Bacalao (Paperback)

by J. T. McDaniel (Author) "VICE ADMIRAL LAWRENCE MILLER, USN (RET), pulled his car into the parking space, being careful to get the vehicle exactly centered..." (more)
Key Phrases: one fired electrically, ready tubes one, sonar stack, Pearl Harbor, San Francisco, New London (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
an impressive and exciting novel. McDaniel...is a terrific writer who has created a classic of wartime adventure. Highly recommended! -- Homer Hickam, Author: October Sky, The Keeper's Son, Aug 2005

best...submarine novel since...Run Silent, Run Deep. [This]...will occupy a special place [and] should become a classic... -- Barbara Buhrer, MyShelf.com, November 2004 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
When Lieutenant Lawrence Miller first sees U.S.S. Bacalao the submarine is little more than a pile of curved steel plates stacked up alongside the builder’s ways. Over the next few months Miller watches the boat take shape and the crew gather from throughout the fleet.

By late 1941, Bacalao is in commission and attached to the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Then, on a Sunday morning, everything changes as the Japanese sneak attack plunges the United States into World War II. The new submarine and her untried crew are immediately thrown into action against the Japanese.

And Miller is there through it all, from the disastrous first patrol, when the boat is nearly lost and a pair of surprising heroes emerge, to the deployment to Australia, where a chance encounter ashore will change his life forever. Then, after a year in command of an ancient S-boat in the frigid hell of the Aleutians, Miller returns to Bacalao as her last wartime commander.

Written in a simple, straightforward style, and with careful attention to historic and technical detail, Bacalao is destined to become an instant classic of submarine fiction.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Riverdale Electronic Books (July 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971220751
• ISBN-13: 978-0971220751
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #240,099 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fictional WWII Submarine Techno-thriller!, June 5, 2006

By	W. H. McDonald Jr. "The American Author Assoc... (Elk Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

There have been many excellent books written about WWII submarine warfare over the decades. One would think that this genre was over done and that nothing new or better could done with this theme--and you would be wrong! J. T. McDaniel has a great tale to tell through a fictional sub and its crew in his novel called "Bacalao." This one will eventually join the ranks of old naval classic submarine stories like "Run Silent, Run Deep" and a very short list of others that are considered classic war stories.

McDaniel has captured the emotions of the sub crews and what seems to me, as a technically accurate portrayal of what these subs were really like. He paints with his words visual images that are mixed into real historic back drops of time and place to create a feeling that this all could have happened. I believed in the story line and the people and the sub itself.

The writing is brilliant and the reader will have little trouble following the plot. The book takes you from the construction of the submarine in Connecticut, through Pearl Harbor and onto patrol in the Pacific. The author allows the story to unfold from the view point of Laurence Miller who rose from junior officer to the commanding officer of the Bacalao. This works very well for telling this story.

The book is a good read and will keep you interested from the first couple of pages to the ending. It is given the MWSA TOP RATING - FIVE STARS!

2005 Distinguished Honor Award from the MWSA!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full Speed Ahead, November 9, 2004

By	Jeffery S. Edwards "Novelist and Naval Warfar... (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In a word, this book is brilliant. Join the crew of USS Bacalao for adventure on the high seas. J. T. McDaniel takes us from the builder's yard in Connecticut to white hot combat in the Pacific Theater. McDaniel's writing has the human understanding of Edward L. Beach, and the technical precision of Tom Clancy. Don't miss this one. If you're a fan of naval combat novels, this is as good as it gets.

Jeff Edwards, Author of "Torpedo: A Surface Warfare Thriller"

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best in Years, September 4, 2004

By	Eldon Curtis "Eldon" (New York) - See all my reviews

Bacalao may just be the best World War II submarine novel published in the last 30 years. It is certainly the most technically accurate. From diving procedures, to torpedo firing, to the way orders are given and executed, everything is done right.

The technical stuff will certainly please the submariners. But what about the other readers, who may not know a TDC from a growler phone and just want interesting characters and realistic situations? You get those, too. The main character, Lawrence Miller, is introduced as a retired admiral arriving at a reunion, but by the third page he's back in 1940 as a young lieutenant watching his new boat being built in Connecticut.

A lot of characters are introduced in the first chapter. There is Morgan, a year older than Miller, and a born engineer. And Kenneth Ohara, an electrician's mate who will become a key character. Carl Hammersmith, U.S.S. Bacalao's prospective commanding officer, appears briefly, but is killed in a car wreck before the boat is launched. His replacement, "Andy" Morley, will command the boat through the end of her first war patrol. Also introduced in this chapter is Fred Ames, the executive officer and Morley's old Academy roommate. Before the story is over Ames, Morgan, and Miller will all find themselves in command of Bacalao.

With Bacalao completed and in commission, she is sent to Pearl Harbor, where she is tied up at the Sub Base during the Japanese attack. The boat is immediately sent on her first war patrol, after being rearmed with new, top secret magnetic fuses for her torpedoes. An attack on a Japanese troop convoy, ruined by defective torpedoes, is followed by heavy depth charging. During the course of that battle Morley wins a Navy Cross, and Ames a Navy Distinguished Service Medal. Ohara, risking his life in a flooded motor room, literally saves the boat and everyone aboard, also getting a DSM.

A lot more action follows. In the midst of all this, Miller meets his future wife, an Australian Navy officer called Sarah. When Morgan unexpectedly gets command of Bacalao, Miller becomes his XO, later leaving for his own command, an ancient S-boat in Alaskan waters. When he returns, a year later, to take over Bacalao, he is able to marry his Sarah during an overhaul in San Francisco before returning to the war.

Bacalao has just about everything you could want in a sub story. The characters are believable, with even the minor players fully fleshed out. The technical details are right on, and there's plenty of action to keep the story moving. I read a lot of sub books, mostly non-fiction, but I read my share of novels, too. This is one that sets the standard others will have to meet.