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(More customer reviews)The title of The Bravest Man refers to Richard O'Kane, the most successful American submarine commander in the Second World War. While this book focuses on O'Kane's wartime career on the submarines USS Wahoo and USS Tang, it also examines the careers and exploits of other successful American submarine commanders in the Pacific War. A reader might wonder why another book on O'Kane's career is necessary, given the availability of O'Kane's own book, Clear the Bridge in 1977, as well as Clay Blair's Silent Victory and Theodore Roscoe's US Submarine Operations in World War II. The justification for a new book on O'Kane is provided both by the style and the manner in which the author chooses to deliver this story. Unlike other accounts, which tend to be rather meticulous but dry, the author succeeds in painting a wartime sea saga on a vivid canvas, with the protagonist contending not only against the enemy, but the sea itself, an interfering shore-based naval bureaucracy and even defective torpedoes. In these pages, O'Kane and his peers appear as human beings, not just ciphers in a tonnage-sunk chart.
O'Kane started his rise to prominence in the submarine community while serving as executive officer under the legendary "Mush" Morton in the USS Wahoo in 1943. Morton was one of the first sub skippers to break with the over-cautious, unimaginative pre-war US submarine doctrine and embrace a more freewheeling and aggressive combat style. Tenacity was Morton's trademark, and O'Kane later adopted this mindset when he was given his own command on USS Tang. The author effectively demonstrates the deadly efficiency of the Morton - O'Kane combat team on Wahoo; the real weapon system was the well-trained and aggressive crew, not the submarine itself. After O'Kane left Wahoo for his own command on Tang, Morton's efficiency declined and he began to take more chances. In October 1943, Wahoo was lost off Japan and O'Kane's mentor was gone. However, in five patrols on USS Tang in 1944, O'Kane more than avenged the loss of Morton by sinking 27 Japanese vessels. The author details how O'Kane was innovative as well as brave, introducing efficient tactics for recovering downed US pilots at sea and daring shallow-water attack tactics. At the conclusion of his fifth patrol in October 1944, Tang was sunk off Formosa by one of its own torpedoes. O'Kane and eight of his crewmen were the only survivors and spent ten months in Japanese captivity. The final patrol of Tang is probably the best part of this book and the author details the sinking and incredible underwater escape of several crewmen in riveting detail. The brutal details of O'Kane's interrogation and captivity, which are usually not provided in other accounts, are revealed here. Interestingly, the Marine fighter pilot "Pappy" Boyington was in the same POW camp as O'Kane.
This account also addresses the torpedo malfunctions, command problems and doctrinal deficiencies that plagued the US submarine force in the first eighteen months of the Pacific War. It still seems incredible that the US Ordnance Bureau ignored repeated evidence of torpedo malfunctions for so long, and the bureaucratic obtuseness that blocked technical improvements now appears almost criminal. A divided command structure, based partly in Australia and partly in Hawaii, also degraded US combat performance. US pre-war submarine doctrine, which focused on reconnaissance for the fleet rather than independent anti-commerce warfare, was another impediment to a successful submarine campaign. However, all the technical and bureaucratic hurdles had been overcome by 1944, which is when the US submarine force achieved its greatest results.
While focusing on O'Kane, the author also examines the exploits of other top US submarine commanders in this period. These men, mostly US Naval Academy graduates, are followed at sea and ashore to give a complete picture of the special type of independent leaders that were required for this most demanding form of warfare. Unlike their surface counterparts, the US submarine skippers usually fought alone and deep inside the Japanese Empire. The author notes that fully 30% of submarine commanders were relieved in 1942 and 15% in 1943. Even good skippers suffered "burn-out" from continuous combat patrols. Furthermore, more than 20% of US submariners were lost in action, which was the highest loss rate for any combat arm. However the leaders and crews that emerged from this crucible of war, like O'Kane, Morton and Ned Beach, were top-notch. While this book offers little new in terms of operational details about submarine operations in the Pacific, it adds a vital human dimension that is often ignored in more standard accounts.
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Written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, this tells the true story of an all-American war hero, Dick O'Kane and gives insights into the secret troubles of the U.S. Navy.
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