As with Run Silent, Run Deep, which it follows, this is entirely a work of fiction. I have striven to portray what submarining was like during the war years, and have held closely to the idea that not only should all the action and motivation be plausible, but also that the reader should receive an accurate description of the instrument in which the work was done: the U.S. submarine. Sometimes I have thought of Eel herself as the heroine of this story, but a valid case for this might be hard to make. Nevertheless, the reader will know more about how to operate a submarine of World War II after he finishes this book than he knew before.
None of the events herein described existed anywhere except in the mind of the author. There has been no conscious portrayal of any actual person, nor did a submarine named Eel figure in World War II. If some of my old comrades recognize that Eel had much in common with Tirante and Piper, as did Walrus with Trigger, I can only answer that any author has the prerogative of borrowing from his own experience.
The same holds true for some of the crew of the Eel. At one point, as also happened during the preparation of Run Silent, Run Deep, I found myself personifying, in her crew, a few of the men with whom I served, and to whom I shall always be indebted. It was not possible, of course, to name them, and in any case there were too many. But I’d like them to know that I thought of them.
Washington, D.C.
May, 1972