The Silent Depths: The Living Boat - Softcover

Hawley, Eric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1970754001 ISBN 13: 9781970754001

Publisher: Silent Service Publishing House, 2025

Synopsis

The Living Boat

Book One of The Silent Depths Series

Before the war, before the glory—there was only the sea.

In 1937, seventeen-year-old Daniel Mason, a Midwestern farm boy hungry for adventure, enlists in the U.S. Navy and finds himself at Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut. Life beneath the waves isn’t the romantic adventure he imagined—it’s hot, loud, and claustrophobic, ruled by the rhythms of machinery and the will of the sea itself.

Under the stern guidance of veteran Chief “Red” Hanley, Mason learns what it takes to survive in a world where every mistake could mean death. From the diesel fumes and pressure hulls of the USS Pike, to the bars and backstreets of San Diego and Tijuana, he discovers brotherhood, fear, and a strange sense of belonging aboard a boat that seems almost alive.

But the calm before war is fading fast. As tensions rise across the Pacific, Mason earns his dolphins and his place among the crew—just as whispers of Japanese submarines stir the water off the West Coast. When the Pike receives sudden orders to dive, Mason realizes his real journey has only begun.

For readers who love The Hunt for Red October, Run Silent, Run Deep, and Band of Brothers, The Living Boat is the unforgettable beginning of an epic World War II submarine saga—where man, machine, and ocean become one.

The boat breathes. The sea is awake.

About this title

About the Author

Served in the United States Navy from 1991 to 2013 as a nuclear machinist's mate aboard the submarines USS Florida, USS Jefferson City, and USS Hampton. His years beneath the sea shaped his deep respect for the men who lived and worked in that silent world, a brotherhood few ever see but never forget. Drawing on those experiences, he writes The Silent Depths series to capture not only the history of submarine warfare, but the humanity of those who served, their courage, fear, humor, and endurance. When he's not writing, Eric works as a consultant and engineer and builds live steam model locomotives, blending his love of precision engineering with hands-on craftsmanship. He lives in Snohomish, Washington with his family. The Living Boat is his first novel.

Edition details

• Publisher: Silent Service Publishing House
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1970754001
• ISBN 13: 9781970754001
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200