Gallant Lady By: Don Keith and Ken Henry (337 pages) Reviewer: Bernard R. Ditter Overall Rating: Three Stars: Recommended. A solid effort Somewhere off the coast of southern California about 12000 feet beneath the surface and somewhere south of the Japanese island of Honshu about 12,000 feet beneath the surface lie two great naval vessels. One, the USS Archerfish (SS-311), was the victim of friendly fire (torpedo practice) serving her country right to the end of her twenty-five year career.  The other, the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano, the victim of the former’s torpedoes and, at 72,000 tons, the largest enemy kill of the war. This engagement and the subsequent encounters of various crew members from each vessel form the core of the story of this exceptional boat. However, her personal history and the many stories of her crews detail three very different segments of her service. The first accounts are from her experience in the Pacific from1943 through the end of the war. She was one of few vessels present at the signing of the surrender in Tokyo Harbor. For a number of years following she was engaged in training other submariners as the boomers replaced the diesel fleet as the cold war ensued. Her last few years were ostensibly that of a roving ambassador with a bachelor crew while, on the side, conducting some arcane form of marine research. The not so subtle reference in the book suggests some form of covert activity. The antics of crew as they went on a two year around the world cruise that evolved into an eight – and – a - half year odyssey was reminiscent of McHale’s Navy. It is interesting to observe the changes in the crew, both enlisted and officer, from one time frame to another. While the dedication to duty is not challenged, the dynamic of the boat certainly changed. I will leave it to the reader to consider. Although this is a book about submariners presented to Tin Can Sailors I think, although we might find detractors from both camps, that the differences between us are few. We have always enjoyed a special distinction apart from the spit and polish of the regular Navy as I am sure our submariners share.  It is ironic that while I have been reading this book for purpose of review we, here in Charleston, SC, are dedicating this week to the memorializing and burial of the third crew of the very first submarine to sink an enemy ship. The third crew of the Confederate boat H.L. Hunley will be laid to rest in Magnolia Cemetery along side her other two crews. May they rest in peace. Availability: Amazon.com   Gallant Lady By: Don Keith and Ken Henry (352 pages) Reviewer: Capt. R.N. Adrian, USN (Ret.) The authors have recently re-issued this remarkable story of a submarine and its crew in paperback and audio cassette formats. The Archerfish (SS-311) was one of the many similarly built diesel-powered Balao-class submarines, which were hastily launched at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Shipyard during World War II. But, from the day she was commissioned on 4 September 1943, this similarity was destined to end, until her noble death 25 years later. This was after she lived three unprecedented submarine lives (commissioned and decommissioned three times) with different missions during each lifetime, all in serving our national interests. The authors were most skillful in keeping their story in the words of the crew, giving the reader an excellent picture of life on a submarine under many diverse conditions. In her FIRST LIFE, after commissioning and shake down, the LADY headed to south to transit the Panama Canal. This was the first of three passages through "THE BIG DITCH", as she headed for the Pacific War Zone and her first base at Midway Island. After several patrols, the LADY was given the assignment of plane-guarding off the coast of Japan for the B29s bombing Japan. (Historically it has been recorded that over 500 downed aviators were saved by submarines during WWII.) On November 29, 1944, the Archerfish was finishing a patrol just south of Tokyo when the boat's radar operator picked up a contact about 19:30. The Skipper, LCDR Joe Enright, USNA 33 first though the target displayed such a large image on the radar scope that it was an Island until his radar operator reported, "Captain, your island is moving". After four hours of tracking the target's maneuvers, it was finally evaluated as a Japanese Aircraft Carrier. LCDR Enright got a favorable position on his target and fired six torpedoes, all finding their mark and sinking the SHINANO. She was the largest aircraft carrier ever built, with a tonnage of 72,000, hull 840 feet long, flight deck longer than 2 football fields, and was only 17 hours into her maiden voyage. The Archerfish finished her two years of WWII service with a record of 92,000 tons of enemy shipping sunk or damaged and earned the Presidential Unit Citation. She completed her FIRST LIFE and was decommissioned in the northern reaches of San Francisco Bay in June of 1946. In 1952, with the advent of the Korean War, and in response to other needs of the Naval Service, the Archerfish was selected to leave her resting place in San Francisco and entered into her "SECOND LIFE" with a refit and commissioning at the Mare Island, California Navy Yard on 7 March 1952. After shake down out of San Diego, she headed south to transit the Panama "Big Ditch" for the 2nd time, and then on to mostly ASW training duties out of Key West and "GITMO" until 10/21/55 when the ship was again put to sleep "out of commission in reserve" in New London, CT. But the Navy hadn't permanently lost use for the old girl, and pulled her out of reserve and transferred back to the Fleet for her "THIRD LIFE" on July 1, 1957. This covered a span of 2 1/2 years from 1957 into 1960 where their Hydrographic and Intelligence "SEASCAN" missions required long sessions at sea (one of over a year). This dictated the only all-bachelor submarine crew in the Navy. They visited exotic ports all over the world and transited the Panama "Big Ditch" for the third time. The crew was dubbed "the Play Boys of the Pacific" with antics rivaling anything in the television show "McHale's Navy". Due to this reputation, there was a waiting list of 300 Navy bachelors for Archerfish replacements. This "THIRD LIFE" of the Archerfish would make sufficient material for a book of its own. After three lives, the LADY went to her final resting place on November 15, 1968 in 2,000 fathoms of water off San Diego, after being sunk as a submarine torpedo target. Available from Amazon.com Paperback: $5.14 Cassettes: $25.17