Stealth Boat · Fighting the Cold War in a Fast Attack Submarine

In this memoir, Gannon McHale gives readers a close-up view of life in one of those subs, USS Sturgeon (SSN-637). During 1967-70, the time period covered in this book, America was tortured by internal and external conflict. The war in Vietnam was unpopular, and the draft was still in operation. McHale, like countless other young American men facing the probability of being drafted into the Army and sent to war, chose to be proactive about military service and enlisted at the age of nineteen and was subsequently assigned to the Sturgeon. Readers will come to understand how his years on the sub profoundly affected the way he lived the rest of his life. The book focuses on McHale's experiences and those of other men with whom he served who have remained lifelong friends. Humorous and irreverent without being disrespectful, the book provides a glimpse of what it was like for an enlisted man on board a fast attack submarine in the late 1960s and illustrates how men in dangerous situations create bonds to survive.