Customer Reviews

We Were Pirates: A Torpedoman's Pacific War

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

 

 

When I picked up We Were Pirates I expected a firsthand account of the Pacific War with a ghost writer and what I found was that two men have edited and woven Chief Robert Hunt's diary into We Were Pirates. While well written I found myself wishing I was reading Chief Hunt's diary with commentary by Chief Hunt. At one point Hunt by mistake fires a torpedo then the authors kept on talking about a leak in the torpedo room. It seems likely that the torpedo went through the outer torpedo tube door and damaged the tube causing the leak but the authors lack of knowledge of submarines is shown here. The authors spend too much time on Hunt's time ashore and not enough exploring the war patrols or bringing in other material supplementing Hunt's diary. the pressures of the war patrols would be far more helpful than the exploits of Chief Hunt's letting off steam. The purpose of a good History is to explore causes in order to understand the consequences, I found myself skipping over the beach portions of the book.

The end of the book became difficult to read because the main author Robert Schultz goes into first person account of hero worship for Chief Hunt and while interesting the purpose of reading this book is to know about Chief Hunt experiences not Dr. Schultz's. It is a very irritating trend in recent histories to have the author imbed themselves into the narrative. In the end it was an easy read but a book that I can't say added much to the submarine history library. It is a shame we couldn't have Chief Hunt's words and experience firsthand.

Well written, and exceptionally so since I was a crewmember on the Tambor on its
last 2 war patrols.....

As someone who enjoys WWII Navy/Submarine memoirs I was excited to see that there was a new memoir written by a sub sailor. My excitement turned to skepticism however when I learned that the book was written instead by two authors who based the book on the sub sailors diary and personal interviews. I had to read the book however and I am glad that I did. There are a couple reviews here that make some good points about the book in that it could have been better if they fit the sailors experiences within the wider context of the war and that some battle actions and patrols are glossed over and that there are a few points that technically could have been better explained. I also agree that the one chapter dealing with the USS Tambors actions during the Battle of Midway were marginal and that this chapter should have been condensed. I can agree with these points of view however if you enjoy a good sub sailors memoir I would still urge someone to buy it. Although its not as strong as McCleods memoir - Sub Duty - or Ron Smith's - Torpedoman - I still felt it was a very good book and well worth purchasing. After reading my impression was that it was written well and that the sailor has a great story to tell. There are plenty of sub books out there that you can read that describe every attack on every patrol however it seems the authors chose to purposely go into detail on only some of the more harrowing ones. In fact the one chapter in which the Tambor undergoes an all day depth charging was very thrilling. I realize that some people may be turned off regarding the stories of the sailors time in port partying but he also has some poignant personal experiences too. I feel that too many books do not give enough attention to a serviceman's activities when they are out of combat. If this sounds appealing I ask you not to blow vent but to give it a try. Its probably the last WWII US Sub book were ever going to see !

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I liked the fact that the book did not get too technical and showed the human side of the submarine sailors. I do not normally enjoy books of this type, but I found this one fascinating because it painted a complete picture of Bob Hunt, and dealt not just with his experiences in battle but also his life off the boat, and his life before and after the war. At the same time, it put what they were experiencing into the context of World War II. If more "war books" were written like this, I would read more of them.

Excellent story on a submariners life during WWII. It really showed the devil may care attitude of many of the underwater sailors.

I was fortunate enough to be able to spend several hours with Robert Hunt, both before and after reading the book. Robert is indeed a very colorful man. The book follows the exploits of his growing up, his 12 tours on board the US submarine Tambor and the many ways these exceptional heroes relaxed between tours. It is well written and an easy read. No, the book does not detail the day to day life on board ship, the book is more about the man and how he coped with what life threw at him, growing up in the Midwest, his time in the navy, and after the war. These individual accounts of the men and women who have served this country should be a part of every library, and certainly read by any World War II history buff.

for the devoted WW2 submarine aficinado interested in reading about a maru-sinking combat action narrative will be acutely disappointed. it has even much less on the WW2 USN submarine USS TAMBOR itself. granted it was presented as a WW2 memoir of a single enlisted aft torpedoman's unprecedented 12 straight combat patrols aboard the TAMBOR...however it had the (missed) opportunity of being much more than that. unfortunately the writers made no concerted effort to track down and solicit interviews from other former (living) WW2 TAMBOR veterans (besides the subject's small circle of shipmates) which could have painted a fuller picture on wartime life aboard the TAMBOR. additionally, the wartime combat WAR PATROL REPORTS & BRIEFS (of the TAMBOR) which are declassifed and available via NARA were never completely incorporated within the text of what is a rather superficial memoir (the recent book on the USS PUFFER is an excellent example of vintage wartime WAR PATROL REPORTS...written by the skipper...being skillfully meshed into the overall text). instead often in some chapters, we're fed a bloodless history lesson which has little relevance to the TAMBOR. most notably is the section on the BATTLE OF MIDWAY in which the TAMBOR's participation was minimal at best, i.e., the sighting of the TAMBOR caused two Imperial Japanese naval cruisers in echeleon to collide in their panic haste to manuever and evade...and the TAMBOR skipper made a less than adequate and scant (radio) reporting of the enemy MIDWAY task force sighted. YET nearly a whole chapter is unnecessarily devoted to the BATTLE OF MIDWAY including America's effort at breaking the IJN's code. WTF? the TAMBOR didn't even fire off a single torpedo! furthermore, too many pages of the book are replete with the sailor's sexual escapades and exploits, drunken brawling, misadventures and antics in whatever home or foreign port he happened to find himself in. okay, okay....we get that sustained combat pressures within the iron-coffin confines of a diesel boat will have a sailor blow his compressors when on liberty....but enough already! it is quite rare to find a submariner making anything over ten consecutive war patrols on a single submarine....so what could have been the basis of a engaging history (of not only its longest serving seaman) of the USS TAMBOR is instead a spread of torpedos missing their target. sorry...no hits.

This was a gift for my Husband for Christmas, and He loved it,infact read it several time.

Great fun to read, refreshing in that the author was an enlisted man and not an officers. Good giggle over his many lady friends & adventures! Glad he made it home.