Battle Surface

This is an account of Japan's submarine war against Australia during 1942-44. It is a story of a campaign which was far more serious and extensive than anyone in Australia knew at the time. Nearly 40 war patrols were made to Australian waters: Sydney was attacked by midget submarines, Sydney and Newcastle were shelled, spy planes flew over Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, 17 ships were sunk off the east coast, shipping was attacked off the Western Australian coast, mines were laid off Darwin and Northern Queensland, and patrols were carried out around the Victorian and Tasmanian coast. More than a dozen Japanese admirals were interviewed and they describe day-to-day life on the submarines. A picture emerges of what it was like to hunt and be hunted at sea, and the raw terror of a depth charge attack.