The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan

James Scott

May 2013 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

A “beautifully researched and masterfully told” account of the US submarine force that helped win World War II in the Pacific (New York Times–bestselling author Alex Kershaw).

Focusing on the unique stories of three of the war’s top submarines—Silversides, Drum, and Tang—The War Below vividly re-creates the camaraderie, exhilaration, and fear of the brave volunteers who took the fight to the enemy’s coastline in World War II. Award-winning journalist James Scott recounts incredible feats of courage—from an emergency appendectomy performed with kitchen utensils to sailors’ desperate struggle to escape from a flooded submarine—as well as moments of unimaginable tragedy, including an attack on an unmarked enemy freighter carrying 1,800 American prisoners of war.

Facing devastating odds—a submarine crewman was six times more likely to die than a sailor onboard a surface ship—these brave men accomplished their mission: Silversides, Drum, and Tang sank a combined sixty-two freighters, tankers, and transports. In retaliation, the Japanese often beat, tortured, and starved captured submariners in the atrocious prisoner of war camps.

Based on more than 100 interviews with submarine veterans and thousands of pages of previously unpublished letters and diaries, The War Below lets readers experience the battle for the Pacific as never before.

Ratings and reviews

As a Submarine sailor on a boomer, at sea 6 months, on land 6 months, this book is riveting. Written so superbly you can actually hear the superstructure crushing, feel the explosions of the depth charges and smell the perspiration of the sailors doing their jobs under extreme pressure. I tip my hat to these brave men to all submarine sailors of WWII. The true accounts of the three boats in this book will keep you reading non stop.

Served 11 yrs in nuclear boats. The descriptions and actions I can see in color. We will never forget those who are still on patrol

I found this book hard to put down. Enioyed very much.

About the author

James M. Scott is the author of Rampage, which was chosen as a finalist for the prestigious Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History by the New York Historical Society. His other works include Target Tokyo, a 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Black Snow, The War Below, and The Attack on the Liberty, which won the Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison Award. Scott lives with his wife and two children in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.