The Terrible Hours, written by Peter Maas, is a historical non-fiction book that takes place deep into the sea, where a submarine named the Squalus lies on the Atlantic floor. Maas recollects the series of events leading to and through the disaster using the utmost specificity, rightfully achieving the status of an exceptional Non-Fiction Historical novel. Maas also emphasizes the vast impact teamwork had on the 33 men saved from their likely deaths. This teamwork existed both in the rescue team led by a man named Charles "Swede" Momsen and the numerous men who fought to survive the disaster, buried over 250 feet deep into the ocean. It all started on the sub's 19th test dive. At 8:30 am, its sleek body began to cruise along the ocean toward its pre-determined dive location. With the new control system indicating everything to be perfect, the Squalus, led by Lieutenant Oliver F. Naquin took two consecutive dives, bringing the sub to a level of 60 feet below sea level. The command room was quiet until some terrifying news broke surface. The engine room had flooded. In a panic, Naquin ordered the men to blow pressurized air into the ballast tank, which would theoretically force the sub to rise, as they wanted to counteract the new weight of the water entering their sub. But it wasn’t enough. The front of the sub would rise due to the ballast tank while the flooding in the back would tilt the sub at an angle instead of pushing it upwards. The Squalus eventually reached the bottom of the Atlantic floor. Throughout all this chaos, the infamous Charles “Swede” Momsen sat in the Washington State Navy Yard, eating a sandwich, when he received a worrying call. The call came from Commander Lockwood, stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. After hearing that the Coast Guard could not locate the submarine, the Commander requested that Momsen come to the base in the fear that his skills would be needed. This recollection of the events leading up to the rescue is overly summarized, as Peter Maas heavily elaborates on these events that some might deem non-relevant. But later in the novel, the reader recognizes the importance of this preliminary section. For example, Maas reminds the reader early into the novel that the longitude and latitude of the planned dive location must be shared with the port authorities as routine. So you would assume that the moment Authorities recognize the Squalus’s absence, they would be able to locate it in no time. But for hours and hours, the search led to no avail, due to some unlucky circumstances. Before their departure, the dive coordinates had been sent to the authorities using Morse code, and through transmission, an error occurred transforming the longitudinal point. So the Squalus’s true location was “five miles west” of the search party consisting of the Coast Gaurd and the Squalus's sister sub the Sculpin (Maas 81). These minimalistic details forced me as a reader to pay more attention and immerse myself in the scene. This change has led me to discover more about the various books I read, whether they be historical, or fictional, like the infamous Fahrenheit 451. The book is very intense, as everyone in and outside of the Squalus has to make instantaneous decisions that have large impacts on the odds of the rescue being a success. I agree with the author’s slow transition into the story, as now that I reflect, I see that many of the events leading up to the disaster had significant impacts on the result. This is similar to Ray Bradbury’s use of figurative language. I feel that both these authors added more meaning and excitement to their books when they hid special details instead of exposing them. This is the major difference between storytelling, and forcing the reader to investigate himself. Maas’s style involves constant switches between calm and disastrous scenes, truly taking the reader on a roller coaster ride. To employ this ride’s full capabilities, I would recommend you pay close attention to the numerous details hidden among the text, and you’ll likely discover more than I did. I would also recommend this book to people who are willing to spend some time uncovering the hidden knowledge that awaits, reading page by page, and not chapter by chapter.
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