Book description
World War II submariners rarely experienced anything as exhilarating or
horrifying as the surface gun attack. Between the ocean floor and the
rolling whitecaps above, submarines patrolled a dark abyss in a fusion
of silence, shadows, and steel, firing around eleven thousand torpedoes,
sinking Japanese men-of-war and more than one thousand merchant ships.
But the anonymity and simplicity of the stealthy torpedo attack hid the
savagery of warfare-a stark difference from the brutality of the surface
gun maneuver. As the submarine shot through the surface of the water,
confined sailors scrambled through the hatches armed with large-caliber
guns and met the enemy face-to-face. Surface and Destroy: The Submarine
Gun War in the Pacific reveals the nature of submarine warfare in the
Pacific Ocean during World War II and investigates the challenges of
facing the enemy on the surface. The surface battle amplified the
realities of war, bringing submariners into close contact with survivors
and potential prisoners of war. As Japan's larger ships disappeared from
the Pacific theater, American submarines turned their attention to
smaller craft such as patrol boats, schooners, sampans, and junks. Some
officers refused to attack enemy vessels of questionable value, while
others attacked reluctantly and tried to minimize casualties. Michael
Sturma focuses on the submariners' reactions and attitudes toward their
victims, exploring the sailors' personal standards of morality and their
ability to wage total war. Surface and Destroy is a thorough analysis of
the submariner experience and the effects of surface attacks on the war
in the Pacific, offering a compelling study of the battles that became
“intolerably personal.” Michael Sturma, chair of the history program
at Murdoch University, is the author of several books on naval history,
including The USS Flier: Death and Survival on a World War II Submarine.
He lives in Perth, Australia.
