New book: "Submarine Captain and Command at Sea"

[Bill Nichols]

From The Day, New London, CT (Sept 25):


Mandel Book Chronicles A Life At Sea, Wartime Experiences
‘Submarine Captain' account was originally meant for grandchildren

By ROBERT A. HAMILTON
Day Staff Writer, Navy/Defense/Electric Boat
Published on 9/25/2005

It opens simply with some notes about how he finished his time at the U.S. Naval Academy: “Graduation day was June 2, 1938. President Roosevelt came up from Washington. He presented us with our diplomas.�

It ends, surprisingly, a few months earlier: “With the European Nations in turmoil, I was not too surprised to be informed in the Spring of 1938 that we were all going to be commissioned in the Regular Navy, my goal since the age of 12.�

In between are 225 pages of “Submarine Captain and Command at Sea,� retired Capt. Herbert I. Mandel's account of 23 years in the Navy, including a tour as division officer on the Finback at the Battle of Midway and command of the submarine USS Permit during the war and the submarine Medregal and destroyer Douglas H. Fox after the war.

It's not a scholarly tome, but students of World War II will likely be fascinated by detail from the deckplate level.

For instance, there's the time Mandel, as executive officer, and the captain of Croaker had to decide whether to tell the crew, right before leaving on a war patrol, that a 19-year-old shipmate injured in a swimming accident had died. They chose to withhold the news to avoid upsetting the men.

And when returning to the Atlantic from the Pacific with Permit, Mandel had to watch out for American aircraft more than enemy ships, because war-weary pilots were known to be trigger happy when it came to sinking submarines.

“My worry was that after coming home from the Pacific War, I would be sunk by my own forces,� Mandel wrote.

•••

For Mandel, the book started out as a way to tell his grandchildren what he had done during the war, but as it progressed it quickly turned into more. The finished product spans the time from when he decided to attend the Naval Academy, at age 12, through his retirement from the Navy in 1961.

He had it published by Collage Books and has made copies available for sale at the Submarine Force Library and Museum.

Mandel won three Silver Stars for his service during the war, and the Navy Unit Commendation for his role in the sinking of the Japanese cruiser Nagara.

Mandel, 88, now lives at Kimball Farms, a retirement community in Lenox, Mass., but he was a 40-year resident of New London who served on the City Council.

The book is an unvarnished look at his service, that tells fascinating stories of his successes — Croaker sank a cruiser, freighter, patrol craft, and a large cargo ship on his second patrol, and a tanker, minesweeper and two freighters on his third.

But it also relates some rather less stellar moments, that still add to the reader's understanding of the nature of war: the Croaker's first war patrol, when it pursued what it thought was three Nagato-class battleships, but which turned out to be fishing junks, and another time they attacked a merchant coming out of Nagasaki.

“Four torpedoes were fired from the stern tubes, with me sending them off. ... This one looked so easy, but they all missed.�

Other submarine warfare accounts mention firing on Japanese fishing boats, which seemed an excessive use of force. But Mandel explains it: “Not only was fish a staple of their diet, but if the fishing fleets could not go out it was a way of bringing home the war to the Japanese people.�

“Submarine Captain and Command At Sea� reads just as it should, as a grandfather telling his grandchildren why he went to war, and what he did.

[Kapitan]

sounds a good read must have a flick for it