Run Silent, Run Deep

Edward L. Beach

Oct 2016 · Naval Institute Press

About this ebook

Universally praised for its powerfully authentic depiction of submarine warfare, Run Silent, Run Deep was an immediate success when published in 1955 and shot to the top of best-seller lists nationwide. In 1958, Hollywood adapted the novel for the big screen starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. The New York Timessaid of the novel, “If ever a book had a ring of reality, this is it . . . combat passages rank with the most exciting written about any branch of the service.” The Saturday Review called the book “a classic,” and many reviewers compared its author to such greats as C. S. Forester and Erich Remarque. Today these accolades still ring true for Edward L. Beach’s gripping first novel of American submariners confronting a formidable Japanese navy in a vicious battle to control the Pacific. Beach’s taut and dramatic narrative, told with the intimacy of a confession, deals with two strong-headed men, Edward Richardson, the commander of the USS Walrus, and his executive officer, Jim Bledsoe. Bound together by wartime duty, the two are divided by jealousy, pride, and love for a beautiful woman. But long after the details of this famous novel fade from memory, what remains with us is a startling realization of the way it was, really was, in the silent service during World War II. Unlike many war novels, here is a story that deals with war from the perspective of command. With fidelity, Beach creates the anguish, agony, and triumphs of command decisions. Commander Richardson embodies all that is fine and human in an excellent naval officer. This is a monument, not to the misfits and the mistakes, but to those men who rose to greatness under the sometimes unbearable tensions of action.

Ratings and reviews

Written as a testemony to the gallant crews who faught an enemy who gave no quarter, having to use faulty fish, that ran in circles, ran under the target, exploded half way to the target, hit the target but failed to explode, & when they returned to pearl & filed thier patrol reports they were blamed for not using the propper firing solutions or the propper firing settings. When the newer boats that dived deeper, & had the new fish the attack on pearl harbour was avenged, it is with a deep respect for the 52 subs like the Wahoo, the Tang, the Trigger & all the other subs that are STILL ON PATROL i say to them. GOD BLESS EVERY ONE OF YOU.

There is no missing the fact that this is a fictional account wrote by a fictional captain of a fictional submarine. Does not feel very realistic, it's just a jumble of improbable submarine warfare related cliches. Nowhere near as brilliant as the real accounts, such as Iron Coffins or One Of Our Submarines.

About the author

Edward L. Beach (1918-2002) graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1939 and became a decorated submariner and best-selling author.