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See this item's eligibility during checkout.Literature & Fiction | Home » » » Escape from the Deep: A Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew | | | | | | | Description: | | By October, 1944, the U.S. Navy submarine Tang was legendary-she had sunk more enemy ships, rescued more downed airmen, and pulled off more daring surface attacks than any other Allied submarine in the Pacific. And then, on her fifth patrol, tragedy struck-the Tang was hit by one of her own faulty torpedoes. The survivors of the explosion struggled to stay alive in their submerged “iron coffin” one hundred-eighty feet beneath the surface. While the Japanese dropped deadly depth charges, just nine of the original eighty-man crew survived a harrowing ascent through the escape hatch. But a far greater ordeal was coming. After being picked up by a Japanese patrol vessel, they were sent to a secret Japanese interrogation camp known as the “Torture Farm.” They were close to death when finally liberated in August, 1945, but they had revealed nothing to the Japanese-not even the greatest secret of World War II. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Alex Kershaw | | Hardcover:
| 288 pages | | Publisher:
| Da Capo Press | | Publication Date:
| April 28, 2008 | | Package Length:
| 9.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.9 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.1 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 38 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
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 ESCAPE FROM THE DEEPNov 13, 2009
Outstanding book about "The Silent Service"; service from the seller excellent and wll order from them again! John
 escape from the deepNov 06, 2009
Escape from the Deep
The Epic Story of a Legendary Submarine and her Courageous Crew
By Alex Kershaw
* 288 pages
* Pictures
* Publisher: Da Capo Press
* ISBN-13: 978-0306815195
I could sum up the story a of WW II submarine the USS Tang by saying it gets sunk by its own torpedoes a few survive the sinking. The survivors are then captured by the Japanese and then held as POW for the rest of the war and then released. However, I would be doing a gross injustice to the memory of the crewman of the USS Tang.
The story of Escape from the Deep is very engrossing and I felt I have come to know the crew of the USS Tang and experience its sinking. There is chapter in the book that tells how some of the crewmen escaped to the surface. I can imagine I was in the Pacific Ocean and seeing a fellow crewman starting to drown and there is nothing I could do to save him. I am sure that memory haunted the survivors to their end of their lives.
The Tang was sunk by its own torpedo which was fired out of its tube and turned in a circle and struck her when was on the surface. Lieutenant Commander Kane was blown over board with some other sailors. The rest of the crew was still in the submarine as it was sinking from the destructive hit of the torpedo.
The Japanese did not treat submariners well in fact they were considered special prisoners and the American Red Cross was not notified of their capture. The wives and families of the crew of USS Tang were notified that all were presumed Missing in Action. The Japanese made sure that the crew was told this in the hopes they could break the sailors. One person who helped the crew survived the barbaric and heinous treatment that the Japanese inflicted them in captivity was a Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington. He was the famous commander of the Black Sheep squadron and also was a Japanese prisoner
It took me awhile to read the book because when you read about the horrific treatment on the crew was inflicted by the Japanese it made me angry. I have toured a sister ship , USS Ling now docked in Hackensack, NJ and can attest to the cramp quarters and can only wonder how any one managed to escape from 180 feet below the surface. I have come to appreciate the Silent Service and their selfless service to the United States. I highly recommend this book.
MAJ (ret) Eric Shuler NJARNG
Good Sub BookAug 10, 2009
If you like Submarine books and or story's you'll like this one. You can't put it down once you start reading it. I read O'Kane's own book, " Clear the Bridge " and this book isn't like his. O'Kane's book was very good but in the end you wonder how did some of his crew escape from the Sub, well now you'll find out. What people do or act under pressure is an answer we would all like to know at some point in our lives.
Great readingAug 05, 2009
Amazing, factual account of the sailors that manned the famous WW2 American Submarine, Tang, that was sunk by it's own torpedo. This is great reading for all ages. I have personally met Mr. Floyd Caverly, one of the Hero survivors, who happens to be a member of my American Legion Post, here in Sheridan, Oregon.
The first Poseidon AdventureJul 20, 2009
Paul Wines was 24 years old when he died on the Tang, October 25, 1944. He was Student Council President at Ridgewood High School, an award winning musician and an honors graduate from what is now Carnegie Mellon. The loss of the talents and potential of this young man - and countless others like him - underscores the heartbreak of war. He and his family were from my hometown and he is remembered with 112 other 20th century service casualties every Memorial Day. I wrote a biography on him but never lost interest in his life or in the circumstances which caused his premature death. "Escape from the Deep" evoked admiration and sadness but brought me insights, but never an understanding, of what happened to the crew of the Tang.
I don't think any of us can truly understand what dying - or facing death - in a foundering submarine is like. Imagine knowing there are people outside your house trying to get in. Imagine no moon, 2:00 in the morning; suddenly, all the lights go out and you can't see your hand in front of your face. You're completely disoriented. Then you feel something enveloping you and you have nowhere to go. No escape, no way out. It must be a horrible way to die - knowing you are facing imminent death but not being able to do anything about it. Such is death in a submarine.
But in a unique set of circumstances, nine of the Tang's crew did survive to provide first hand accounts of their unlikely escape from the deep. Alex Kershaw's book is a page turner. Expertly researched and beautifully written, the chapters are neatly divided by patrol, mission, incident, captivity and then freedom so slow readers like me can put it down for a couple of days and then pick it up without feeling as though we've lost momentum. But I quickly picked it back up. It reads like fiction mainly because of the first hand reports of survivors. Read it with the same intensity with which you watched the fictional Poseidon Adventure but with the knowledge that it is non-fiction, that it really happened to real people. Then you will have a modicum of understanding of what facing death - and in the case of some, beating death - is like. Paul Wines was not available for an interview. God only knows what he would have reported.
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