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 enlarge | Author: Alex Kershaw
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $3.76
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Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 44875
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0306815192
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.545109164
EAN: 9780306815195
ASIN: 0306815192
Publication Date: April 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
The Story of America's Most Legendary World War II Submarine July 17, 2008
By the fall of 1944, the USS Tang, commanded by Commander Richard O'Kane, had compiled a war record of astronomical proportions. O'Kane's sub had sunk more tonnage, rescued more downed aviators, and successfully completed more surface attacks than any other American submarine. O'Kane had also been decorated numerous times with countless medals for bravery. However, the Tang still had one more mission left, and this one promised to be even more dangerous than the others.
O"Kane and his crew were ordered to sail to the Formosa Strait to intercept Japanese convoys operating there. But, on their way to the assigned area, the Tang ran into a terrible typhoon with extremely high winds and seas. Although the sub survived the typhoon, the men seemed to sense that this mission was shaping up to be very dangerous.
Arriving on station, the Tang quickly made her presence known by sinking several enemy ships. The sub had expended twenty three of the twenty four torpedoes allocated to her. All that was left was to fire the final torpedo into a wounded enemy vessel and head back to San Francisco. As soon as the final torpedo left its tube, the men began to celebrate. Unfortunately, the last torpedo proved to be the only one that failed to operate correctly. The torpedo malfunctioned, turned back on a circular course, and struck the Tang with such force that half the crew was killed instantly. Commander O'Kane was thrown into the water. The sub was mortally wounded, but the bow stayed afloat in the shallow water due to the air inside. Despite this, the men still alive inside the sub appeared to be hopelessly trapped.
Some of the men managed to escape from the 180-foot depth by using Momsen lung breathing devices. These allowed the men to ascend to the surface without suffering the bends. Nine men out of a crew of eighty-nine survived. The ordeal was just beginning for them, though. Soon, the survivors were picked up by a Japanese patrol boat. Due to the nature of the sub's attacks on Japanese shipping, the Japanese refused to consider the men of the Tang to be POWs, instead classifying them as special prisoners of Japan. No record of the men's survival was passed on to the Red Cross, so their families had no way of knowing the men were alive.
For the next several months, the men were routinely beaten, starved, and humiliated by the Japanese. They became extremely sick and lost lots of weight. Despite this terrible treatment, the men managed to survive until the end of the war.
Despite surviving captivity, the men faced other challenges upon returning home. Some of the men's wives had remarried after learning that the Tang was lost. Others faced constant flashbacks and dreams of being in captivity. Despite these setbacks, the men returned to mostly productive lives and had regular reunions.
This is an excellent book. Author Alex Kershaw does a fine job of describing the life of Commander Richard O'Kane and the USS Tang. O'Kane was a relentless commander who always sought to destroy as much enemy shipping as possible. He accomplished this feat with flying colors, as the Tang was responsible for the destruction of more enemy shipping than any other American submarine. The book is divided neatly into several sections, each dealing with a different aspect of the story. This division makes the book easy to follow.
I give this fine book my highest recommendation; it is a must-read for fans of submarine stories.
Powerfull History of Those Who Served July 6, 2008
I have the privilege of being the friend of the son of one of the men who served on the USS Tang, and through him I learned of this book that includes considerable mention of his father. This personal aspect amplified the impact of the book for me, but even without this I could not have read the book and not been humbled by reading this true story of those who served. In these troubling times when irreverence and disrespect are rampant on virtually every front, "Escape from the Deep" is a welcomed and refreshing look at men who knew honor.
These submariners were true pioneers in many ways. Operations while under attack and previously untried escape techniques from a disabled submarine pushed them into extraordinarily dangerous uncharted territory. Additionally, when they served they did not know what the outcome of the war would be, and neither did their families. Germany and Japan were winning in those first years of the war. The times were perilous. We need to be reminded of this history and take nothing for granted.
The USS Tang was an aggressive attack submarine commanded by a determined and focused captain and a crew that rapidly became a formidable team. This story of first their operations and later the capture and imprisonment of the few survivors after the sub's sinking makes these men's lives and the lives those who never escaped real to the reader. Inasmuch as it is possible, you begin to try to imagine what it would be like if you were in those circumstances, and you know that it would take everything you have and then much more to endure. This is about courage, honor, guts, agony, and victory.
You come away from this book with a great appreciation for all those who sacrifice so much to try to ensure a future for the generations to come. These are the kinds of people who deserve our great thanks and respect. This book goes a long way to achieve this recognition. It is very easy to read, does not embellish at all, and simply is powerful. Alex Kershaw has done these men and us a service by telling this story.
Very Good Book. June 30, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It talks about the trials these men went through before the Tang sank, after it sunk, their imprisonment and when they came home. Another home run for Alex.
A tribute to the boat and crew June 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Alex Kershaw did a very compelling job on this book. My name is Bruce Keller and one of the survivors of the Tang,Floyd Caverly, is my uncle.The book, Escape from the Deep, is very informative as the the happenings that went on aboard the boat after it went down.I know that Alex did a lot of research when writting it.When I heard of the book I got one as soon as I could and had a hard time putting it down until I read it cover to cover. Then went back a read it again.
Being that I have a connection to one of the survivors, it was rather emotional at times in reading it. I would have to put the book down and compose myself to continue. Floyd Caverly, Unk as we call him has maitained quite a sense of humour in spite of all the hardship that him and the other survivors endured.
I would like to thank Alex for writting this book to tell the story of these brave men and what they did for this country and the world.
Thank you
Bruce Keller
 A Valuable contribution of WWII Submarine History June 25, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Review: Escape From the Deep
Author: Alex Kershaw
Details: Hardback, 270 pages, by Da Capo Press, 2008, ISBN 9780306815195
Current retail: [...]
Premise: The Epic Story of a Legendary Submarine (USS Tang), her struggles after being hit by its own torpedo and the survivors and their interment as POWs.
Some of this story will be familiar to readers of Richard O'Kane's book, Clear the Bridge! O'Kane was CO, Medal of Honor winner, and one of the survivors of the accident. But this author has taken the story to new levels with interviews in the past of the survivors. It makes a much better learning experience and I found the descriptions of the escape from the escape trunk much more vivid and real. Only 62 pages were devoted to the buildup prior to the circular run of the Mk 14. A large portion was given to the escape and capture, then the interment and finally the post life accounts of the survivors. Clear the Bridge had none of those life stories.
The pictures were great and certainly most were never before seen photos from the families. The reunion pictures from 88 and 91 showed most to be in very good health with only O'Kane being a little older than the rest although he didn't pass until 1994. The book portrays him as near death upon their rescue at war's end. I'd never see an aerial view of the submarine dock at Midway and the picture of the emaciated POWs will stick in my mind. The most vivid was Clad Decker (one of the Wahoo survivors) photo being taken with a group of POWs at War's end. Thanks to the author for those pictures.
From the beginning when that Congressman in 1943 mentioned to the press that the Japanese were setting their torpedoes too shallow to closing when O'Kane's daughter tells us that he lived with guilt because he did not go down with this ship (he was on the bridge when the torpedo struck) the book was a superb read and of vast historical importance. One bit of the story that wasn't discussed was the trials after the war of the Japanese commanders of the camps and their superiors.
This book is a must for all serious WWII submarine collectors, historians, and enthusiasts. I rate it a 4 of 5, only because I didn't want it to end and wanted more and because only Fluckey's book Thunder Below, Blair's U-Boat War, and Blair's Silent Victory get a 5 of 5. I appreciate the author's work and his research and only wish others would use it as an example.
Ron Martini
SS 339 and SSBN 599 in the 60's
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