The Story of Our Submarines — Background and Themes

From Training to Command

The opening chapters detail the rigorous selection process for submarine officers. Candidates needed a captain's recommendation and a torpedo examination certificate. After acceptance, they trained at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, where medical exams and final examinations weeded out the unfit. Successful officers served as 'third hands' before becoming First Lieutenants, then commanded small A-class boats. This progression is described with matter-of-fact precision, emphasizing the high standards and gradual advancement.

Official Reports and Personal Testimony

Bower weaves together official reports and letters from survivors. A notable example is Petty Officer R. A. Perkins's account of the sinking of his submarine. Writing from a prisoner-of-war camp in Asia Minor, Perkins describes the captain's coolness under fire, the deaths of officers, and the bravery of men who saved a wounded shipmate. Bower notes that if the officers had survived, 'we would have heard something to the credit of Petty Officer Perkins.' This layering of perspectives—official, survivor, and authorial—gives the narrative a documentary texture.

Escape and Entanglement

One of the most gripping excerpts recounts Lieutenant-Commander Cochrane's attempt to run the Dardanelles. His log entries are reproduced verbatim: passing Kilid Bahr at 200 yards, diving to 100 feet, fouling a submarine net. The boat became entangled for hours, with mines exploding nearby. Cochrane burned confidential papers and eventually surfaced to surrender. The log's terse, technical language—'went hard-a-port and port motor to full speed'—conveys the tension without melodrama. Bower adds that Cochrane's escape from captivity was described elsewhere, hinting at further adventures.

The Human Cost and Technical Limits

Throughout the excerpts, Bower balances technical details with human loss. The sinking of one boat leaves only a few survivors; another is lost with all hands. The descriptions of nets, mines, and periscope attacks are interwoven with the fates of individual crew members. Bower does not shy from the grim reality: men 'almost blown to pieces,' boats 'held by the net fore and aft,' and the decision to surrender after battery power fails. This combination of engineering and mortality gives the book its distinctive weight.

Readers should approach this book as a hybrid: part technical manual, part war memoir. Bower's use of official logs and letters means that the narrative shifts abruptly between bureaucratic detail and visceral action. The incomplete excerpts suggest that the full work may contain more such juxtapositions, rewarding those who appreciate firsthand accounts of naval warfare without romantic embellishment.