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James F. DeRose
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Unrestricted Warfare: How a New Breed of Officers Led the Submarine Force to Victory in World War II Hardcover – October 1, 2000

by James F. DeRose (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 70 ratings
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Unrestricted Warfare reveals the dramatic story of the harsh baptism by fire faced by U.S. submarine commanders in World War II. The first skippers went to battle hamstrung by conservative peacetime training and plagued by defective torpedoes. Drawing extensively from now declassified files, Japanese archives, and the testimony of surviving veterans, James DeRose has written a fascinating account of the men and vessels responsible for the only successful submarine campaign of the war. They clearly charted a new course to victory in the Pacific.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR UNRESTRICTED WARFARE

"James DeRose has done an excellent job-- surprisingly so, in view of his lack of true WWII submarine experience. He obviously contacted everyone he could find who served on one of the three boats he concentrated on, and he read, as well, everything he could find that was written about them. . . . DeRose shines by his interpretation of events as the Japanese must have seen them. . . . His reconstruction of how Wahoo came to her end may well be pretty close to correct. . . . He does the same with Tang."-CAPTAIN EDWARD L. BEACH, USN author of Submarine! and Run Silent, Run Deep

"An outstanding addition to the literature of the Silent Service. . . . The depth of research is wonderful. . . . This is fine history . . . that rivals Blair's Silent Victory."-PAUL CROZIER, sitemaster, "Legends of the Deep" (www.warfish.com) Web site on the USS Wahoo

"I knew all of the book's main characters quite well. . . . I am also completely familiar with submarine operations in the Pacific. With that background I couldn't fail to thoroughly enjoy DeRose's book. It is well written and has the right feel."-CHESTER W. NIMITZ JR., rear admiral, USN (Ret.)

"Sail with American submariners into tightly guarded Japanese home waters; undergo the horror of a depth charge attack; experience the thrill of victory with some of the U.S. Navy's ace submarine skippers. All this--and much more--is contained in James F. DeRose's compelling Unrestricted Warfare. No one interested in the naval side of World War II should be without it."-NATHAN MILLER author of War at Sea: A Naval History of World War II
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  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Trade Paper Press
  4. Publication date
    October 1, 2000
  5. Dimensions
    6.45 x 1.09 x 9.59 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    047138495X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0471384953
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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IBM-exec-turned-historian DeRose focuses on officers associated with the legendary USS Wahoo. Headed by Dudley W. Morton and his executive officer, Richard O'Kane, they included George Grider, author of the classic Warfish (1958), and Roger Paine, DeRose's principal informant. Numbering about a dozen in all, they did more than their share to establish the aggressive submarine tactics used in the war against Japan. Some of the material DeRose presents will be familiar to all but naval-history novices, but by drawing on oral history and untapped Japanese sources, DeRose adds considerably to readily available knowledge on his subject. For example, DeRose discloses that most of the men in the water attacked by Wahoo during a controversial episode of Morton's career were Indian POWs being shipped to New Guinea as slave laborers. DeRose also provides a balanced account of the small-group politics of submarine command and a harrowing one of the last hours of the men trapped aboard Tang, which was sunk by one of her own torpedoes. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap

At the outbreak of World War II, the performance of America’s growing submarine fleet was handicapped by the conservative peacetime training of its commanders. Avoiding risk and evading detection by the enemy were emphasized over engagement in combat. A new type of aggressive, daring leadership was needed. Unrestricted Warfare dramatically documents the transformation of the "Silent Service" into the deadliest fighting force in the Pacific theater.The initial focus is on Dudley "Mush" Morton, who virtually seized command of the submarine Wahoo, breaking ingrained patterns of tentative leadership. Morton devised combat techniques so effective that they set the standard for every other sub patrolling in harm’s way. Handicapped by torpedoes that frequently failed to detonate, Morton risked a down-the-throat shot at an oncoming destroyer and conducted slashing surface battles won by fire from Wahoo’s deck guns. Following his furious attacks on a four-ship convoy, Morton returned to port with a broom affixed to the periscope shears: clean sweep. His motto, famous in the submariner’s elite fraternity, was the terse "Shoot the Sunzabitches." Wahoo sank seven ships in ten days on her next patrol, and six ships on her last. Dubbed a "one-boat wolfpack" by navy brass, Wahoo sailed into the Sea of Japan on her seventh patrol, never to return. Yet, before the tragic loss, Morton had unleashed a final devastating salvo in the form of the officers who apprenticed under him. In an intriguing feat of investigation, author James DeRose traces the legacy of Wahoo through the officers who served under Morton. Many went on to their own commands on such subs as Flasher, Grayback, and Tang. They followed Morton’s aggressive philosophy aboard their subs, while developing their own tactics. DeRose, in particular, follows the exploits of the absolutely fearless Medal of Honor—winner Dick O’Kane and the more prudent, often overlooked George Grider. Only Flasher would survive the war, and Tang’s heartbreaking loss is poignantly told.

In exploring the decisive impact of Wahoo’s officers on submarine combat, Unrestricted Warfare vividly re-creates the daring deeds of this new breed of hunter/killer commanders. Readers will experience a bravado torpedo attack made in hull-scraping shallow water, and emergency dives to rivet-popping depths while evading a barrage of depth charges in "Ashcan Alley." By reconciling wartime combat reports, personal memoirs, and declassified postwar documents from both the United States and Japan, DeRose provides a definitive account of the undersea warriors who waged a new brand of warfare in the Pacific theater of World War II.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Trade Paper Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 047138495X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0471384953
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.38 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.45 x 1.09 x 9.59 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 70 ratings

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James F. DeRose

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
70 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Phil Seifert
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book - Wonderful Read
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2018
Verified Purchase
I read any book I can find on US subs in WWII, and have read O'Kanes books on Wahoo, Mush Morton, and himself and Tang. I finished this book about 3 months ago, why the delay is explained below. This book explores 3 skippers who were together on Wahoo, Morton, O'Kane, and Grider, and their war patrols on their own boats (plus Flucky). The patrols are the same, just updated due to new information coming out since the earlier books were published, but, I enjoy reading about Morton and O'Kane every chance I get, so, reading about them again for me was great. Author does a good job tying change in U.S. captains attack aggression to Morton's philosophy,but he was not alone.
So why the delay in the review? In the Notes section is a link to the Warfish.com website - what a fantastic site. LLinks to all kinds of Wahoo and Tang stuff, PLUS another LINK to other links to open up all kinds of stuff. If you have the time, and drill down enough, you c an find a site where you can see photos of ALL U.S. subs built, all the way back to pre-WW1 boats, all the way back to the A1, and going up to WW2 boats and everything in between - all classes. I just finished everything I want to see on US boats, and just starting on Germany's U-Boats, which will take a while.
3 people found this helpful
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Daniel L. Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview of WWII Silent Service
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2008
Verified Purchase
"Unrestricted Warfare" by James F. DeRose is an excellent overview of U.S. submarine operations against the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II. While the book is not intended to convey the depth of detail of Clay Blair's epic "Silent Victory," it provides a first-rate and highly readable examination of the three major problems faced by the United States in executing "unrestricted submarine warfare" against the Japanese after the Dec. 7, 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor: Faulty doctrine, faulty skippers, and faulty torpedoes. The Navy, once it realized the magnitude of the problem, moved fairly quickly to solve the faulty skippers problem, replacing cautious, older, largely peacetime-trained skippers with more aggressive younger men who hadn't been molded by a pre-war performance system that punished captains whose submarines were detected during fleet exercises. These younger skippers crafted and cobbled together their own, more successful doctrine, often on the fly, as the war progressed. The torpedo problem was another matter and was met with incredible bureaucratic intransigence from desk-bound officials safely back in the U.S. It was never fully solved during the war and was only partially rectified by December 1943 - two full years into the conflict - and only then by stop-gap measures undertaken by the fighting forces themselves. (It is known from survivor testimony that two U.S. subs, the Tang and the Tullibee, were sunk by their own circular-running torpedoes and a recent analysis of wreckage photos from a third boat, the USS Grunion, strongly suggest a third. The loss of the Grunion, possibly to its own torpedoes, is not covered in "Unrestricted Warfare" since the wreck was not discovered until well-after publication of the book). "Unrestricted Warfare" provides an excellent insight into the undersea warriors who suffered the highest casualty rate of any branch of the American armed forces in World War II and are still largely under-recognized by history.
One person found this helpful
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SaltiDawg
4.0 out of 5 stars Well Researched, Excellent Re-telling
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2018
Verified Purchase
I am a retired twenty-four year Submariner - both Diesel Boats and SSNs. I read everything I can get my hands on re Submarine Ops in the Pacific during WWII.

This is an excellent read and I learned a lot from this book about the interactions of clearly driven COs with clearly driven subordinates!

DeRose has clearly done a lot of research and had access to many of the folks that lived the nightmare of undersea warfare. I found his writing technically correct where I could judge and his accounts entirely believable. On a few occasions I found the terminology seemingly in error - but not really off-putting. Also,in some cases it may have been the survivor's error, not the author's. (Example, The Division Commander would never say, "CLOSE the MBT vents ." "SHUT the MBT vents." would be the terminology. ) (One never uses 'Close' instead of 'Shut' for fear of being misunderstood so as to order "Blow."
Thanks to the author for a well written, enthralling, narrative of WWII Command of a Submarine!
6 people found this helpful
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Bill Bison from Buffalo
5.0 out of 5 stars A great read for anyone interested in US submarine operations in WWII
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2020
Verified Purchase
As a former submarine officer, I thought Theodore Roscoe's encyclopedic "History of Submarine Operations in WWII" (USNI, c. 1952) covered the subject comprehensively. It does, but this book adds human and dramatic elements, and much detail absent from Roscoe's book. Together with Admiral Gene Fluckey's first person account of the exploits of the USS Barb in his 1992 book, "Thunder Below," this book gives us a fascinating picture of what it was like to serve in submarines in World War II.
2 people found this helpful
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Graham
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is an Excellent history of these great men and boats.
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2021
Verified Purchase
Excellent read and great and detailed history of how the men moved from boat to boat and the legacy of men that came from the Mush Morton and Dick O’Kane line. They truly changed the way submarine warfare was conducted and greatly shortened the duration of the Pacific war.
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G. W. Lukens
5.0 out of 5 stars Good historical overview.
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2013
Verified Purchase
This is the story of U.S.S. Wahoo, Mush Morton, and the officers who served under him and went on to apply his tactics when promoted to command of their own subs. Drawing extensively from declassified Navy files, Japanese records, and the testimony of surviving veterans, author DeRose gives and rich, detailed account of the men and machines that won the war under the waves. His is a dispassionate view and he portrays the men in these subs with all their virtues and all their flaws. His style of writing is intense and this is a real page-turner.
One person found this helpful
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Bayard B.
3.0 out of 5 stars It's ok but generally not written at the operational or strategic level.
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2018
It's ok. It offers little at the operational and strategic level. It's a collection of individual US submarine attacks against the evil Japanese. It also offers little discussion in the way of technical advances in submarine warfare in the Pacific. There are some stories of using improved radar for detecting enemy ships and sonar for detecting enemy mines.

There are several stories sprinkled throughout the book on the disastrous malfunctioning US torpedoes and the refusal of the Navy bureaucracy to recognize and solve the problem until late 1943.
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Top reviews from other countries

Ford Semfld
4.0 out of 5 stars Road to Victory
Reviewed in Germany on May 16, 2009
Verified Purchase
James DeRose's book offers the reader the chance to understand how the american submarine could succeed, where the german wolfpacks failed. The
author's focus on five skilled officers, the subs Wahoo and Tang, the
torpedo problems and morbid japanese ASW explain how US submarines managed to defeat their enemy. I recommend this book for anyone as basis into submarine warfare in the Pacific.
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