Slade Cutter, Submarine Warrior

Slade Cutter, Submarine Warrior PDF Author: Carl LaVO
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 9781557505057
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Slade Cutter's heroic feats as an athlete and World War II submarine commander left an indelible mark on the U.S. Navy. From a humble upbringing on a depression-era farm in Illinois, he won an appointment to the Naval Academy and went on to become one of America's most formidable and decorated naval officers in World War II. As commander of the USS Seahorse, he sank twenty-three enemy ships in the Pacific, earning four Navy Crosses and a Presidential Unit Citation. Although Cutter's brilliant tactics and unusual exploits are the stuff of legend, this is the first biography published about him. With complete and exclusive access to his subject, journalist Carl LaVO presents a remarkably candid portrait of the storied captain. He draws on countless interviews with Cutter and with many of his shipmates and admirers - as well as a few detractors. Cutter's own views about his naval career and the inner workings of the Navy's hierarchy are always forthright and contribute uniquely to the official record."--BOOK JACKET.

Slade Cutter, Submarine Warrior

Slade Cutter, Submarine Warrior PDF Author: Carl LaVO
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 9781557505057
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Slade Cutter's heroic feats as an athlete and World War II submarine commander left an indelible mark on the U.S. Navy. From a humble upbringing on a depression-era farm in Illinois, he won an appointment to the Naval Academy and went on to become one of America's most formidable and decorated naval officers in World War II. As commander of the USS Seahorse, he sank twenty-three enemy ships in the Pacific, earning four Navy Crosses and a Presidential Unit Citation. Although Cutter's brilliant tactics and unusual exploits are the stuff of legend, this is the first biography published about him. With complete and exclusive access to his subject, journalist Carl LaVO presents a remarkably candid portrait of the storied captain. He draws on countless interviews with Cutter and with many of his shipmates and admirers - as well as a few detractors. Cutter's own views about his naval career and the inner workings of the Navy's hierarchy are always forthright and contribute uniquely to the official record."--BOOK JACKET.

Reminiscences of Capt. Slade D. Cutter, USN (Ret.), Vol. II

Reminiscences of Capt. Slade D. Cutter, USN (Ret.), Vol. II PDF Author: Slade D Cutter
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781682690888
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Cutter turned down a music scholarship at an Illinois college to attend the Naval Academy, where he became an All-American football star and standout on the boxing team. Following graduation in 1935, Cutter embarked on a career heavily intertwined with sports. His first duty was as football coach for the team of the battleship USS Idaho (BB-42). After submarine school he coached football at the Naval Academy with collateral duty in the USS S-30 (SS-135). World War II found him in the crew of the USS Pompano (SS-181), where he made a name for himself as a brilliant submariner - a reputation that was further enhanced by his wartime commands of the USS Seahorse (SS-304) and the USS Requin (SS-481). Cutter provides an excellent picture of wartime sub duty: the attributes required of a good skipper and opinions of all the top names, description of the experience of undergoing a depth charge attack, the quality of food on board subs, and the craziness of submariners letting off steam between patrols. After the war, Cutter took charge of the Navy sports program, taking an armed forces team to the 1948 London Olympics, where he refereed boxing. His first volume ends with discussion of his assignment as executive officer of the tender USS Sperry (AS-12) in 1949-50. In the second volume, Cutter picks up his career with his unsatisfying service as Commander Submarine Division 32 in the early 1950s. He moved on to a more interesting assignment as director of the Special Services program, where he was concerned with officers' clubs and liquor sales. Next came a stint in the Navy Information Office in the mid-1950s, where he became embroiled with the problems of security leaks, Admiral Rickover, and the USS Nautilus (SSN-571). He commanded the command ship USS Northampton (CLC-1) when she was Second Fleet flagship. Other tours discussed include NATO duty in Naples, director of athletics at the Naval Academy in the late 1950s, and director of the Navy Museum, from which he retired in 1966. Cutter's reminiscences of his varied career are enhanced by his humility and humor, evident throughout.

Surface and Destroy

Surface and Destroy PDF Author: Michael Sturma
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 081314020X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
World War II submariners rarely experienced anything as exhilarating or horrifying as the surface gun attack. Between the ocean floor and the rolling whitecaps above, submarines patrolled a dark abyss in a fusion of silence, shadows, and steel, firing around eleven thousand torpedoes, sinking Japanese men-of-war and more than one thousand merchant ships. But the anonymity and simplicity of the stealthy torpedo attack hid the savagery of warfare -- a stark difference from the brutality of the surface gun maneuver. As the submarine shot through the surface of the water, confined sailors scrambled through the hatches armed with large-caliber guns and met the enemy face-to-face. Surface and Destroy: The Submarine Gun War in the Pacific reveals the nature of submarine warfare in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and investigates the challenges of facing the enemy on the surface. The surface battle amplified the realities of war, bringing submariners into close contact with survivors and potential prisoners of war. As Japan's larger ships disappeared from the Pacific theater, American submarines turned their attention to smaller craft such as patrol boats, schooners, sampans, and junks. Some officers refused to attack enemy vessels of questionable value, while others attacked reluctantly and tried to minimize casualties. Michael Sturma focuses on the submariners' reactions and attitudes toward their victims, exploring the sailors' personal standards of morality and their ability to wage total war. Surface and Destroy is a thorough analysis of the submariner experience and the effects of surface attacks on the war in the Pacific, offering a compelling study of the battles that became "intolerably personal."

Fremantle's Submarines

Fremantle's Submarines PDF Author: Michael Sturma
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612518613
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
From unpromising beginnings in March 1942, the Allied submarine base at Fremantle on the west coast of Australia became a vital part of the Allied offensive against Japan. Pushed back from the Philippines and the Netherlands’ East Indies, American submariners, accompanied by a small group of Dutch forces, retreated to Fremantle as a last resort. The location was chosen for its good harbor and the fact that it was outside the range of land-based Japanese aircraft. Unfortunately the base was also far from their patrol areas and supply lines, and it was difficult to reinforce should the enemy attack. Thanks largely to a welcoming civilian population, morale quickly improved. The hospitality and sense of belonging fostered by Western Australians became legendary among Allied submariners and remains central to their wartime memories. Perhaps as a result of such a positive experience, the Allied forces became much more successful in combat. Intertwining social and military history, Fremantle’s Submarines relates how courage, cooperation, and community made Fremantle arguably the most successful military outpost of World War II from the standpoint of troop morale.

Reminiscences of Capt. Slade D. Cutter, USN (Ret.), Vol. I

Reminiscences of Capt. Slade D. Cutter, USN (Ret.), Vol. I PDF Author: Slade D Cutter
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781682690871
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Cutter turned down a music scholarship at an Illinois college to attend the Naval Academy, where he became an All-American football star and standout on the boxing team. Following graduation in 1935, Cutter embarked on a career heavily intertwined with sports. His first duty was as football coach for the team of the battleship USS Idaho (BB-42). After submarine school he coached football at the Naval Academy with collateral duty in the USS S-30 (SS-135). World War II found him in the crew of the USS Pompano (SS-181), where he made a name for himself as a brilliant submariner - a reputation that was further enhanced by his wartime commands of the USS Seahorse (SS-304) and the USS Requin (SS-481). Cutter provides an excellent picture of wartime sub duty: the attributes required of a good skipper and opinions of all the top names, description of the experience of undergoing a depth charge attack, the quality of food on board subs, and the craziness of submariners letting off steam between patrols. After the war, Cutter took charge of the Navy sports program, taking an armed forces team to the 1948 London Olympics, where he refereed boxing. His first volume ends with discussion of his assignment as executive officer of the tender USS Sperry (AS-12) in 1949-50. In the second volume, Cutter picks up his career with his unsatisfying service as Commander Submarine Division 32 in the early 1950s. He moved on to a more interesting assignment as director of the Special Services program, where he was concerned with officers' clubs and liquor sales. Next came a stint in the Navy Information Office in the mid-1950s, where he became embroiled with the problems of security leaks, Admiral Rickover, and the USS Nautilus (SSN-571). He commanded the command ship USS Northampton (CLC-1) when she was Second Fleet flagship. Other tours discussed include NATO duty in Naples, director of athletics at the Naval Academy in the late 1950s, and director of the Navy Museum, from which he retired in 1966. Cutter's reminiscences of his varied career are enhanced by his humility and humor, evident throughout.

The Galloping Ghost

The Galloping Ghost PDF Author: Carl P Lavo
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612510752
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Eugene Fluckey was one of the great naval heroes of World War II. His exploits as captain of the submarine USS Barb revolutionized undersea warfare and laid the groundwork for a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine fleet. He retired as a rear admiral and was awarded numerous presidential, congressional, and military honors, including the Medal of Honor and four Navy Crosses. In the war against Japan, Fluckey fired the first ballistic missiles from a submarine, sank more tonnage than any other U.S. submarine skipper, including an aircraft carrier, a cruiser, a destroyer, and blew up a train after landing submariners-turned-saboteurs on mainland Japan in 1945. Here is the legendary submariner's story, told with the exclusive access to Fluckey's personal papers and based on interviews with him, his family, Barb shipmates, official Navy documents, and the recollections of his contemporaries.

Back from the Deep

Back from the Deep PDF Author: Carl P Lavo
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612511708
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
This epic World War II saga follows the USS Squalus and Sculpin as they play out their dramatic destinies in the Pacific. The author, a seasoned journalist, re-creates their entire perilous journey. The Squalus sank during a test dive in 1939, but thirty-three trapped crewmen were saved thanks to the revolutionary use of the McCann diving bell. The Sculpin's role in that historic rescue is just the first of many incongruous twists of fate that brought the two subs together after the Squalus was salvaged and rechristened the Sailfish. Carl LaVO skillfully weaves together the tragic loss of the Sculpin to a Japanese destroyer with the frenetic wrath of its sister sub. Their intertwined fates come to an eerie climax as the Sailfish unleashes a ten-hour attack on the Japanese aircraft carrier Chuyo amid a raging typhoon, unwittingly killing twenty-two of the forty-three Americans captured from the sunken Sculpin. The saga comes to a close with a moving description of the surviving Sculpin crewmen as they face incredible hardship, torture, and disease as POWs in Japan. This book is certain to instill a renewed appreciation for the intrepid men and stealthy boats that were the soul of the Pacific campaign's silent service.

Leadership Embodied, 2nd Edition

Leadership Embodied, 2nd Edition PDF Author: Joseph J Thomas
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612513336
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Leadership is a most demanding undertaking. How do some people make it seem so simple, so natural and instinctive? In the age-old debate as to whether leaders are born or made, Thomas contends that the answer is both. Great leaders throughout history were born with certain capabilities. Preparation honed those capabilities. Then that ability and preparation were combined with a will to lead. When circumstances demanded, the great leaders of history pulled these attributes together to create results that drove the course of history. While leaders are present in every aspect of human undertaking, we chose to illustrate each of the components of leadership through the most dramatic and demanding of all human undertakings—war and the preparations for war. Wartime leaders are leaders “writ with a darker pen.” Wartime challenges are, because of the life and death nature of the affair, more monumental and exacting. In the selection of individuals to illustrate each point, we chose wartime leaders as well as those who guided their subordinates and organizations in preparation for combat. Further we chose American leaders with a distinct and obvious bias towards the navy and Marine Corps. Multiple reasons led us to our approach for Leadership Embodied. First, a biography is perhaps the most effective method for imparting leadership lessons. Simple listings of prescriptive traits or descriptive qualities are patronizing and, frequently, boring. Second, our biographical examples are familiar to most—or at least they should be. Finally, all of these historical selections have dramatically shaped today’s institutions, practices, and customs within the naval services. These are not marginal figures with marginal influence. The individuals included, and their respective leadership attributes, should be required reading for any student of leadership. Each has a particular lesson for midshipmen on their journey to becoming a navy or Marine Corps officer. This book does not promise to be a panacea. There is no short cut. Leadership does not follow a prescribed path. We study examples to inspire us to become better, to be strong when it is easy to give in, and to know others have gone before us and faced insurmountable odds. Leadership, as an ill-defined social science, crosses boundaries with several disciplines including sociology, psychology, philosophy, and history. We have selected a method that combines the psychological “profile” of effective leaders and the historical context of the impact their leadership brought to organizations and events. Our hope for this book is that these case studies illustrate the basic elements—in themselves the very essence—of leadership. It is through inherent talent, arduous preparation, and practical experience that we become capable leaders. The reader brings the first to the table; then we offer a small token in the second pursuit; and circumstances enable the third.

Patrol Area 14

Patrol Area 14 PDF Author: Dave Lotz
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1543446884
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
As the war in the Pacific progressed, the role of the US submarines evolved to meet the challenges confronting the United States Navy in the Western Pacific. This story is vividly portrayed in Patrol Area 14 and details the exploits of the US submarines in one specific patrol area of the Pacific Ocean, the waters of the Mariana Islands, whose control became essential to victory in the Pacific for the United States and defeat for Japan. Patrol Area 14 describes the submarine patrols from solitary patrols beginning in 1942 to aggressively patrolling the offshore waters, to bold approaches to harbor entrances, to sinking ships within sight of the islands in spite of determined Japanese air and sea anti-submarine efforts and supporting the US invasions of the islands in 1944.

Pushing the Limits

Pushing the Limits PDF Author: Carl P Lavo
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612513344
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Vice Admiral Allan Rockwell McCann left no reminiscences that might reveal a deeper sense of his extraordinary service, but naval historian Carl LaVO has filled that void by writing this revealing—and often inspiring—biography. Among McCann’s many accomplishments: Served as liaison officer for the modification of the antiquated O-12 submarine into the privately-leased Nautilus that made the first attempt to sail beneath the Arctic ice shelf in 1931; pioneered the McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber; directed fire from the sub tender Pelias at Japanese aircraft attacking Pearl Harbor; commanded the battleship Iowa during the Battle of Leyte Gulf; was Chief of Staff of the Navy’s 10th Fleet that stymied a last ditch effort to attack North America via U-boats; headed the Navy task force that transported President Truman to the Potsdam conference; and as ComSubPac was aboard the first submarine to navigate under the polar ice in 1947. This book is an overdue appreciation of a significant admiral who has been all but ignored in naval history.