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  • Thunder Below!

  • The USS Barb Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II
  • By: Eugene B. Fluckey
  • Narrated by: Corey Snow
  • Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (272 ratings)
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Thunder Below! cover art

Thunder Below!

By: Eugene B. Fluckey
Narrated by: Corey Snow
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Summary

The thunderous roar of exploding depth charges was a familiar and comforting sound to the crew members of the USS Barb, who frequently found themselves somewhere between enemy fire and Davy Jones's locker. Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships-she changed forever the way submarines stalk and kill their prey.

This is a gripping adventure chock-full of "you-are-there" moments. Fluckey has drawn on logs, reports, letters, interviews, and a recently discovered illegal diary kept by one of his torpedomen. And in a fascinating twist, he uses archival documents from the Japanese Navy to give its version of events. The unique story of the Barb begins with its men, who had the confidence to become unbeatable. Each team helped develop innovative ideas, new tactics, and new strategies. All strove for personal excellence, and success became contagious. Instead of lying in wait under the waves, the USS Barb pursued enemy ships on the surface, attacking in the swift and precise style of torpedo boats. She was the first sub to use rocket missiles and to creep up on enemy convoys at night, joining the flank escort line from astern, darting in and out as she sank ships up the column. Surface-cruising, diving only to escape, "Luckey Fluckey" relentlessly patrolled the Pacific, driving his boat and crew to their limits. There can be no greater contrast to modern warfare's long-distance, video game style of battle than the exploits of the captain and crew of the USS Barb, where the sub, out of ammunition, actually rammed an enemy ship until it sank. Thunder Below! is a first-rate, true-life, inspirational story of the courage and heroism of ordinary men under fire.

©1992 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (P)2013 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"Fluckey is a fine writer with a lively, colorful style. His book is packed with action and suspense and is rich in details about the day-today operation of a submarine in combat." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Thunder Below!

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Brilliant.

What did you like most about Thunder Below!?

Right from the first chapter you are kept riveted by this incredible journey into the life of a WW2 Submarine Commander.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Thunder Below!?

When Eugene Fluckey takes you to the point where they have to rescue the Australian and British troops on board Japanese ships that had just been torpedoed. Its a dramatic and incredible rescue, testament to the determination of the troops to help each other stay alive for as long as possible in order to be saved. Its also incredible just how far Eugene and his men strived to rescue them. A wonderful moment that lives in Fluckey's memory.

Have you listened to any of Corey Snow’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Corey Snow gets right into the naritive. At some points you can believe that this is the voice of Eugene Fluckey, he brings the Commander and his Submarine alive.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When the submariners start to pull the survivors aboard their Sub and Eugene says he shed tears as they thanked him. The description of the survivor's alone moves the listener.

Any additional comments?

A first class listen. Every chapter a story in its own right.

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Run Silent, Run Deep But Also Give 'Em Hell!

This is a fascinating account of the various war patrols of the USS Barb under the command of Eugene Flucky. As someone with a keen interest in submarines, this was a book that gripped me from start to finish. However, I would hasten to add that you do not have to be a person with any particular interest in naval warfare to appreciate the amazing stories of daring deeds and near escapes at the hands of the Japanese during the second world war as skilfully detailed in this book. "Thunder Below" is a non stop series of incredible and sometimes funny stories under the most difficult of circumstances. What I found almost glib though, was how the author seemed to relish the dangerous missions and taking the fight right to the enemy. At times the flavour of the writing did appear to be lifted direct from a classic 50's Hollywood war time movie script that did make it seem that the enemy were pretty inept and left openings to those like Eugene Flucky to take full advantage of.

Although "Thunder Below" is a truly riveting read and shows the almost casual courage exhibited during combat, I did feel that the telling of this story lacked a certain visceral grit regarding the fear that any human must experience when being depth charged by a determined enemy. This is the only aspect of this otherwise superb book where I felt that something was lacking. In order to fully appreciate the bravery of the men living in this tin can for weeks on end, it would also have been interesting to have the author describe the terror experienced too. Only one minor incident with a junior crew member feeling the effects of being depth charged was alluded to. Other than this, it was almost as if undergoing such assaults by the enemy was more of a bother than a nightmare. Perhaps this mindset is partially driven by the fact that the U.S submariner generally had far better conditions and facilities onboard his boat than his German counterparts. In addition, the target rich environment of the Pacific prior to 1945 made for easier hunting I suspect. Given that the crew had cakes baked, ice cream on tap and cases of beer available in an air conditioned submarine is at odds with the much harsher environment of the U-Boats prowling the Atlantic in their much smaller and far less comfortable vessels. having toured the USS Pampanito myself, I can attest to the notion that if I were going to serve aboard a world war 2 submarine, then it would be aboard a U.S fleet boat such as these that I would do so. I would recommend "Steel Boat, Iron Heart" now available on Audible to read of somewhat more difficult conditions and the excellent "Iron Coffins" not yet on Audible to my knowledge which both tell the story of submarine warfare during the second world war from the German perspective.

At times it was difficult to visualize many of the locations mentioned in relation to land, inlets etc and I wonder if the paper version of this title has accompanying maps to better illustrate where things were taking place. Also, it would have been perhaps useful to give a little lesson to the reader in how firing solutions are gained for torpedo attacks. There's a bit of naval technical speak going on here which may lose some readers.

Apart from the minor caveats mentioned above, this is an overall excellent read and certainly a story worth a Hollywood movie. Narration was top notch too with Corey Snow's reading fluid and competent and as pacey as the book itself.

There is an interesting cross reference mentioned here with respect to the treatment of allied prisoners held by the Japanese. POW's were rescued by the Barb which were survivors from the USS Houston and HAMS Perth amongst others and an incident describing a short Japanese prison guard trying to strike a tall Australian is actually covered in the superb "Ship of Ghosts" book available on Audible which tells the harrowing story of these survivors and is abook amazing story you might want to consider.

Whether you have a particular interest in naval warfare or not, this book is an excellent and enthralling insight into the courage and fighting determination of an intelligent and very brave submarine commander.

Highly recommended.

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3 people found this helpful

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Farcically glib story - only fit for 12 year olds.

A seemingly never-ending sequence of swaggering, glib high-fiving. It can't possibly be a proper depiction of WWII submarine warfare.

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Brilliant Listen

This is not the normal type of book that I would normally listen to, but I could not put my IPod down, Luck Fluckey was a true natural born leader who men followed and the reason the allied forces won the second world war, I highly recommend it to everyone to give it a go you won't be disappointed, believe me.
Mark H

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great story from different sources

The book hood my attention from the start to the end, historical insights in these experiences af brave men

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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brilliant

well written, performed well. action packed ww2 submarine escapes across the practice. "tick... BOOM!" sometimes I think he used a little artistic license, to recreate conversations in a story teller easy - but regardless, it was a great listen. he clearly loved every minute of the war, and wasn't afraid to get stuck in. depth charged more than any other boat

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Gripping

A story that is well written and told as well as the writing. I enjoyed it immensely, it was truly gripping, to the point that I binged it.

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amazing

amazing, feels like you were there, amazing to learn how they operated and funny humour

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The submarine that blew up a TRAIN.

Great book tat I would think held the most excitng patrols in World War 2. If you like true stories about submarines, this book should be in your liberary, because I think it's the best book on submarines in World War 2. If you can put it down after yu start it, I would be very surprised, it's that good!!!

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An amazing story of leadership in WW2

Some of the examples of how to lead and build a team in this biography are amazing. We don't have problems only solutions!

Great tales of courage, tactics and bravery in the world of submarine warfare during the War in the Pacific

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