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Title: Bacalao

Author: J. T. McDaniel

Narrator: Dennis St. John

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-28-15

Publisher: Riverdale Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

When Lieutenant Lawrence Miller first sees USS Bacalao in the builder's yard in late 1940, the submarine is little more than a pile of curved steel plates. During the next few months, Miller watches the boat take shape and the crew gather from throughout the fleet. By late 1941, Bacalao is in commission and assigned to the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Then, on a Sunday morning, everything changes, as the Japanese sneak attack plunges the United States into World War II.

The new submarine and her untried crew are immediately thrown into action against the Japanese. Miller is there through it all, from the disastrous first patrol, when the boat is nearly lost and a pair of surprising heroes emerge, to the deployment to Australia, where a chance encounter while ashore will change his life forever. Then, after spending a year in command of an antiquated S-boat in the frozen hell of the Aleutians, Miller returns to Bacalao as her last wartime commander. Written in a simple, straightforward style, Bacalao is destined to become an instant classic of submarine fiction.

Members Reviews:

Good reading

Excellent description of the life of WW2 Navy submariners with unexpected details about submarines interspersed. Hard to determine if itâs fiction or not.

Good But Flawed Sub Thriller

I wish I could give this very good book five stars, but there were enough flaws that I felt it deserved less than that. My biggest complaint was that about the first third of the book was overly concerned with all the hardware on the sub, much of it poorly explained as to purpose. It also bogs down in endless and often useless abbreviations and somewhat pedantic writing. I get the impression that the author is very proud of his knowledge of subs and wants to impress readers who might have served on WWII subs. Okay, with that out of the way, after the encyclopedic pages, the book suddenly takes off and becomes exciting. The author covers a lot of ground and the sub sees a lot of action. The book enters can't-put-it-down territory and by the end, you know that you haven't wasted your time and have read a very enjoyable war thriller. So, though somewhat flawed, Bacalao is a book I would recommend to others.

good but predictable

I've read many WWII sub books, this holds your interest but keeps you wanting for more. It is a good pass the time book but not a "can't set it down" book

WW II Submariner Verisimilitude

J.T. McDaniel's Bacalao is not a heart-pounding submarine action story or a fast moving pot boiler; instead, there is a definite "feel" of authenticity in its story-line. McDaniel respects his characters: they are decent men all, and Navy to the core. (I was surprised that McDaniel himself has never been in the Navy but is a Vietnam veteran aviator. Interestingly, he has his characters rant about the inability of American pilots to tell, or care about, the difference between enemy and friendly subs...). The novel is a deliberately paced old fashion story beginning with the fictional laying of the Bacalao's keel at the Electric Boat Company yard in Groton, Connecticut. After trial runs, a passage through the Panama Canal to Hawaii, the Bacalao enters the Pacific War with the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. Her war action takes place over twelve patrols. Occasionally, McDaniel is pedantic (especially about sub technical details); and a few of his action scenarios seem familiar.