Fatal Dive: Solving the World War II Mystery of the USS Grunion (World War II Collection) - Softcover

Stevens, Peter F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1621574253 ISBN 13: 9781621574255

Publisher: Regnery History, 2015

Synopsis

Fatal Dive: Solving the World War II Mystery of the USS Grunion by Peter F. Stevens reveals the incredible true story of the search for and discovery of the USS Grunion. Discovered in 2006 after a decades-long, high-risk search by the Abele brothers—whose father commanded the submarine and met his untimely death aboard it—one question remained: what sank the USS Grunion? Was it a round from a Japanese ship, a catastrophic mechanical failure, or something else—one of the sub’s own torpedoes? For almost half the war, submarine skippers’ complaints about the MK 14 torpedo’s dangerous flaws were ignored by naval brass, who sent the subs out with the defective weapon. Fatal Dive is the first book that documents the entire saga of the ship and its crew and provides compelling evidence that the Grunion was a victim of “The Great Torpedo Scandal of 1941-43.” Fatal Dive finally lays to rest one of World War II’s greatest mysteries.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

LOST WITHOUT A TRACE

On July 31, 1942, the Naval submarine USS Grunion, along with her seventy-man crew, vanished without a trace in the icy waters off Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. For decades, the U.S. Navy was unable to reveal further information about the sub’s fate it had simply vanished. But Commander Jim Abele’s family never gave up their quest to discover the truth. They repeatedly applied to the Navy, corresponded with the families of crew members, consulted with Japanese sources, and finally undertook the quixotic task of locating the Grunion herself. More than six decades after the submarine’s loss, Jim Abele’s three sons astonished the experts by locating the lost submarine 3,000 feet below the surface of one of the world’s most dangerous bodies of water.

But the question remained: What sank the Grunion?

In this explosive new account of the search for the Grunion, author Peter F. Stevens draws on the experiences and the exhaustive research of Bruce, Brad, John, and Susan Abele and Mary and Richard Bentz to provide a cliffhanging account of the submarine’s loss, of its improbable discovery more than half a century later, and ultimately of the Abeles’ final quest to establish how the Grunion was lost. Using obscure government documents and eyewitness accounts from Japanese naval officers who were the last to see the Grunion, Stevens lays out the compelling case that the true reason for sinking may well have been too embarrassing for the Navy to reveal.

From the Back Cover:

Peter Stevens unreels a fascinating piece of nautical history. This real-life drama of war, suspense, and human achievement in the face of frightful odds is mesmerizing from start to finish. A book for all.”
LIEUTENANT GENERAL DAVE PALMER (RETIRED),
author of George Washington and Benedict Arnold and George Washington’s Military Genius
A thriller that plows forward with the unrelenting intensity of a World War II submarine hunting down an enemy cruiser, but this tale is powered by the devotion of three faithful sons desperately searching for their father, Lieutenant Commander Jim Abele and to solve the fate of his crew, the men of the USS Grunion. A masterful mystery that is truly a love story disguised as a war story.”
MICHAEL KEANE, author of Patton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer
"A fascinating account of how a brave man’s loyal sons discovered that a stateside design flaw had doomed him and his crew. Touching and eloquent.”
JOHN KOSTER, author of Operation Snow: How a Soviet Mole in FDR’s White House Triggered Pearl Harbor
Suspenseful a chilling conclusion.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

About this edition

• Publisher: Regnery History
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1621574253
• ISBN 13: 9781621574255
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352