http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/13796191

The last patrol : U.S. submarines lost in World War II

The Last Patrol is an operational history of the fifty-two U.S. submarines lost during World War II. The submarine service of the U.S. Navy suffered the highest percentage of losses of any branch of the American armed forces with almost one in five vessels failing to return. However, their achievements are legend. Their crews, while representing only two percent of naval personnel, accounted for over fifty-five percent of Japanese shipping losses. The Japanese merchant marine was second to none and vital to the fighting potential and economy of that nation, but by 1945 it had ceased to exist due to its near total destruction by the submarines. Of the U.S. submarines reported as "Overdue presumed lost", some were famous with commanders renowned for their audacious attacks, while others were lost before they could make their mark in history. This is the story of those submarines, their successes, their failures and their final dive when the sea closed over them forever.

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