Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
-19% $36.28$36.28
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Peaceful Books Place
$24.94$24.94
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: 24 Hour Money Machine
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Audible sample Sample
Thunder Below!: The USS Barb Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II Hardcover – July 1, 1992
Purchase options and add-ons
Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships-she changed forever the way submarines stalk and kill their prey.
This is a gripping adventure chock-full of "you-are-there" moments. Fluckey has drawn on logs, reports, letters, interviews, and a recently discovered illegal diary kept by one of his torpedomen. And in a fascinating twist, he uses archival documents from the Japanese Navy to give its version of events.
The unique story of the Barb begins with its men, who had the confidence to become unbeatable. Each team helped develop innovative ideas, new tactics, and new strategies. All strove for personal excellence, and success became contagious. Instead of lying in wait under the waves, the USS Barb pursued enemy ships on the surface, attacking in the swift and precise style of torpedo boats. She was the first sub to use rocket missiles and to creep up on enemy convoys at night, joining the flank escort line from astern, darting in and out as she sank ships up the column.
Surface-cruising, diving only to escape, "Luckey Fluckey" relentlessly patrolled the Pacific, driving his boat and crew to their limits. There can be no greater contrast to modern warfare's long-distance, videogame style of battle than the exploits of the captain and crew of the USS Barb, where they sub, out of ammunition, actually rammed an enemy ship until it sank.
Thunder Below! is a first-rate, true-life, inspirational story of the courage and heroism of ordinary men under fire.
A Main Selection of the Military Book Club. Winner of the Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature given by the Naval Order of the United States, New York Commandery.
- Print length444 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press
- Publication dateJuly 1, 1992
- Dimensions1.25 x 7.25 x 10.25 inches
- ISBN-100252019253
- ISBN-13978-0252019258
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may ship from close to you
- Submarine! The Classic Account of Undersea Combat in World War IICap. Edward L. Beach USN (Ret.)Mass Market Paperback
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Chillicothe Lib.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
From the Back Cover
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : University of Illinois Press; First Edition (July 1, 1992)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 444 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0252019253
- ISBN-13 : 978-0252019258
- Item Weight : 2.55 pounds
- Dimensions : 1.25 x 7.25 x 10.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #294,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #534 in Naval Military History
- #580 in WWII Biographies
- #2,464 in World War II History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
The book is huge (one of the first in my collection I'd grab if I had to hit someone with a book) and starts pretty much from the start in the action. It is written in first person since it's written by the sub's captain (later Admiral) Eugene Fluckey. I personally find first person writing easier to read and comprehend and usually prefer it. This one emphasizes first person SPEECH without much elaboration which is somewhat different but easy enough to immerse in; most paragraphs in fact are quotations of conversations. There is still enough descriptive detail to "see the drama as it unfolds".
We KNOW he's the Captain and in charge but he never harps on this or excessively "beats his own chest" but on almost every page is giving accolades and showing respect for the devoted work of the CREW, by NAME. THAT is a leader!
I relate to Captain Fluckeys leadership style and see some of myself (I'm semi-retired law enforcement officer-previously a patrol supervisor for night shift in a medium sized sheriff's office). He pulled in as much knowledge of his job and the way others done it (to learn better ways to do his job and ways NOT to do it, from other's mistakes) as he could-one section mentioned he read old submarine patrol logs in his off time. He was not afraid to take risks-sometimes an aggressive pro-active response is SAFER and more effective than a "let's wait and see" approach (to wit-the old adage that "a-good-plan-today-is-better-than-a-perfect-plan-tomorrow"). However, in spite of risks he was constantly cognizant of the safety of his crew, within reason, and within the bounds of they were still a front line SUBPAC boat in "hot spots" of the conflict. As evidenced in the book (and highlighted in the Barb story by the Fat Electrician) no sailor on his boat was seriously injured or killed from combat operations in all of Fluckey's patrols. At the end of the conflict, he proved that these two goals (success in battle and safety of his crew) were NOT mutually exclusive!
To paraphrase the Fat Electician, when hunting the USS Barb, all the IJN was doing was playing the worlds most deadly game of "Fluck around and find out!"
This book and in fact ADM Fluckey's entire career should be a model for leadership in military circles, and even wider possibly.
Get this book and learn about the most successful US submarine of WWII and the only one that sank a train!
Unlike most similar books, this one reads like a novel and relies heavily on dialogue to tell the story. Fluckey relied on the official log, reports, messages, letters, oral histories made during the war, and even an “illegal diary” that was kept by a crewman. He also researched Japanese archives to find the Japanese reports for their perspective of some of the events. Even though it was written over 40 years after the events depicted, one crewman who read the manuscript told Fluckey, “You must have had a tape recorder.” [pg. ix]
This method helps bring life to some exciting and fascinating war patrols. Fluckey was a “fighting captain” in the best tradition and worked long and hard to press his attacks. The highlights of his patrols include a surfaced attack in shallow water on the Chinese coast against a Japanese convoy (for which he won the Medal of Honor), the first ever rocket attacks from a submarine, and a landing party that blew up a Japanese train (the only Americans to land on Japanese soil during WWII).
If I had to criticize one aspect of the book, it’s the sterile, sanitized view of the war he gives. Fluckey glosses over the real fear and terror they must have felt when depth-charged, and he never acknowledges the death and destruction he and his crew caused.
This book is an incredible account of incredible actions, full of good maps and great anecdotes. And the discerning reader can learn some strong leadership lessons from Fluckey. The stories he tells read more like fiction than real-life accounts – it’s hard to believe they actually happened.