Full name: Bowfin: The True Story of a Fabled Fleet Submarine in World War II

Author: Edwin P. Hoyt Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Purchase/reserch links: Amazon Goodreads ISBNs: 9781580800570 1580800572

For a book where much of the detail comes from war patrol reports, this book is not nearly as dry as I'd expected. The Bowfin provides a great example of a successful WWII submarine, completing nine war patrols that included everything from laying mines, to supplying guerrilla forces in the Philippines, to rescuing downed aviators, to navigating through mine fields to push into the Sea of Japan in one of the last major offensive missions of the war. I had the opportunity to read transcripts of several oral histories from Bowfin crewmen after I finished the book, and it was fun to see where so many of the personal details and highlights originated -- my respect to Hoyt for integrating them so seamlessly with the technical details. I highly recommend this book to anyone who may be visiting the USS Bowfin submarine at Pearl Harbor, it will add a fantastic layer of human stories onto the experience on board the sub.