The Terrible Hours

This book showed great promise for Maas the writer. Unfortunately, this book was not able to provide a fluid narrative throughout the story. There were pages where Maas would do brilliantly and then other places where he was incomprehensible. This was a shame because the subject of Momsen’s life is worthy of a book unto itself. The Terrible Hours covers the pre-Pearl Harbor rescue and recovery mission of the Squalus. Other reviewers have noted the lack of pictures and diagrams (and an editor) and this would have helped where Hass’ descriptions left something to be desired. I learned much from this book, my first book focusing on submarine warfare and history. Anything that brings any attention to the heroic efforts of US military show more service members is always a recommendable effort. show less

The Terrible Hours, by Peter Maas, gets rave reviews from diverse sources, and the subject matter – the rescue of 33 crewmen from the sunken submarine USS Squalus in 1939 – is certainly riveting enough; unfortunately I couldn’t work up the degree of enthusiasm shown by other reviewers. The main problem is this is formula journalistic history; we get the life stories of the submarine crew, with vultures of doom circling over some of them; villains get identified (faceless USN bureaucrats who thwarted development of submarine rescue equipment); and heroes get a panegyric (here the hero is Charles “Swede” Momsen, who proposed the rescue chamber used to extract submarine crewmen from 240 feet down).

The human interest stories are show more compelling, if predictable (it’s a given that the seaman scheduled to be married won’t make it, for example). The drawback to The Terrible Hours is the complete lack of technical graphics. The book has no illustrations – no map showing the location of the sinking, no diagram of the Squalus or the diving bell, no plan of how the crucial main induction valve worked, not even casual photographs of the rescue and salvage operation – even though all these are in the public domain. It’s pretty obvious what caused the Squalus to sink – the main induction valve, 31 inches in diameter, either was open at submergence or was opened after the submarine reached dive depth. All indications were that the valve was closed when Squalus dived – numerous witnesses in the control room testified that the “Christmas tree” of red and green lights showing the status of hull openings was all green, and the backup test – releasing compressed air into the boat to verify that it would hold pressure – also passed successfully. The “Christmas tree” remained green until power went out – obviously it was the first thing everybody in the control room looked at when the engine room reported flooding. The Navy never did decide what had happened, although the unspoken suggestion was that the valve operator had opened the main induction after the boat was submerged (this was Momsen’s conclusion); however, that would have required a simultaneous failure of the “Christmas tree” warning light system. In any event, the Navy put a shield between the main induction valve handle and other valves in the vicinity, and added a distinctive surface texture to the main induction valve handle on the salvaged Squalus and other boats in her class.

Don’t’ get me wrong; not a bad book for character studies and the life of “Swede” Momsen; just not for technical details of submarines. Ironically, in my pre-teen years I was fascinated by submarines and dimly recall a children’s book about submarine rescues; that book included a diagram of the rescue chamber and drawings of the Squalus. show less

This book is a tense thriller, a biography, a history. It is the story of Charles "Swede" Momsen and focuses mainly on the rescue of 33 men from the submarine Squalus. Squalus was the US Navy's newest and best in 1939. Never before had men been rescued from a downed submarine. This is the story of the men in the sub and the men that made the rescue possible. Excellent.

The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas (1999)
This book gives the true accounts of the first submarine rescue. When the USS Squalus accidentally plunges to 270 ft. in the North Atlantic, carrying 33 trapped souls with it, the Navy must either make every effort to free the sailors from a watery grave, or turn a cold cheek on the fallen. There may never have been any Squalus survivors if it weren’t for the Navy’s secret trump card, inventor Charles “Swede” Momsen.
This book was so gripping, I cut through it in only three days. With all the accuracy, heroism, and irony that only true history can dictate, Peter Maas recounts the frustrated career of Navy diver Charles Momsen, the tragic track record of prior submarine losses, the fateful show more events of the Squalus, and the latter’s challenging salvage. After reading this book, I now regard Momsen in the ranks of naval innovators such as Robert Fulton, John Erickson, John Holland, and Jacques Cousteau.
VERDICT: 8 (of 10)

(written February 2002) show less

interesting, but not gripping, description of submarine rescue and the background of the development of deep-sea diving apparati, but lacked technical detail

One of those books you read and wonder how the story isn't better known around the world. An incredible rescue. Writing was okay.

A good story about the rescue of the surviving crew of a submarine, the "Squalus," that sank during a training dive in 1939, and then its subsequent salvage. Also includes background on the development of diving, in particular the use of alternative breathing gases, and information on the fascinating career of Momsen, who led the rescue effort.
The book starts quite poorly, with the author just pasting together fragments of the stories of each and every survivor, but it gets much better past the first twenty pages.