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THE
BRAVEST MAN
Written
by William Tuohy
Reviewed
by John J. Rust
The
book focuses on the ace of the U.S. submarine service in WWII,
Dick O'Kane, while at the same time giving an overview of sub
warfare in the Pacific Theater.
Awesome book! Tuohy really brought to life all the people involved
in the war effort, showing their courage, their worries, their
fears, their frustrations. Like many heroes, O'Kane isn't a superman.
He just happens to be someone who is damn good at his job and
dedicated to dishing out as much harm as possible on the Japanese.
The book takes you through all of O'Kane's wartime patrols and
shows you how tough it was to knock out ships with unguided torpedoes.
Add to it one of the biggest controversies out of the Second World
War, the high number of malfunctioning torpedoes. They either
don't blow up, explode prematurely, or in some cases, circle back
and blow up the sub it came from (quite a few US subs went down
that way). Tuohy also shows how many high ranking naval officers
ignored reports of crappy torpedo (some because they actually
took part in said weapon's design. Who wants to admit their baby
is a dud). Couple that with all the in-fighting and back stabbing
and lack of a unified command throughout the Pacific and you wonder
how we won the damn war.
But it all came down to the guys in the boats. You really feel
the tension they experienced hunting convoys for hours, the terror
of depth charging, the frustration of failing to sink ships. All
the little details are brought out about how these men coped with
being cooped up in a floating steel pipe for 1 or 2 months, what
they did to pass the time when they weren't blowing up Japanese
ships. Many funny stories, many sad stories. It also showed how
much of a strain commanding a submarine could be. Several skippers
had to be relieved of command because they cracked under the pressure,
some right in the middle of battle. But despite all the problems,
Tuohy shows how many of these crews and captains bucked regulations,
used their imagination and reached deep down to help bring about
a U.S. victory over the Japanese. Major props go out to O'Kane
and his ilk for what they did to keep us free. If you want to
see what real heroes are like, check out this book.
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