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  • Sub: An Oral History of U.S. Navy Submarines
  • Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez
Sub: An Oral History of U.S. Navy Submarines. By Mark K. Roberts. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, a division of the Penguin Group, 2007. 298 pp. Hardbound, $25.95.

One of the major questions about this book is: Who is the intended audience? Is it the curious reader who needs considerable explanations (like this reviewer)? Or is it the far smaller audience of submariners themselves, who will no doubt be nodding their agreement throughout? Perhaps, more profoundly, the title of this book may explain some of the ambiguity: it is called an oral history of “U.S. Navy Submarines,” not submariners.

On the plus side, this book provides readers with a window into the world of submariners: what is it like to live hundreds of feet below the water’s surface? The reader gets some of that, as well as a sweep of the history of the development of torpedoes and missiles. But the book fails to live up to its potential. With some organizational changes, addressing follow-up questions, and omitting some editorializing, this could be an excellent book.

This book is a series of excerpts from thirteen interview transcripts. One of the first unanswered questions concerns methodology: how did the author select the thirteen men? Are these interviews housed anywhere? Are these all audio recorded? Each excerpt begins with an introduction by the interviewer in [End Page 313] different type to distinguish it from the actual words of the interview subjects. Roberts launches the book with a scant three-page introduction and perhaps that is where the organization problem begins. The introduction could have been used to give the reader a solid footing into the broad subject, set the tone for the book, and explain the methodology.

There are flashes of brilliance here. Roberts uses a smooth method for giving the reader a front-row seat: “Let’s take a little tour through a typical World War II boat, say starting at the bow . . .” (Harry Jacob Jefferson, BT-3, 203). Sub succeeds when the interviewee is providing detailed explanation. For instance, Lieutenant Commander Stanley J. Nicholls talks about how submariners learn to make unassisted ascents by entering hundred-foot water-filled towers via airlocks, progressively deeper. It gives the reader a glimpse into submariners’ needed toughness. Nicholls says: “The first few times, you have this cold knot in your stomach. But every submariner in the service has done it and been successful” (30).

Submariners feared battery fires especially (the old batteries used sulfuric acid and lead and could turn deadly immediately). Submariners noted that checking the battery compartments daily could get nasty. But the interview subjects never explain how or why that was dirty work. Among the hardships on the diesel-powered WWII-era submarines was the lack of water for showers. Nicholls again notes that the men changed their clothing once a week—showers were out of the question. The smell of sweat, body odor, and diesel fuel permeated the old subs, hence the nickname, “pig boats.” Interview subjects tell about the improved technologies in submarines: the smelly diesel boats which operated above the surface, diving only when necessary, to the snorkel-equipped fleet ships which could stay submerged longer to the nuclear subs. With nuclear subs, water became more plentiful for showers (there are even washing machines and dryers on board) and more space.

But one trade-off was the romance of the open sea. Nicholls again explains, “On the diesel boats, one could go up on deck during surface transiting and see the blue sky and the sun and the ocean around you. You could watch sunrises and sunsets and watch the stars come out before submerging. On the nuke boats, where you submerge right out of port and go from point A to point B and it’s maybe two thousand miles away, there’s nothing to do but stand watches and train and stand watches and train and eat and sleep and train and never get to see the sun or moon or clouds or the water’s surface” (49).

Some of the men mention the segregation of...

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