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Book Review, © Copyright 2000, Jim Loy
On May 23, 1939, the Squalus, the U. S. Navy's newest submarine, dived under icy waters off the New England coast. Soon (maybe immediately), water began gushing in to the rear engine compartments; the cause was never satisfactorily determined; probably a valve was open even though instruments said it was closed. The boat sank, tail first, to the bottom, 250 feet down. No one in history had ever been rescued from a sub on the bottom. And 250 feet down is a long way down.
This book (by Peter Maas, probably best known for writing Serpico) is the story of Swede Momsen, the Naval officer and inventor who (with his divers) rescued 33 of the crewmen of the Squalus. It is a story of risk and heroism, of nitrogen narcosis, of the bends, of frustration and success, of accomplishing the impossible. It is quite a story.
To order this book, click Amazon.com (goes directly to this book).