Fatal Dive: Solving the World War II Mystery of the USS Grunion

by Peter F. Stevens Narrated by Robertson Dean

Overview

No radio distress call ever crackled from the submarine USS Grunion. In 1942, under the fog of World War II, the vessel simply vanished without a trace. For nearly sixty-five years, only a dead silence lingered regarding the fate of the sub and its seventy-man crew-until now. Here author Peter F. Stevens reveals the incredible true story of the search for and discovery of the Grunion-as well as the navy's shocking and willful cover-up of the submarine's baffling disappearance. The Grunion was discovered in 2006 after a decades-long search by the Abele brothers, whose father commanded the submarine and met his untimely death aboard it, but one question remained: what sank the USS Grunion? Now, for the first time ever, Fatal Dive reveals the answer: one of the Grunion's own missiles. The navy knowingly sent the Grunion out with faulty torpedoes, and Fatal Dive reveals damning and never-before-published government documents that provide irrefutable evidence of its shameful cover-up. Intriguing and explosive, Fatal Dive finally lays to rest one of World War II's greatest mysteries.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

One of the enigmas of WWII was the fate of the USS Grunion, the submarine carrying a crew of 70 men that vanished without a trace in 1942. Stevens (The Voyage of the Catalpa) charts the Navy career of the sub’s skipper, Jim Abele, from his 1926 Annapolis graduation through to WWII. With Abele in command, the million Grunion was launched on December 22, 1941, carrying the Navy’s new top-secret MK 14 torpedoes. Abele, other skippers, and even the Navy itself were unaware of the weapon’s most dangerous defect: a “circular run” that caused it to boomerang, striking the very sub that had fired it. When news of its disappearance arrived, “the families of the Grunion’s crew experienced shock, denial, despair,” yet in the decades that followed, Abele’s sons were unable to unravel the mystery of the sub’s fate. A scrap of Japanese paper, sold in 1998 for in a Denver antiques shop, was later posted on a military history Web site, eventually leading to the sub’s location and expeditions to find it at Kiska, Alaska. The families’ emotional reactions and the “tapestry of happenstances” involved in the discovery is suspenseful, while Stevens’s speculative description of the sub’s plunge to the ocean floor makes for a chilling conclusion. Color and b&w photos. (July)

NOVEMBER 2012 - AudioFile

In July of 1942, the submarine GRUNION mysteriously disappeared from the Aleutian Islands near Alaska, taking the lives of its 70 crew members. Three sons of one of those victims, Jim Abele, led the effort to find the sub and solve the mystery of what happened. This book reveals the shocking answer and the reasons for the Navy cover-up. Robertson Dean does his usual masterful job, using his big, deep, unique voice to tell the story with conviction and aplomb. He keeps us on the edge of our seats with pacing that keeps the story moving and every word receiving its due. What’s missing is emotional depth and empathy. Dean has a wonderful voice, but a story such as this requires a slightly gentler touch. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169751918
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	07/30/2012
Edition description:	Unabridged

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