally--and almost single-handedly--changed the course of submarine warfare. And he did it in only ten months as the captain of a submarine.

Don also writes under the pseudonym of Jeffery Addison and has published three novellas, co-written with Edie Hand, THE LAST CHRISTMAS RIDE, THE SOLDIER'S RIDE, and THE CHRISTMAS RIDE: MIRACLE OF THE LIGHTS. Each is an inspirational story of life's ride, the rough patches we run into along the way, and how we overcome them with faith, family and friends.

Don lives in Indian Springs Village, Alabama, with his wife, Charlene. He is also an active "ham" radio operator (call sign N4KC), is a member of the Alabama Writers' Forum and actively supports local and statewide literacy efforts. Don's web site is www.donkeith.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Failure of command, April 27, 2010

By 

wogan "the book reader" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: War Beneath the Waves: A True Story of Courage and Leadership Aboard a World War II Submarine (Hardcover)

There are 3 subjects in `War Beneath the Waves'. The first is the submarine `Billfish' and especially the 15 hour depth-charge that it endured, where the commanding officer was paralyzed with fear and the exec was unable to take charge. Charlie Rush took over and led the sub to safety.
The 2nd subject is the 60 year wait for the men who saved the ship to be recognized as the heroes they were, and receive some of the Navy's highest decorations.
The 3rd subject is life in a sub. If you have never been in the claustrophobic conditions that these vessels contain, you can and will appreciate how much these men endure.
These 3 stories are combined in a simple enough manner that anyone reading can understand the workings of the submarine, the engines, torpedoes, the problems of fumes, smells, food and water. There are horrendous examples of "loose lips", even a Congressman telling the newspapers how Japanese depth charges were not working. There is one of the best prologues with descriptions of men under depth charges and the results.

The caution of the author to not judge harshly for those of us sitting safe and secure is well taken; but the story will haunt those that know and respect military traditions and its' working discipline. The conditions of submarine warfare and life will haunt the reader too. This is a book that has served its' purpose to describe the men's heroism and the submarine service.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Desperately Needs an Editor with a Submarine Background!, October 2, 2010

By 

Glenn L. Smith "highlandglenn" (Orrstown, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: War Beneath the Waves: A True Story of Courage and Leadership Aboard a World War II Submarine (Hardcover)

This review is from a submariner with 29 years of naval service.

The story of the events that led up to and including the afternoon of November 11th, 1943 are the focus of this story. It is a story long overdue in the complete telling. Author Don Keith came to this task with a fair reputation of authorship of books on submarine warfare (Final Bearing, Gallant Lady, Final Patrol), however, here he presents a flawed book. The essentials of the book may well be true, but there are so many mistakes that the credibility of the whole must be drawn into question. Some examples include the following:
* Page 27, quoting: "Destroyers, depending on their vintage and class, were about 350 feet in length, could travel very fast - 35 to 38 knots (65 to 70 miles per hour)"...any seaman knows that 35 knots is 40.3 mph.
* In another place author Keith states that a Japanese destroyer could not catch a surfaced submarine because the destroyer's top speed was 20 knots. Almost all Japanese destroyers could easily top 35 knots. It is true that some patrol boats (equivalent to USN sub chasers) may not have been able to exceed 20 knots, but a destroyer certainly could.
* On page 72 he says: "Admiral Ralph Christie, the Pacific fleet submarine commander, was a torpedo expert,"...the highest WWII submarine post held by Christie was Commander Submarines, Southwest Pacific. He was never the commander of Submarines, Pacific Fleet.
* He refers to a "peer review" of chief petty officer candidates by senior and master chiefs before there were SCPOs and MCPOs.
* He has a LT calling an enlisted man "Mister so and so." At this time in the Navy, enlisted men below chief petty officer were always referred to by their last name, especially by officers. Officers below commander were called "Mister so and so."
* The author unnecessarily (in my opinion) repeats in great detail the description of how a submarine battery operates.
* Helm orders are given incorrectly ("helm 45 degrees starboard"). Diesel submarine rudders are hard over at 35 degrees, and orders are normally given as "right hard rudder, right full rudder, or right 20 degrees rudder."

In summary, this is an important story that deserved telling. While the book is generally well-written, the editing was very poor. The mistakes above should have (would have been) found by a review by almost any submariner. The mistakes detract significantly from an otherwise good read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars GOOD READ BUT, June 30, 2011

By 

Joe Alessi "WESTSIDE JOE" (NY & TX US) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: War Beneath the Waves: A True Story of Courage and Leadership Aboard a World War II Submarine (Hardcover)

The book is a good read however, some of the tech issues are way off, i.e. Knots to MPH etc.