Silent War

She was a monster, sleek and gleaming, designed to strike without warning like the dreaded shark. She was the USS Mako, as fearless and bold as any submarine that ever prowled the blue Pacific. Her mission: seek out and destroy the hitherto invincible ships of the Japanese Imperial Navy-and revenge the earlier defeats of a long and dirty war. Here is the story of the men who pitted their lives against impossible odds in the most dangerous branch of the American armed services. It is a story of men pushed to the breaking point and beyond in the most nerve-wracking, heart-stirring warfare of all. A story of glory, grit, and guts, and of the astonishing resources that human beings call forth when put to the ultimate test.

As they listened to the death throes of their sister ship Mako sinking in the Pacific where the waters were six miles deep, the crew of USS Eelfish suddenly came of age. They were a new breed: a brand-new fleet submarine crewed by draftees and reservists. Hidebound regular Navy officers believed they wouldn't fight. But fight they did with reckless abandon, proving themselves on two fronts-against the Japanese at sea, and against their own Admirals, who clung to outmoded concepts of how to wage war under the sea. This true-to-life novel moves at breathtaking speed from the invasion of Guadalcanal through the battle of the Philippine Sea and to the coast of Japan. By the end of the war, submarines such as Eelfish had so tightened the noose of naval blockade around Japan that the enemy was finished as an industrial nation, unable to fight effectively. But American submariners paid dearly for their victories. One out of every five men who went to sea in submarines in the Pacific died in combat, the highest percentage of any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. This is a novel about their exploits, how they fought, how they loved and how they died, written by a man who was there.

It was an unprovoked attack, a deliberate act of aggression. When Vice Admiral Mike Brannon of the U.S. Navy received word that the wreck of the Sharkfin had been found, with a gaping hole in its stern, he could only conclude that the Soviets had, without warning, attacked and destroyed a U.S. nuclear submarine. He could not let the incident pass without retaliation. Yet whatever steps he took, he risked leading the two superpowers into a state of war. If he informed the President, it might take weeks for Congress to take action-too long. Whatever response was to be made, it had to be made decisively and immediately. Harry Homewood presents a novel of mounting tension; a story of today's naval superpowers locked in a deadly battle that brings an unknowing world to the brink of nuclear holocaust.