Hellcats of the Sea: Operation Barney and the Mission to the Sea of Japan

Hellcats of the Sea, first published in 1955, recounts the activities of the U.S. Navy's Pacific submarine fleet in World War Two. Much of the book details Operation Barney the secret mission to bring the war closer to the islands of Japan, as the war had never extended to the Sea of Japan. That situation changed on June 9, 1945, when torpedoes from nine American submarines were launched at dozens of Japanese freighters, paralyzing maritime operations between Japan and Korea, and damaging Japan's will to fight. Each U.S. submarine was also equipped with a brand-new secret electronic weapon designed to detect enemy mines. Operation Barney continued for 15 days, with U.S. submarines sinking 28 Japanese ships totaling some 70,000 tons. Sadly, one of the subs, USS Bonefish (SS-223) was lost during the operation. Author Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood was the U.S. Navy commander of the Pacific submarine fleet during World War II.