Alex Kershaw's most recent book, "Escape from the Deep" tracks Tang's (SS-306) fifth war patrol from start to finish. Its heart-breaking legend is one of the most famous of Second World War's submarine stories and Kershaw has given its fifth patrol a vividness not here-to-fore written.

The story of Tang's last patrol is the story of its men, most of whom died on the patrol, and the nine who managed to escape. Not often contemplated, but brilliantly described by Kershaw was the boat's encounter with the same 1944 typhoon that whipped the rest of the United States Navy as it fought the Japanese at sea. Weather forecasting was primitive in those days and Tang was caught without warning by the typhoon's ferocity. For four days the boat was blown off its westerly track northward and its skipper, Lcdr. Richard O'Kane was concerned that his crew might wind up on the rocks of the Aleutian Islands.

Those of us who have ridden out mountainous seas and hurricane winds in diesel boats know the stress involved. Without snorkel, Tang kept its bridge hatch shut and main induction upon. The guys in the forward engine room were pummeled by shots of sea water coming in the engine air induction. At this point in Tang's fifth patrol, the crew wasn't concerned with the Japanese. They weren't sure if they could keep from capsizing.

When the storm abated, Tang got back on course and headed for its patrol area in the nasty Strait of Formosa. This hunk of water had varying depths and the Japanese had learned to hug the coast in shallow water to avoid the American submarines. For Tang's commanding officer, this afforded an opportunity rather than a danger. A convoy headed north in the certainty that no American submarine would be foolish enough to attack it in such shallow water. As a result the convoy was wiped out by Tang.

With only one torpedo remaining it made a night surface run at the last target. The torpedo's rudder stuck full left and it circled into the boat's maneuvering room. Those on the bridge were blown into the sea as the stern settled to the bottom in 180 feet (some sources say 168 feet) of water. As men scrambled forward, pulling themselves through water-tight doors those aft of the engine rooms were killed. The water-tight doors from control into forward battery and from forward battery into forward torpedo room opened forward. When the boat was struck water-tight doors were shut. With the huge up angle it was impossible for the men in control to push the heavy doors upward and onto their latches.

A crew member perceived the situation and swung the emergency vent handles for the forward group into the open position. This allowed air in those ballast tanks to escape and as a result the boat settled to the bottom on an even keel. The doors were opened and men crowded into the forward room. At the depth indicated on the forward tubes' pressure gauge it was theoretically possible for all the men in the room to escape, using the forward escape trunk. In reality, it took courage, confidence in the Momsen Lung, skill in using it and a calm attitude in facing the claustrophobic enclosure of the trunk. As carbon dioxide increased and oxygen decreased several of the men gave up the effort. They resigned themselves to their deaths. Those few with determination managed to overcome the problems of releasing the emergency buoy, opening the side door and climbing through the superstructure in pitch black darkness.

Of these few who escaped, most remembered to breath out on their way up. The current had taken those who had been on the bridge far from the site of the sunken submarine and those who made it out of the forward room were also scattered. Unknown to these nine swimmers was a Japanese small boat that searched for survivors of the convoy. When it came upon the Americans the Japanese didn't consider that Tang had been sunk. They assumed the Americans to be Germans who had been riding ships in the convoy.

After having been hauled aboard the Japanese escort vessel, it became apparent that the wretched men huddled together on the deck were Americans. From that point on, the Tang survivors were beaten and abused without let up. Their experience in Japanese captivity cannot be adequately described without using superlatives of torture and starvation. Alex Kershaw portrays the ordeal in realistic and horrifying terms. Indeed, Richard O'Kane was so close to death when finally rescued that American doctors performing triage gave him up as already dead. Only at the insistence of fellow crew members was O'Kane taken to a hospital ship where a long recuperative period began.

This is a book worth reading, not because the story hasn't been told before, but because it has never before been told with so much first hand detail and descriptive narration.

You can obtain a copy of "Escape from the Deep' by Alex Kershaw from any bookstore or by clicking on the Da Capo Press website as listed in the Book Review section of www.submarineresearch.com.