covediver
Contributor
"Fatal Dive" | Bookmarks
Six years ago I was sitting in my office in Anchorage, Alaska when a conversation between visitors and our resident maritime archeology expert caught my attention. The team was enroute to the Aleutians to initiate the search for the USS Grunion, a USN submarine lost in the Aleutian Islands in the opening months of WWII and had stopped by to consult with my colleague. Officially listed as missing, over time because of efforts in many countries and because of communication facilitated by the internet, the mystery what happened to the Grunion was on its way to being solved. At the end of the conversation, I as eavesdropper was ready to join the expedition but was not able to do so. Thanks to the recently published book, Fatal Dive, released 70 years to the day the Grunion went missing, I now know what I missed. Prior to that day, I had not heard of the Grunion. Since then, I have seen two memorials to the sub "on eternal patrol: one at Pearl Harbor and the other one (inexplicably) in Marquette, Michigan.
OK, the book has nothing to do with diving, but anyone interested in nautical archaeology, deep ocean remote sensing, or naval history will love this book.
On the one hand, it is a very personal story of the career of a boat's Captain and his family--the family that paid the expense of two expeditions to locate and confirm the largely intact remains of the sub despite discouraging advice from Bob Ballard and others and ambivalence of the Navy. It is very personal tribute to the family and their perserverance. It is also a remarkable story of assembling the recollection of the descendants of the crew and a snapshot of dozens of sailors who remain eternally young in the ranks of the greatest generation.
On another level, it is the story of a piece of a campaign in the Aleutians that most Americans do not even realized happened. While I had read the book "The Thousand Mile War" about the campaign in the Aleutians, I was unaware of the submarine campaign in the Aleutians while being much more familiar with the air campaign. These sites described in the book are remote, even by Alaskan standards.
I received the book on a Thursday evening and finished it by Friday night. It is a truly fast-paced readable book that flows like a well-written action adventure novel (that is, early Cussler) while covering the details of the machine, the men, and the battle that it fought, that would culminate in the Fatal Dive.
Six years ago I was sitting in my office in Anchorage, Alaska when a conversation between visitors and our resident maritime archeology expert caught my attention. The team was enroute to the Aleutians to initiate the search for the USS Grunion, a USN submarine lost in the Aleutian Islands in the opening months of WWII and had stopped by to consult with my colleague. Officially listed as missing, over time because of efforts in many countries and because of communication facilitated by the internet, the mystery what happened to the Grunion was on its way to being solved. At the end of the conversation, I as eavesdropper was ready to join the expedition but was not able to do so. Thanks to the recently published book, Fatal Dive, released 70 years to the day the Grunion went missing, I now know what I missed. Prior to that day, I had not heard of the Grunion. Since then, I have seen two memorials to the sub "on eternal patrol: one at Pearl Harbor and the other one (inexplicably) in Marquette, Michigan.
OK, the book has nothing to do with diving, but anyone interested in nautical archaeology, deep ocean remote sensing, or naval history will love this book.
On the one hand, it is a very personal story of the career of a boat's Captain and his family--the family that paid the expense of two expeditions to locate and confirm the largely intact remains of the sub despite discouraging advice from Bob Ballard and others and ambivalence of the Navy. It is very personal tribute to the family and their perserverance. It is also a remarkable story of assembling the recollection of the descendants of the crew and a snapshot of dozens of sailors who remain eternally young in the ranks of the greatest generation.
On another level, it is the story of a piece of a campaign in the Aleutians that most Americans do not even realized happened. While I had read the book "The Thousand Mile War" about the campaign in the Aleutians, I was unaware of the submarine campaign in the Aleutians while being much more familiar with the air campaign. These sites described in the book are remote, even by Alaskan standards.
I received the book on a Thursday evening and finished it by Friday night. It is a truly fast-paced readable book that flows like a well-written action adventure novel (that is, early Cussler) while covering the details of the machine, the men, and the battle that it fought, that would culminate in the Fatal Dive.
