Books: Comedy of Errors

TAKE HER DOWN—Commander T. B. Thompson—Sheridan House ($2.50).

Like most U. S. submarines at the outbreak of the War, the L–9, 150-ft. overall, 16-ft. beam, was a crowded, smelly, temperamental craft. She could make 14 knots on the surface, but her red-enameled Diesel engines shook themselves to pieces so frequently the crew strung up nets to avoid being hit by flying parts. She had a 3-in. disappearing gun that could be coaxed up on deck after great labor, but had a disconcerting habit of vanishing into its compartment without warning, before or after it...