Rating: 
Summary: WOW!!! This book is outstanding!
Review: This book is excelent. Reading this, I really got a feeling as to what it was like on a submarine in World War II. It includes action sequences that really make it feel like you were there, on the sub. Calvert is a genius. I highly suggest this book for ANYONE who is interested in submarines, WWII history, or Naval History. I really think you will love this book as much as I did.
Rating:
Summary: This is a good book!
Review: This book rates right up there with the better submarine books. A very good read. Interesting and exciting.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and Emotionally Moving
Review: This could have easily been a dull and difficult read, but Calvert was not a dull man. To the contrary, this story puts you right in the action. Just like the AAF's B-24 Liberator bombers, the naval subs were often just as dangerous to our soldiers as the enemy was. Especially at the beginning of their service, Calvert shares how the Jack had many problems with its engines, at one point nearly getting stranded with no operable engines. On top of that, they had to endure intense depth charging. With all of this action, it's hard to relax - even while in the comfort of an armchair.More than just a military tale, however; Silent Running has a real human side. Calvert takes the reader deep into his personality, allowing us to share in his fear and his courage. It is also a story of love and a sailor's struggle to stay faithful to his wife while facing death in a cruel war far from home. As he prevails over all, we are shown the tremendous character and tenacity of the men and women that fought and won the "Greatest War". If you like this book, you must rent/buy/watch Das Boot (The Boat) directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Although, it is told from the perspective of the German submarine crew, it is a great aid to visualizing the experience of 1930-40's submarine warfare conditions and technology. It is, also, considered one of the greatest WWII movies made to date.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and Emotionally Moving
Review: This could have easily been a dull and difficult read, but Calvert was not a dull man. To the contrary, this story puts you right in the action. Just like the AAF's B-24 Liberator bombers, the naval subs were often just as dangerous to our soldiers as the enemy was. Especially at the beginning of their service, Calvert shares how the Jack had many problems with its engines, at one point nearly getting stranded with no operable engines. On top of that, they had to endure intense depth charging. With all of this action, it's hard to relax - even while in the comfort of an armchair. More than just a military tale, however; Silent Running has a real human side. Calvert takes the reader deep into his personality, allowing us to share in his fear and his courage. It is also a story of love and a sailor's struggle to stay faithful to his wife while facing death in a cruel war far from home. As he prevails over all, we are shown the tremendous character and tenacity of the men and women that fought and won the "Greatest War". If you like this book, you must rent/buy/watch Das Boot (The Boat) directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Although, it is told from the perspective of the German submarine crew, it is a great aid to visualizing the experience of 1930-40's submarine warfare conditions and technology. It is, also, considered one of the greatest WWII movies made to date.
Rating:
Summary: This one really stands out.
Review: This memoir is particularly well-written. It accomplishes the expected by displaying day-to-day life on a US submarine in WWII, but it does more by really capturing the voice of an innocent young man who still has a lot to learn about the world.
Calvert went on to quite a distinguished career in the Navy, but this book never hints at that, instead it paints a portrait of a very specific period of time in the author's life and doesn't bog the reader down with too much 20/20 hindsight and reflections, instead relaying the feeling of being in your early 20s and being involved in one of the highest-stakes contests ever fought in human history.
If you like memoirs, history, or WWII, this is a very well-told story that will appeal to you.
Rating:
Summary: WW II Submarine Patrols Come to Life in Calvert's Book
Review: This was the first book of this genre that I have ever read and I had trouble putting it down. It has everything- harrowing encounters with Japanese convoys; the incredible bravery of submariners who were nearly doomed in the early part of the war by defective torpedoes and engines; powerfully drawn pictures of men in the direst cirumstances. I was brought to tears as Calvert told of the demise of the US Submarine Harder whose daring exploits had earned her the admiration of every submariner in the Pacific. Calvert very deftly prepares the reader for forthcoming terror as he painted the picture of her crew going out to sea for their final, fateful voyage. As I read this passage I felt a knot in my stomach as my mind visualised those bright-faced, confident warriors waving cheerfully and unkowingly to their admiring comrades. Calvert tells a touching love story in the midst of the of this taut thriller. However, what leaps out of these pages is his steadfast character and unwillingness to take the easy way out. I give credit for Calvert for the simplicity and forthrightness of his prose. He lets the events themselves rivet the reader to each page. In addition to the touching love story, there is the telling account of the skipper who selflessly comes to grips with his inability to take the pressure of commanding a submarine in wartime. There is the tragic death of the chief petty officer who is the very incarnation of the spirit of the Jack. We tend to forget that courage is not necessarily over-arching drama played out by over-sized heroes. More often than not its men who quietly weigh the odds, act on their best instincts, and somehow "stolidly and unimaginatively", as Calvert says,not only accomplish their mission but also survive through an unfathomable mix of skill and chance. Read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Put Down
Review: VAdm Calvert's book is simply one of the best WWII submarine books ever written. It is both heartfelt and straight forward and lives up to the one of the defining standards of the men who served on our fleet submarines in the Pacific; honest self criticism. About a war full of hero's, this book lets us get to know some of them better.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Put Down
Review: VAdm Calvert's book is simply one of the best WWII submarine books ever written. It is both heartfelt and straight forward and lives up to the one of the defining standards of the men who served on our fleet submarines in the Pacific; honest self criticism. About a war full of hero's, this book lets us get to know some of them better.
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