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Rating: 
Summary: A Book You Can't Put Down
Review: Forest Sterling's "Wake Of The Wahoo" gives the perspective of the Enlisted Man's take on Submarine Warfare in WWII. As I titled this review, it's a very hard book to put down once you start reading it. Like Cmdr. I.J. Galatin's "TAKE HER DEEP!", Sterling does not bore the reader with technical terms a non-Navy person would be confused with. He even went so far as to complain about "Fish Making Lots Of Noise" over the Sonar when Wahoo was in water replete with sediment and strong undercurrents---a problem with early Sonar you don't read much about.
"Wake Of The Wahoo" chronicals one of the most Daring Submarine Skippers from WWII and the crew the Author sailed with. "Wake Of The Wahoo" is a terrific story and worth reading over and over.
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Summary: Outstanding narrative of life aboard a WW II submarine
Review: Forest Sterling's first person narrative of his experiences as a Yeoman for five of the seven war patrols, of the USS Wahoo is a classic that surpasses virtually every other book on WW II submarine warfare. Ranking right up there with Sam Watkins civil war classic, "Company Aytch", Sterling gives us an excellent insight into the life of an enlisted man aboard a submarine during war time. It's easy to read about the legendary Mush Morton and the tenacity of a Richard O'Kane in other books, but nowhere else does their personalties shine as they do in Sterling's book. Sterling effectively gives the reader an idea of the terror of repeated depth charge attacks and the fear of entering an uncharted harbor to sink an enemy destroyer. Despite the hardships, ringing clear throughout the book is the special camaraderie that the crew shared and indeed was a necessity to survive the rigors of confinement in a fleet boat of this era. Although not a long book, it will leave the reader in awe of what those aboard submarines lived through and possibly give some insight on what attracted them to this branch of service.
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Summary: Try CRAZY IVAN if you liked this book
Review: If you liked this book, be sure to get the new book CRAZY IVAN: A TRUE STORY OF SUBMARINE ESPIONAGE by W. Craig Reed available today on Amazon.com. Type in CRAZY IVAN under Book Search on this page and order your copy today!
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Summary: Compelling true to life narative of war at sea...
Review: This is a deckplate view of submariners at the height of war in the Pacific during WWII. As a Navy Sailor, I found myself drawn into the book simply because of its no frills language and realistic portrayal of heroes that don't know they are heroes, in action.I reccommend this for anyone looking for an inside view of Navy life in general and submarine Sailors in particular. Bravo Zulu Chief Sterling for a great story!
Rating:
Summary: Compelling true to life narative of war at sea...
Review: This is a deckplate view of submariners at the height of war in the Pacific during WWII. As a Navy Sailor, I found myself drawn into the book simply because of its no frills language and realistic portrayal of heroes that don't know they are heroes, in action. I reccommend this for anyone looking for an inside view of Navy life in general and submarine Sailors in particular. Bravo Zulu Chief Sterling for a great story!
Rating:
Summary: 'Wahoo a Winner'
Review: Wake of the Wahoo by Forest Sterling is a great read! Reading this engrossing book is actually more like sitting down with the author, and listening to him as he relates the five patrols he experienced on the Wahoo. We should be thankful that he received his orders for transfer before the 7th and fatal final patrol. Forest Sterling was an enlisted sailor- the 'yeoman' aboard the Wahoo. His descriptions of long, sometimes very boring days on patrol, broken only by the tense, gut-wrenching episodes of discovering the target, tracking, stalking, and finally attacking, and evading, draws the reader into the clamy, sweaty, smelly, claustrophobic innards of a fleet submarine. No details are left to the imagination; Sterling recounts eating a particular sandwich at a moment in time; he describes his 'yeoman's' shack in minute detail. The yarns he spins on the personalities of his shipmates (including officers), is worth the read alone. His colorful insights of 'Mush' Morton, Dick O'Kane (also author of another Wahoo book, and Skipper of the Tang - the sub that sank the most tonnage in WWII), among others, is just plain fun to read about. Footnote; Forrest Sterling also served on another sub after Wahoo, along with George Grider, who ALSO wrote a very good book on WWII subs; 'WAR FISH'. Sterling 'mentions' Grider in his book, but I don't recall if Grider ever re-called Sterling. Anyway; Buy It, Read It, and Enjoy It!
Rating:
Summary: 'Wahoo a Winner'
Review: Wake of the Wahoo by Forest Sterling is a great read! Reading this engrossing book is actually more like sitting down with the author, and listening to him as he relates the five patrols he experienced on the Wahoo. We should be thankful that he received his orders for transfer before the 7th and fatal final patrol. Forest Sterling was an enlisted sailor- the 'yeoman' aboard the Wahoo. His descriptions of long, sometimes very boring days on patrol, broken only by the tense, gut-wrenching episodes of discovering the target, tracking, stalking, and finally attacking, and evading, draws the reader into the clamy, sweaty, smelly, claustrophobic innards of a fleet submarine. No details are left to the imagination; Sterling recounts eating a particular sandwich at a moment in time; he describes his 'yeoman's' shack in minute detail. The yarns he spins on the personalities of his shipmates (including officers), is worth the read alone. His colorful insights of 'Mush' Morton, Dick O'Kane (also author of another Wahoo book, and Skipper of the Tang - the sub that sank the most tonnage in WWII), among others, is just plain fun to read about. Footnote; Forrest Sterling also served on another sub after Wahoo, along with George Grider, who ALSO wrote a very good book on WWII subs; 'WAR FISH'. Sterling 'mentions' Grider in his book, but I don't recall if Grider ever re-called Sterling. Anyway; Buy It, Read It, and Enjoy It!
Rating:
Summary: Try CRAZY IVAN if you liked this book
Review: What a delight to find this book finally back in print after over thirty years! It's an all-time favorite, a true classic of naval lore and one of two late-'50s/early-'60s seminal works on U.S. fleet submarines in World War II which, as a boy, helped create for me a lifelong interest in subs in general and American WWII boats in particular. The difference between this book and others like it is that, in general, those others have tended to either take a stuffier historical position, or be written from a colder, more distant command perspective: the Captain's privileged and/or technical remembrances. Sterling's account, on the other hand, is completely his own: a totally down-to-earth first person retelling of all his adventures and experiences as an enlisted man aboard Wahoo, the pride of the fleet at the time. It's all in there: the boring monotony of days of fruitless patrolling on station and the long treks back and forth across the Pacific; the infectious and overwhelming excitement of battle and the utter terror wrought by Japanese depth charge counterattacks; even the good-natured fun and camaraderie of between-patrols R&R at Brisbane, Midway and Pearl. And it's told from a definitely Everyman point of view, very approachable and easily satisfying in its day-to-day recounting. And Wahoo herself? Her name, and that of her daring late skipper, Dudley W. "Mush" Morton, remain legendary among our submarine force. Under his command she became, arguably, America's most famous WWII sub: first to successfully penetrate an enemy harbor and torpedo a ship therein; first to successfully execute the "down the throat" torpedo shot; certainly first to wipe out an entire convoy one-by-one in a string of stirring attacks. It's a uniquely compelling story -- with Sterling on hand for all of it -- and it reads like a good novel. Indeed, many good books are currently available about life aboard U.S. subs in WWII. But if you're going to read only one on the subject, this is the book to dive into.
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