Sunk

Author Mochitsura Hashimoto was one of only four Japanese submarine captains to survive WWII. A week before war's end, he inflicted the greatest single loss on the U.S. Navy in its history, when he torpedoed and sank the USS Indianapolis -- soon after it had delivered parts for the first A-bomb on Hiroshima to the US base on Tinian, ironically. Yet the title refers to the fate of Japan's innovative submarine fleet. It's a tale of the bravery of doomed men in a lost cause, against impossible odds. The kaitens or human torpedoes were not the only submarine kamikazes: the whole war in the Pacific was suicide from the start. So why did Japan provoke it? Hashimoto is sharply critical of the reckless unpreparedness of Japan's top brass. With an introduction by Cmdr. Edward L. Beach, author of the best-seller "Submarine!" Read More.