SUNK

Author Mochitsura Hashimoto was one of the few Japanese submarine captains to survive Shortly before the end of WW2 he inflicted the greatest single loss on the US Navy in its history when he torpedoed and sank the USS Indianapolis soon after it had delivered parts for the first Abomb on Hiroshima to the US base on Tinian ironically enough The title however refers to the fate of the Japanese submarine fleet Its 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 go into the war Hashimoto is sharply critical of the recklessness and unpreparedness of Japans top brass With an introduction by Cmdr Edward L Beach author of the bestseller Submarine