From the Foreword:

The U.S. Submarine force in World War II made a unique contribution to winning the war in the Pacific against the Japanese Empire. At the beginning of the war not one submariner had sunk an enemy ship. World War II submarines were less than 2% of the Navy, yet they accounted for 55% of the Japanese tonnage sunk. By the end of the war the Pacific Submarine Force had sunk 1,178 merchant ships and 214 Japanese Navy ships -- the oil supply from Indonesia had been terminated. How was this possible? Read this book.

This book is written by one of the few enlisted submarine authors from World War II. Ron 'Warshot' Smith has "been there and done that." This is Ron Smith's World War II story. With the permission of his parents, he enlisted in the Navy the day he graduated from the 11th grade in Hammond, Indiana, in 1942, at 17 years of age. Six months later he was aboard the submarine USS Seal (SS-183) in Mare Island Naval Shipyard, getting ready for his first war patrol. The Japanese Empire was doomed and didn't even know it. America mobilized fifteen million young men like Ron Smith and demanded unconditional surrender of her enemies.

Three years later both Germany and Japan were decimated and surrendered unconditionally.

This is the story of Ron's life and of his shipmates in Seal, as well as their equally hazardous liberty parties ashore -- warts and all. This book vividly describes what a 300-plus depth charge attack is like from the After Torpedo Room of a fleet boat in World War II. Ron's battle station was between four torpedo tubes in the After Torpedo Room. He was connected with all of the compartments through the sound-powered telephone system. He reported to the Captain in the Control Room. When the last depth charge was dropped on Seal the count was 367. When the day was done Seal was in a shambles. The Captain ordered "Battle Surface" rather than take more punishment from the Japanese destroyers. He told the crew they would die fighting on the surface rather then die in the next attack by the destroyers. Ron's Battle Surface assignment was to man a 20mm gun on the after deck of the submarine -- a suicide assignment against enemy destroyers. You must read TORPEDOMAN to see how Seal (and Ron) survived.

Zeb Alford, Captain, USN (Ret)

200 PAGES -- 5 1/2" x 8 1/2"

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