Ghosts of Bungo Suido

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Not being a former submariner, I consulted several sources in preparing for this story. Clay Blair’s seminal work, Silent Victory, was my primary reference for the mechanics of the submarines, the personalities of the skippers, and the evolution of submarine tactics. In my opinion, Blair’s book is the best one out there on the subject of the so-called Silent Service. Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, along with first-person depositions made after the war by ex-POWs, provided much of the information I needed to write about the POW experience in Japan. Don Keith’s book, Final Patrol, tells the stories of some of the more famous boats and their equally famous skippers during World War II, and Joseph Enright’s book, Shinano, tells the true and exciting story of how that giant carrier was actually sunk on her maiden voyage. I am indebted to the volunteers who maintain USS Torsk (SS-423) at the Baltimore harbor maritime museum, which I visited to get a feel for the physical aspects of a World War II diesel boat. As I did in Pacific Glory, I’ve taken some historical license with the timeline of events in this book in order to sustain the story.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the incredible bravery, fierce persistence, and professional stamina of those submariners who took the war to Japan while the rest of the navy was still picking up the pieces in Pearl Harbor and elsewhere. Their achievements were made at great cost, and their final resting places are, as the inscription reads at Arlington, known but to God.