Customer Reviews

War in the Boats: My World War II Submarine Battles

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

 

 

Capt. Ruhe captures the essence of the submarine officer. The frustrations, hardships and ultimate glory of the silent service are powerfully captured on every page. The patrol accounts make you feel as if you were there. Ruhe details all his daily concerns, both as a junior officer, and as the Executive officer. You get a good feel for his leadership style, and those of the other wardroom officers. I only wish he had included some of their accounts of different incidents to get a broader feel for the story. The prose is easy to read and spiced with homey wartime era ancedotes and subtle humor. I Recommend it to all Navy officers, especially Submariners and any WWII history buffs

War in the Boats is a classic in the field of submarine history and World War Two history. It's a good read, highly entertaining, and filled with information about the war from the first person perspective of a young officer in the silent service.

Inside you'll find spine-tingling stories of what it was like to serve on a diesel boat in the war. The tight confines, harsh conditions, interesting flushing systems for toilets (let's just say you didn't want to plug the bore of this breach feed weapon), stunning bravery, chance and a depth charge so close light was seen through the ship's hull.

This book really puts into perspective the dangers of submarine warfare in the war and does a very nice job of presenting the history of the Pacific war without bogging the reader down.

This book easily compares well to it's contemporaries such as RADM Dick O"Kane
s Clear the Bridge and Galltain's Take her Deep!

But enough! I'll ruin the book for you if I tell you more.

I've read almost all the WW2 submarine journals and this is my favorite. Ruhe is an accidental submariner and I think that is the charm of this book. Plus this is written well after the 1960s "The war was such a great thing" books of my childhood. Thus it is free of the racism and patriotic dogma of that generation of diaries.

This is a first hand account of what it was like dealing with the various dynamics of Submarine warfare in the Pacific. The author has offered a perspective often void in similar novels. He takes you deep into the stories and personalities of the Officers and crew. You can almost smell the diesel fumes and feel the emotions from fear to humor. Wish the book had another 1000 pages.

I love sub books. When I want to escape I look for a sub battle. History is good. Fiction is good, but take her down.

I really enjoyed this book about William Ruhe and his war accounts while in Subs during WWII.This book is exciting and hard to put down and I recommend it highly.

As a reader from Germany interested in history I already read a number of memoirs from German submariners and technical/historical literature on the topic. So in comparing this book with the above mentioned ones my mind just forms one question: How did this bunch win their war? And the answer: Because Japanese ASW-effectiveness was near to nonexistent. Facing an adversary as Great Britain it would have been doubtful if any of the submariners in US-boats would have survived. But this author as many others lament the high losses (about 50 boats with crew; for comparision:Germany about 700 boats, 30000 of 40000 men). At least he does not boast the 'welldeserved' victory as is typical for US-authors. And he even apologizes for his sometimes jingoistic diction being result of wartime mentality. Having said this I can admit that I enjoyed reading this book,for it is an interesting and first hand insight view of US sub warfare in WW2 and a counterweight to the standard literature centered on either technic or 'big picture' history.
I can recommend this book with the above mentioned restrictions.
But do read some similar books written by German submariners for balance (but not 'iron coffins', that is biased to say the least).