Unrestricted Warfare: How a New Breed of Officers Led the Submarine Force to Victory in World War II

by James F. Derose

Unrestricted Warfare reveals the dramatic story of the harsh baptism by fire faced by U.S. submarine commanders in World War II. The first skippers went to battle hamstrung by conservative peacetime training and plagued by defective torpedoes. Drawing extensively from now declassified files, Japanese archives, and the testimony of surviving veterans, James DeRose has written a fascinating account of the men and vessels responsible for the only successful submarine campaign of the war. They clearly charted a new course to victory in the Pacific.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR UNRESTRICTED WARFARE

""James DeRose has done an excellent job-- surprisingly so, in view of his lack of true WWII submarine experience. He obviously contacted everyone he could find who served on one of the three boats he concentrated on, and he read, as well, everything he could find that was written about them. . . . DeRose shines by his interpretation of events as the Japanese must have seen them. . . . His reconstruction of how Wahoo came to her end may well be pretty close to correct. . . . He does the same with Tang.""-CAPTAIN EDWARD L. BEACH, USN author of Submarine! and Run Silent, Run Deep

""An outstanding addition to the literature of the Silent Service. . . . The depth of research is wonderful. . . . This is fine history . . . that rivals Blair's Silent Victory.""-PAUL CROZIER, sitemaster, ""Legends of the Deep"" (www.warfish.com) Web site on the USS Wahoo

""I knew all of the book's main characters quite well. . . . I am also completely familiar with submarine operations in the Pacific. With that background I couldn't fail to thoroughly enjoy DeRose's book. It is well written and has the right feel.""-CHESTER W. NIMITZ JR., rear admiral, USN (Ret.)

""Sail with American submariners into tightly guarded Japanese home waters; undergo the horror of a depth charge attack; experience the thrill of victory with some of the U.S. Navy's ace submarine skippers. All this--and much more--is contained in James F. DeRose's compelling Unrestricted Warfare. No one interested in the naval side of World War II should be without it.""-NATHAN MILLER author of War at A Naval History of World War II

Genres: Military History, History, World War II, Nonfiction, Naval History, Japanese History, American History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2000

Reviews

[Artie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A low four. It's not a comprehensive history of US submarine warfare during WWII. It focuses on a few officers and boats. However the stories are compelling and interesting. Could use better editing.

[Greg Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book essentially only deals with the officers associated with Mush Morton and the Wahoo. It does an excellent job of recounting their experiences and deals with controversies, like racism, directly. It is not a history of the U. S. submarine campaign in the Pacific and falls short on explaining the larger picture, as it is concentrating on one small group of officers. It does cover them in detail, their successes and their failures. It uses them as an example of what changed between the pre-war navy and the successful navy that won the war, from the perspective, solely, of the submarine service.

As a general history it falls short, as a history of the officers and (some) of the men that modified their way to victory with a new, aggressive attitude.

['Aussie Rick' · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers the novice reader an interesting insight to a number of the better-known US submarine skippers of World War Two. I would tend to agree that the book is much narrower in scope than the title suggests but for all that it still offers an exciting account of submarine warfare as experienced by the US Navy in the Pacific. It was revealing to read an account of a war crime committed by crew-members of one American submarine but I suppose that this just goes to show how war can brutalize even the best of men.

Overall I found the book interesting and engaging but it did not grab me as fully as previous accounts that I have read on submarine warfare. I did enjoy the accounts of what became of the men in the book after the war. The account of the sinking of the `Tang' was well done and it really did bring home to the reader how tragic the end of a submarine could be.

One minor point that spoilt my reading of this otherwise well written and presented book was that at times I felt the author was belittling the efforts of German U-boat crews, only Americans could do the job properly. Overall though I came away after reading this book thankful of the efforts of these brave men. I hope that if by reading this book people come to realise how many young men lost their lives for the benefit of us all.

[TheIron Paw · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a book providing detail of the US submarine war against Japan, and this provided an excellent narrative of the development of tactics and detailed descriptions of various actions as well as personal accounts. However, what I missed was was an overview of the strategic or operational level of the submarine war (in fairness to the author - this was not his intention). Overall, this is a well written, very detailed look at the tactical level of submarine warfare (though it could have been improved greatly by the inclusion of maps).

[Mike Manos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The men who fought the second world war from tiny tubes of steel, in harsh conditions, and braved the enemy, the elements, and living in close quarters to help win the war in the pacific. Great collection of stories!

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

Definitely important to read, if you are at all interested in the history of submarines in WWII.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many good books on US subs in the Pacific. This work describes how they became the war's deadliest weapon.