In the opening days of December 1941, Lt. Benjamin Holt is a career U.S. Naval officer and a graduate of Annapolis. He is executive officer of S-33, a submarine currently at Freemantle, Australia. Holt wants to be where the action is, in the Atlantic, squaring off against Nazi Germany, not part of the U.S. Navy’s somnolent Asiatic Fleet in the Far East.
Then the Japanese resets everything. Holt wakes up on Dec. 8 to learn the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor has been attacked by Japanese Naval aircraft. A few hours later, the Philippines comes under attack. S-33’s home port, Cavite in Manila Bay, is devastated. The war has come to Holt.
Holt starts his war aboard the oldest class of submarine the U.S. Navy has in combat, a S-boat, a World War I-era design. His captain is old-school. He believes a captain’s primary responsibility is to bring the crew home safely after each mission. Holt feels that is appropriate in peacetime. In wartime, Holt believes calculated risk should be the rule. Sinking Japanese warships has higher priority than safety.
Soon, he finds himself in command of submarines on war patrols, starting with S-33, and moving to a modern fleet boat. He battles both the Japanese and malfunctioning torpedoes as he attempts to settle scores with the enemy. Along the way, he learns more about himself, his men, and what really counts when the chips are down.
Gabriel, a veteran of the postwar nuclear navy, captures the feel of the Silent Service in early World War II. He shares his knowledge with his readers, everything from what life is like aboard a submarine to submariners’ high jinks.
“Sink the Rising Sun” is a gripping novel about the early days in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Holt is the type of hero rarely seen in books written in the past 50 years. He is a patriot, a clean-cut Midwesterner, who believes in himself and in the United States. He has no angst about defending it—and in defending the United States aggressively. Holt has failings, but he recognizes his weaknesses and works to overcome them.
Nor does Gabriel make excuses for the barbarity of Imperial Japan. In this book, as they were historically, they are the bad guys. If you like the works of P.T. Deutermann, C.S. Forester, or Patrick O’Brian, “Sink the Rising Sun” will appeal to you.
