Submarine!

FOREWORD

Commander Edward L. Beach, in SUBMARINE! tells a story which not many men survived to tell. All too often the careers of our most daring submarines and submariners were terminated, after weeks of prayerful watching and waiting back at ComSubPac’s operating base, by the issuance of that fateful message, “Overdue, presumed lost.” Thus were written the epitaphs of Trigger, Wahoo, Seawolf, Harder, Albacore, Tang, and some twoscore more of those silent gray ships which carried the war to the enemy and held the line while the Fleet licked its wounds, and shipyards beat pruning hooks and plowshares into replacements for Pearl Harbor losses. Three hundred seventy-four officers and three thousand one hundred thirty-one enlisted men gave their lives in a submarine offensive that finally swept enemy shipping from the Pacific, yet Ned Beach, veteran of twelve war patrols, providentially was spared to recapture for us the moments of triumph, desperation, quiet humor, and numbing fear which were the daily portion of those devoted warriors.

Serving the apprenticeship of his deadly trade in Trigger and Tirante under such daredevils as Roy Benson, Dusty Dornin, Fritz Harlfinger, and George Street, he early experienced the wild elation of hearing torpedoes explode against enemy hulls, the stomach-fluttering thrills of night surface battles, the spine-chilling sound of enemy depth charges, and the frustrated fury caused by “dud” and “premature” torpedoes. He felt the sorrow which every true seaman feels in his heart as he watches fine, sturdy ships — even though enemy ships — take the last, despairing plunge to their graves.

Finally, in recognition of excellent service and outstanding ability, Ned was given command of the brand-new Piper. He had achieved the ambition of every submariner — command of his own boat in a hot war area. Deep below the surface, guided by equipment as fabulous as any ever dreamed by Jules Verne, Ned snaked his way through row upon row of mines into that last enemy stronghold, the Sea of Japan.

There the war ended and mothballs took over.

Now Ned has a new command, the brand-new Trigger, named for that gallant ship whose story he has so ably told. It is most fitting that this honor should be accorded him. I know that I speak for his shipmates, living and dead, when I wish Ned Beach and Trigger “Good luck and good hunting.”

Charles A. Lockwood

VICE-ADMIRAL, USN (BET.)