Submarine Attack #46

When a newly commissioned ballistic missile submarine undergoes its final certification trials, the Blue and Gold crews must each prove their mettle by launching a "bird"—a Polaris missile—and hitting a target over a thousand miles away while submerged. This 1964 war story explores the Cold War expertise of a new breed of Navy technician: the "slide-rule sailors" who man the instrument consoles and track these weapons with precision, never seeing the enemy but serving as the true master-gunners of the nuclear age.

Lt. Al Mossley and his carrier air group launch a daring low-level strike against Rabaul, the heavily fortified Japanese base in the South Pacific, on November 11th, 1943. Flying dangerously close to the water to evade anti-aircraft fire and enemy fighters, the American pilots press their attack on the cruisers and destroyers packed in the harbor. When Mossley makes a final strafing run, he takes enemy fire directly in the cockpit—but manages to nurse his crippled plane back to the carrier deck before his wounds finally claim him.

During World War II, German engineers developed a revolutionary torpedo—the Lage-Unabhängiger—that could fire into a convoy's path and loop across its course until striking a target, exploding on contact regardless of angle. This ingenious weapon arrived far too late to change the course of the war, but the story hints at resistance from within Hitler's own government that may have delayed its deployment even further. A fascinating glimpse at the advanced technology that emerged from the conflict, and the human choices that shaped its impact.

During World War I, the German U-boat U-143 under Kapitan Schepke preys on Allied shipping along the English coast, sinking vessels with ruthless precision. When Lieutenant Harry Bullard takes command of a patrol boat sub-chaser, he finds himself hunting the same elusive submarine that's been striking coastal targets with alarming success. The cat-and-mouse game intensifies as Bullard pursues a second chance to stop the U-143 before it can claim more victims.

During World War II, U.S. submarines hunting through the Pacific systematically targeted enemy tankers and oil infrastructure, strangling Japan's fuel supplies and crippling her war machine—while across the Atlantic, American and British convoys and escorts fought a desperate battle to keep their own oil flowing against relentless German U-boat attacks. This non-fiction account contrasts two pivotal naval campaigns, showing how control of the seas' vital resources ultimately determined the course of the war itself.