Down to the Sea
An Epic Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in World War II
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Narrated by:
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Jon Waters
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By:
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Bruce Henderson
About this listen
This epic story opens at the hour the Greatest Generation went to war on December 7, 1941, and follows four US Navy ships and their crews in the Pacific until their day of reckoning three years later with a far different enemy: a deadly typhoon.
In December 1944, while supporting General MacArthur's invasion of the Philippines, Admiral William "Bull" Halsey neglected the Law of Storms, placing the mighty US Third Fleet in harm's way. Drawing on extensive interviews with nearly every living survivor and rescuer, as well as many families of lost sailors, transcripts and other records from naval courts of inquiry, ships' logs, personal letters, and diaries, Bruce Henderson finds some of the story's truest heroes exhibiting selflessness, courage, and even defiance.
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Story
With The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors and Ship of Ghosts, James D. Hornfischer created essential and enduring narratives about America’s World War II Navy, works of unique immediacy distinguished by rich portraits of ordinary men in extremis and exclusive new information. Now he does the same for the deadliest, most pivotal naval campaign of the Pacific war: Guadalcanal. Neptune’s Inferno is at once the most epic and the most intimate account ever written of the contest for control of the seaways of the Solomon Islands.
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The WWII Pacific Theater Explodes In My Lazy Chair
- By Rum Runner on 03-01-11
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At All Costs
- By: Sam Moses
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1942, the island of Malta was the most heavily bombed place on earth. Its submarine and air attacks on Axis supply convoys were all that kept Rommel from marching across North Africa. But Malta was out of fuel. Operation Pedestal was Malta's last hope, a giant convoy with more that 50 warships escorting 13 freighters and one life-or-death oil tanker, the SS Ohio. It was bombed, torpedoed, and abandoned, but two American Merchant Mariners boarded the ship and repaired the guns.
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A spellbinding story
- By James F. Geary on 04-08-07
By: Sam Moses
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The War Below
- The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan
- By: James Scott
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The War Below is a dramatic account of extraordinary heroism, ingenuity, and perseverance—and the vital role American submarines played in winning the Pacific War. Focusing on the unique stories of the submarines Silversides, Drum, and Tang—and the men who skippered and crewed them—James Scott takes readers beneath the waves to experience the thrill of a direct hit on a merchant ship and the terror of depth charge attacks.
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Unique. Engaging. Worth your credit.
- By Ryan on 06-21-13
By: James Scott
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Tin Can Sailor
- Life Aboard the USS Sterett, 1939-1945
- By: C. Raymond Calhoun
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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More than 800 sailors served aboard the Sterett during her hazardous and demanding duties in World War II. This is the story of those men and their beloved ship, recorded by a junior officer who served on the famous destroyer from her commissioning in 1939 to April 1943, when he was wounded at the Battle of Tulagi. Peppered with the kind of vivid, authentic details that could only be provided by a participant, the book is the saga of a gallant fighting ship that earned a Presidential Unit Citation for her part in the Third Battle of Savo Island, where she took on a battleship.
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A good story about something that really happened
- By TRey on 07-25-18
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Grey Wolves
- The U-Boat War 1939–1945
- By: Philip Kaplan
- Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early years of the Second World War, the elite force of German submariners known as the Ubootwaffe came perilously close to perfecting underwater battle tactics and successfully cutting Britain's transatlantic lifeline. To the Allies, these enemy sailors were embarking on a mission of unequivocal evil. Each member of the Ubootwaffe understood that he must take pride in being part of a unique brotherhood. He had to do so because he was setting out on a journey that would test his mental and physical endurance to the very limits, and which he had little chance of surviving.
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Like a Jr High Book Report, Performance Bad Too
- By Bill Sayer on 12-03-15
By: Philip Kaplan
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Submarine Commander
- A Story of World War II and Korea
- By: Paul R. Schratz
- Narrated by: John N. Gully
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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A fascinating personal memoir of underwater combat in World War II, told by a man who played a major role in those dangerous operations. Frank and beautifully written, this book will be of lasting value as a submarine history by an expert and as an enduring military and political analysis.
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Engrossing Memoir
- By Jean on 12-24-15
By: Paul R. Schratz
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Torpedo Run
- The Story of WWII Submarine Hero Eugene B. Fluckey
- By: Don Keith
- Narrated by: Vincent Caruso
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the course of five combat patrols during the Pacific War, Commander Fluckey reinvented submarine warfare, pioneering audacious strategies to hunt and sink Japanese warships and merchant vessels. At the helm of the USS Barb, he directed his boat to attack warship convoys - never mind the lop-sided odds - and to slip into heavily defended enemy harbors to launch torpedoes at unsuspecting targets.
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Fluckey was a legend.
- By Sarah H. on 10-28-24
By: Don Keith
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Tin Can Titans
- The Heroic Men and Ships of World War II's Most Decorated Navy Destroyer Squadron
- By: John Wukovits
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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When Admiral William Halsey selected Destroyer Squadron 21 to lead his victorious ships into Tokyo Bay to accept the Japanese surrender, it was the most battle-hardened US naval squadron of the war. But it was not the squadron of ships that had accumulated such an inspiring résumé; it was the people serving aboard them. Through diaries, personal interviews with survivors, and letters written to and by the crews during the war, preeminent historian of the Pacific theater John Wukovits brings to life the human story of the squadron and its men.
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Captivating
- By Jean on 09-23-17
By: John Wukovits
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Killing the Bismarck
- Destroying the Pride of Hitler's Fleet
- By: Iain Ballantyne
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In May 1941 the German battleship Bismarck, accompanied by heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, broke out into the Atlantic to attack Allied shipping. The Royal Navy's pursuit and subsequent destruction of the Bismarck was an epic of naval warfare. In this new account of those dramatic events at the height of the Second World War, Iain Ballantyne draws extensively on the graphic eyewitness testimony of veterans to construct a thrilling story, mainly from the point of view of the British battleships, cruisers, and destroyers involved.
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1960 a young boy became awed
- By torpedo alley on 10-02-19
By: Iain Ballantyne
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In Harm's Way
- The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors
- By: Doug Stanton
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained undetected by the navy for nearly four days and nights. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to stay alive, fighting off sharks, hypothermia, and dementia. By the time rescue arrived, all but 317 men had died. The captain's subsequent court-martial left many questions unanswered
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Captivating
- By Clarence Sparks on 10-22-16
By: Doug Stanton
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Hell from the Heavens
- The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II's Greatest Kamikaze Attack
- By: John Wukovits
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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On the morning of April 16, 1945, the crewmen of the USS Laffey saw what seemed to be the entire Japanese air force assembled directly above. They were about to become the targets of the largest single-ship kamikaze attack of World War II.
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Compelling story worth the effort
- By David Traill on 08-10-16
By: John Wukovits
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Hellcats
- The Epic Story of World War II's Most Daring Submarine Raid
- By: Peter Sasgen
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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The incredible true story of nine Hellcat submarines assigned to penetrate the dense minefields protecting the sea of Japan. In 1945-with no knowledge of the development of the atomic bomb- American submarine commanders, desperate to avoid an invasion of the home islands, believed that if the Japanese merchant fleet was sunk, the enemy would be forced to surrender.
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great telling of technology advancements in Ww2
- By Brian on 05-20-18
By: Peter Sasgen
What listeners say about Down to the Sea
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dylan
- 08-05-22
very factual, good personal stories
very good story that draws you into the joys and hardships of the Navy. very factual and the writer did excellent research. A few narration mistakes and mispronounciation of words, but otherwise fantastic.
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- Dom
- 06-19-23
Unfocused
Ostensibly proclaimed on the cover of the text to be a story of the 3rd fleet against the forces of nature, the entire first half of the book is more a disjointed biography of the ships sunk and their crews than a Greek tragedy. In fact other than the first introduction describing the loss of the USS Spence and the history of the last captain of the USS Hull, one could skip the entire first half of the book and not have materially missed much in the way of understanding the long chain of events from destroyer upgrades and ship environments to the final typhoon itself. The biographies of the characters, while meant to put a human face on the tragedy, become a slog and feel like filler. Moreover, the sheer scale of the damage to 3rd fleet is missed entirely :A fire on a carrier, the drama of other damage control, the possible impact to military effectiveness are totally lacking in any depth. The introduction of characters not as interwoven into the tale of each ship as time passes, evidence a lack of deftness and brevity that makes narrative history workable, interesting and memorable. Many that are introduced feel like they vanish, almost as if forgotten by the book just like the ships loss became glossed over by the board of inquiry. Ultimately, either through a poor concept of historical writing or poor editing, this isn't a book I'd recommend much money or a credit on. Pick it up at a used book store or garage sale, sure, but there are definitely better titles which combine narrative, vignette and historical events far more effectively.
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- Kevin Bishop
- 05-08-22
Too many mispronunciations.
locations, Navy terms, just too many pronunciations. OOD, Officer of the Dock? Names of Pacific Islands.
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