By October 1944 the U.S. Navy submarine Tang was legendary-she had sunk more enemy ships rescued more downed airmen and pulled off more daring surface attacks than any other Allied submarine in the Pacific. And then on her fifth patrol tragedy struck-the Tang was hit by one of her own faulty torpedoes. The survivors of the explosion struggled to stay alive in their submerged “iron coffin” one hundred-eighty feet beneath the surface. While the Japanese dropped deadly depth charges just nine of the original eighty-man crew survived a harrowing ascent through the escape hatch. But a far greater ordeal was coming. After being picked up by a Japanese patrol vessel they were sent to a secret Japanese interrogation camp known as the “Torture Farm.” They were close to death when finally liberated in August 1945 but they had revealed nothing to the Japanese-not even the greatest secret of World War II. With the same heart-pounding narrative drive that made The Bedford Boys and The Longest Winter national bestsellers Alex Kershaw brings to life this incredible story of survival and endurance.
