[nikos1121]

I’ll pick up today if you think it’s that good.

Was this based on a true story.

I love Clark Gable, and therefore the movie. Robert Wise directed it.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It’s not based on a “true story”, but on the experiences and war stories of Beach who served as XO on several subs before being given command of his own towards the end of the war. Without giving any spoilers, at the end of the novel the protagonist-skipper commits a war crime, to the horror of his crew. This is believed to be based on an actual incident that Beach did not participate in, but was widely known to submariners. At the time it was published Beach was President Eisenhower’s White House naval advisor. The tone of the novel is morally neutral about this incident. Stuff happens.

The history of war crime, and allusion to Beach’s novel can be found in The Bravest Man, https://www.amazon.com/Bravest-Man-Richard-Submarine-Adventures/dp/089141889X (Richard Kane is the subject war criminal.) The linked book is completely historical, and probably the most readable submarine history I have ever read, although it only concerns U.S. subs and only the Pacific.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Correction: Richard Kane is NOT the subject war criminal. I need to learn to proofread my own work. No movie coming out in the 1950's would depict a war crime by the U.S. Navy, regardless.