Battle Surface!: Lawson P. "Red" Ramage and the War Patrols of the USS, Parche

by Stephen L. Moore

Cmdr. Lawson Paterson Red Ramage was among an elite group of just seven U.S. submariners who were awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II and the first not to die in the course of his heroic exploits. He was honored for his actions in the Pacific on the night of 31 July 1944 when he kept his submarine, USS Parche, on the surface and defiantly charged into the midst of a large Japanese convoy. Ramage's close-in, furious surface rampage became the talk of the submarine force, both in terms of its boldness and its destruction of the enemy shipping. Remarkably, Parche's crew had managed to reload their torpedo tubes while their skipper twisted and turned the boat through the chaos of machine gun bullets, exploding heavy shells, and Japanese ships trying to ram them.
To tell Parche's dramatic story, author Stephen Moore draws on recently discovered wartime diaries and interviews with dozens of veterans, who add rich details to the official record. Readers learn what it was like on patrol in the Pacific to endure the terrors of torpedo attacks and depth charges, as well as learn how they relieved the stress of combat on liberty. The only book to focus exclusively on Parche and the incredible Red Ramage, it offers a rare, up-close look at the actions of the legendary World War II submarine, whose conning tower and periscopes are on permanent display in Pearl Harbor.

Genres: World War II

362 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 2, 2011

Reviews

[Bonnie Fournier · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daddy served all six tours in the Parchee

Look for Nelson Fournier and his longtime buddy Fred Richards. Confirms so many stories he related to me through the years.

[William Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Battle Surface

Through review of one submarines action during WW II. Interesting to notice how the free accepted conditions on subs. I learned a lot.

[Chaplain Stanley Chapin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of submarine action and information

I truly enjoyed the explicit action directions given in many of the various encounters with Japanese ships. It did become too much with all the crew members' names, some repeatedly. It is a bit of a dry read and repetitive at times. It is a bit of a dry read and repetitive at times.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very thorough in that it reads more like a documentary. You can tell that the author did many interviews with the veterans and obtained accounts of actions from many perspectives. That being said, the book could have used some editing in both structure and proof-reading for simple errors. It is a bit of a dry read and repetitive at times. Anyone who is reading this book for in depth info. on WW2 subsurface action will be somewhat interested. Anyone reading this with no prior exposure to the topic will get bored. This is not to detract from the servicemen's many exploits including the daring night surface action conducted by the Parche crew under then Lt. Cmdr. Ramage (later admiral) that won him the Congressional Medal of Honor (as well as many other decorations for the crew). That is also quite the feat when you consider that 2 of 7 of the winners of this highest of all commendations obtained it posthumously. One can certainly tell that the author really put his heart into it and has a great respect for these submarine veterans.