Iain Ballantyne's book on the history of submarines is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the topic. The book is dense, weighing in at over 600 pages, but it is a relatively easy read given its interesting subject matter and good writing. Ballantyne does a good job of making the subject interesting and funny, injecting humorous and fascinating anecdotes here and there. I thought the book did a great job of telling the history of submarines particularly in the WWI — WWII era, but it seemed to skim over the history a little more post-WWII.
Among the fascinating tidbits in the book was the story of Capt. Georg von Trapp, the father played by Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music. In the movie, we know that Capt. von Trapp was retired from the Austro-Hungarian Navy. What they don't say is that von Trapp was actually Austria-Hungary's first and most successful submarine ace, responsible for sinking 13 allied ships. Perhaps even more interesting was the story of how von Trapp actually became wealthy and successful. Born into a middle-class military family, von Trapp became a military officer like his father and was destined for the same life, when he met and married Agatha Whitehead. Agatha's grandfather Robert invented the modern self-propelled torpedo. He attempted to sell his invention to the navy of his country of birth, Britain, but was rebuffed because the Admiralty didn't see the usefulness of the weapon. The Austro-Hungarians, on the other hand, were impressed and offered him good compensation and his own workshop, which he accepted. He began selling his torpedoes to any nation that would buy them, eventually including Britain, who realized that if other nations had them, they needed them too. Whitehead because fabulously wealthy. His granddaughter Agatha was heir to a vast fortune, and eventually became Georg von Trapp's first wife and the mother of his 7 children. After Austria-Hungary's defeat in WWI, they lost their coastal territory, therefore eliminating their need for a Navy, leaving von Trapp out of work. He retired and Agatha died of scarlet fever, which is where the movie picks up. While the story of the von Trapp told in the Sound of Music is interesting, I found the story of Capt. von Trapp during WWI to be even more fascinating.
Some other fascinating stories from the book:
- Admiral Karl Dönitz, the director of German U-boat forces in WWII and a WWI German submariner, eventually became the Führer after Hitler's suicide and negotiated Nazi Germany's surrender to the Allies. After the war, he faced the death penalty along with other members of the top Nazi brass, especially due to his infamous “Laconia directive” which forbade U-boats from rescuing the victims of torpedo attacks. However, he was saved during the trial in part due to the testimony of Admiral Chester Nimitz of the US Navy, who testified that the US had issued the same orders to its submarines operating in the Pacific theater. Due to this testimony, as well as Dönitz’ contention that he was simply a soldier more than a Nazi ideologue, Dönitz received a sentence of 10 years imprisonment. After his release, he wrote several books of memoirs before dying in 1980.
- The first Japanese prisoner of war was actually a midget submarine commander. Ensign Kazu Sakamaki was apprehended after his midget submarine ran aground during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He requested to be allowed to commit suicide but was instead interned for the rest of the war, eventually becoming a pacifist, working for Toyota, and writing a memoir.
- Both the Union and the Confederate States attempted to build and utilize their own submersibles during the Civil War, with the Confederates actually sinking the USS Housatonic through use of a spar torpedo attached by the CSS Hunley.
- The Italians were actually quite adept at the use of submarines, fielding a surprisingly large submarine fleet that ventured out of the Mediterranean as far as the East Indies and Singapore. For WWII, it seems that Germany and the Allies are the only countries that ever get any credit in movies and such.
- Despite what we may see in movies, the Allies weren't perfectly faultless warriors. Some of the Allies were pretty nasty. For instance, the American submarine commander Dudley Morton ordered the use of the USS Wahoo‘s machine gun on lifeboats and survivors from the sunken Japanese troop transporter IJN Buyo Maru. Morton was well known for having a deep-seated hatred of the Japanese. Despite being one of the most capable American submarine commanders in WWII, he was not awarded the Medal of Honor, likely due to this incident. Another Allied commander with a somewhat checkered record was Britain's Johnny Walker, who was ultimately responsible for conceiving the plan that netted the Allies an Enigma code machine. In order to ensure the safety of his men as well as the success of the operation, Walker decreed that any German submariner who defied the orders of a British boarding party would not be rescued or taken prisoner. This wasn't idle bluffing either. A British sailor attached to Walker's group recounted a story of a German being pulled from the water and asked if there were other U-boats in the area. Rather than give away the positions of his fellow U-boatmen, the German stayed quiet. Walker ordered him heaved back over the side of the boat and left in the Atlantic.
- Submarine crews on both sides were actually well known for being hospitable and helpful to the survivors of torpedo attacks. U-boat crews during WWI and WWII often stopped to pick up survivors of torpedo attacks or would tow life rafts closer to shore, or leave supplies with survivors, and sometimes even fire flares or make radio reports of the positions of survivors. However, near the end of both wars, the crews of submarines on both sides were ordered to cease this helpful behavior because it was too risky. U-boats that stopped to help survivors were sometimes attacked by aircraft or rammed by enemy naval vessels.
- One of the most interesting stories in the book was about a German U-boat, U-977, and its post-war exploits. U-977 departed Germany a month prior to the end of WWII and after resupplying in Norway, headed out to the Atlantic. After hearing of the German surrender, the captain gave his crew the vote on what their next move would be. They voted to head for Argentina, hoping they would escape internment and be allowed to live freely. They headed back to Norway to drop off some of the crew who wished to surrender to the Allies, and then the remaining crew and the captain headed for Argentina. They stopped briefly at Cape Verde and then continued to Argentina. When they arrived there, the submariners were arrested by the Argentinians, and Captain Shaeffer was handed over to the Americans. He was interrogated and imprisoned for several years primarily because of the American paranoia that Hitler had escaped death by stowing away on one of the U-boats making a break for South America. This theory still hasn't been laid to rest today, despite forensic and historical evidence to the contrary. Ultimately, U-977 spent 107 days at sea (66 of them submerged) between Germany and Argentina.
These were just some of the really interesting stories told in the book. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the topic of submarines.
That said, there were a few things about the book that weren't perfect. The book particularly focuses on submarine warfare during the first and second world wars, particularly in the Atlantic. The book is slightly over 600 pages long, and roughly 400 of those pages are devoted to WWI and WWII, with most of that being devoted to the battle between British and German submarines. This is understandable, given that the author is British and historical records from this time are considerably more complete and plentiful. That said, I found myself more interested in the Cold War era submarine history, which was given a rather paltry 100 pages treatment. The book left me wanting to find a book devoted just to the history of submarine warfare, post-WWII. This isn't really a problem with the book, just a matter of personal preference.
In summary, this was a fantastic book for anyone interested in the history and evolution of submarines and submarine warfare. The author did a great job of including interesting historical events and facts while keeping the book technically grounded, and I greatly enjoyed reading the book. I ended up being more interested in the Cold War era of submarine operations, which was only lightly covered. So if you're like me, I'd suggest a different book for that topic.