Sub: An Oral History of US Navy Submarines Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Mr. Roberts's book started out with great promise and a great premise however multiple misspellings and erroneous facts quickly dashed all hopes for the book. It is obvious that this book was not well proofread or many of these mistakes would have been caught. One example is that on page 195 he referenced Secretary of the Navy Nimitz however Fleet Admiral Nimitz was never the Secretary of the Navy and was dead at that moment in the narration. Mr. Roberts also lets his political views get in the way of his narration and attacks President Carter and any other official with whom he disagrees with and uses incorrect information by saying President Carter had commanded a submarine. Carter was qualified for command a step for him to be an officer qualified in submarines. Mr. Roberts opinions mars the purpose of an oral history collection which is to let the participants own words describe their recollections of history.
Another point of confusion is when the author makes it seem as though one of the paticipants in this oral history served from World War II on war patrols and retired in April of 2005 after participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom from active duty in the Navy. It seems obvious that this man must have been a consultant to the Navy as a civilian contractor after retiring much earlier from active duty but Mr. Roberts doesn't say that this man was a civilian employee for the Navy leaving the reader with the idea that this man had a sixty plus year career in the Navy on active duty.
Also there are many misspellings such as the Kanoupus (USS Canopus AS-9 is the correct spelling) to saying the Sailfish used to be the Whalen which in reality the Sailfish was the resurrected USS Squalus ((read Peter Mass' excellent The Terrible Hours for the Squalus' story)). A search of the "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships" on the Naval Historical Center's website produced no record of a USS Whalen ever serving in the Navy. These two mistakes are easily found on page 8 of the book. Yet another example is the USS Toffey found on page 181 which sank due to a circular run, in reality the submarine he meant was the Tullibee SS-284. On last example of too many to count is on found on page 280 where Roberts says the hull number of the second USS Aspro was the SSBN-648 when it was the SSN-648. While this may seem nit picking it gives the reader false information and does not add to the historical record.
Roberts's book has good intentions but through obvious mistakes and inconstancies his book suffers and this book is a must avoid for submarine historians and readers.


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Crew members tell their true stories of life under the surface-from World War II to today's war on terror-in this exceptional illustrated volume. From the deadly undersea warfare of World War II through the silent Cold War stand-offs in the deep, to the cutting edge technology of the modern U.S. Navy, submarines have evolved into the front line of our nation's defense at sea. And the men who sail them have become heroes above and below the waves. These are their stories-in their own words. In Sub, author Mark Roberts has compiled insightful interviews and recollections from the submarine veterans themselves-accompanied by detailed photos and illustrations of both man and machine at work. It's a gripping chronicle of undersea warfare as told by those who know firsthand what it means to drop through the hull of a boat, to sink into the dark, freezing waters of the deep-and to have death never more than one torpedo away.

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