Book Review: Thunder Below!

Thunder Below!: The USS *Barb* Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II by Eugene B. Fluckey

I would not have thought a naval history book could make me cry any more than I would have expected it to inspire me as a reading teacher--but cry and learn I did as I turned the pages of Thunder Below!, Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey's history of the USS Barb's patrols in the Pacific under his command during World War II.

It is a book my mother's uncle--our Uncle Bud--drove to Alabama to buy copies of for himself and for his siblings in 1994. Admiral Fluckey's submarine had been part of a wolfpack that had included my mother's Uncle Laurence's boat, the USS Herring. Before his 21st birthday, Uncle Laurence died in combat off the Kurile Islands. Pearl Harbor had gotten to Uncle Laurence's young heart; he was too young to sign up when he did; he went and he never came back.

All his life, Uncle Bud sought information from veterans about his brother's service because Uncle Laurence's passing broke his heart.  This book was part of his search to find his brother, so Uncle Bud drove to the deep South and bought copies of them from the author and veteran himself.

Admiral Fluckey gave him and his siblings this information in his inscription: "Herring was under my wolf pack command and sank a frigate, the Ishigaki, and three other ships May 31 - 1 June 1944. Unfortunately, I believe her demise was caused by a faulty torpedo compensating valve so that the bow brouched on her final firing and two shots from Matsuwa Island shore batteries holed her conning tower, causing Herring to flood and sink in deep water. From the resulting oil slick, she was definitely sunk there."

My uncle gave me his copy of Thunder Below! when he was living in a nursing home in Danbury; certain things belonged in certain places, and he wanted to make sure they got there before he was gone.

So it was for me to read this intimidatingly large, detailed, military tome. Five years later, I accepted the challenge. When I finished it seven days later, I wondered what took me so long to open up to it.

It is an hour-by-hour account of Fluckey's five patrols as skipper of the Barb in the Pacific. This brilliant and fearless fighter and leader had the complete confidence of his men, who were completely confident they could succeed. Fluckey built a team and a family, trusting in the know-how and ability of each and every one of his men, and using their feedback to modify his plans. He cared about them individually, and they knew it.  Together, they sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II.  Along the way, they also rescued Allied sailors, used rockets to take out factories, and even blew up a train and a bridge.

Fluckey was as assertive as he was intelligent; he took chances but only after weighing the odds and keeping in mind the safety of his men and his boat. His leadership of the Barb earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor and four Navy Crosses.

Fluckey revolutionized submarine warfare by going after his targets rather than waiting for them to come by. His understanding of navigation, astronomy, physics, geometry, human nature and need, and bureacracy fed his boat's successes. He never forgot the goal was to end a war, but achieving that goal meant death and destruction--and some of the victims were innocent people. In short, this book is a sensitive, heart-rending account of the cost of war by a humble leader driven by compassion in many forms--love for his family, his country and his crew, and a respect for real peace.

Deeply human moments are part of the fabric of this book about naval warfare and the price of war. For example, after his fourth patrol, Fluckey was on leave for a month, and he and his wife went out for dinner and dancing with a group of women whose husbands were submariners or who had died as submariners. "Five of the women knew they were widows. As each snuggled close, dancing with me, my heart did flip-flops. I knew four others were widows, but they had not yet been notified. Damn the war!...The horrors those women had yet to face brought tears to my eyes as they danced with their eyes closed, dreaming of dancing with their husbands."

Damn the war, indeed. But life insists on itself:

After his fifth patrol, Fluckey was relieved of his command of the Barb. When the sub headed to Guam on August 21, 1945, Fluckey released the last line holding her to the pier and waved her good-bye. "Then I sat down on the bollard and kept waving until they were passing out of the channel, all the while the crew waving back.

"The pier and dock areas were empty. I sat there until my Barb was out of sight. Finally, standing up slowly, I brushed the tears from my cheeks, ready to face the future. But how I loved that Barb girl!

"Then it dawned on me that the men in the Barb who gave her life had taught me the most valuable philosophy for my life. Regardless of all the dangers they accepted at my command, and without all the knowledge that was available to me, a reciprocal trust glowed. I find it applies totally for success in life, love, marriage, and business. Simply put, 'I believe in you.'"

Simply put, when the student is ready, the teacher arrives.  May we be worthy.

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