Luck of the Draw: The Memoir of a World War II Submariner: From Savo Island to the Silent Service Book

I am an unrepentant history nerd. I'm also a former Navy guy. So when you combine the two in one book, you've got my attention. This is what happened when my wife came home from work one day with the autographed memoirs of a retired Navy officer who served in World War II in the Pacific.

That book is The Luck of the Draw: The Memoir of a World War II Submariner: From Savo Island to the Silent Service, by Captain C. Kenneth Ruiz, USN (Ret.). In it, Capt. Ruiz vividly recounts his service in the Pacific Theater, from his survival of the harrowing attack on and sinking of the cruiser USS Vincennes off Savo Island during the invasion of Guadalcanal, through his subsequent voluntary induction into submarine duty aboard USS Pollack.

And what a boat Pollack is; perhaps one of the older submarines to see duty in the Pacific, she is a bucket of bolts plagued with outmoded technology. Based on Capt. Ruiz's description, you suspect Pollack might just spontaneously sink without the aid of the Japanese fleet. Yet she escapes numerous surface and air attacks on several patrols that often take her deep into enemy waters'even to within periscope sight of the Japanese mainland. The skill of her officers and crew result in not only her survival, but also the sinking of several enemy freighters and warships at the height of the Pacific war.

Capt. Ruiz does a masterful job describing submarine combat in a compelling manner (the opening chapter alone will make your heart race); he puts you aboard Pollack as she struggles to escape a determined and skilled enemy (to whom Capt. Ruiz gives their just due). You can almost feel depth charges exploding around you.

Despite these superlatives, and Capt. Ruiz's well-paced writing style, some factors led me to demote a star from this review. Typos and punctuation errors deterred from the book's readability (an embarrassment not only for Capt. Ruiz, but also for his publishing house), especially in the early chapters. Meanwhile, although he is a crackerjack storyteller, Capt. Ruiz often lapses into repetition and redundancy. A glossary of terms used by World War II submariners might have come in handy, too.

Still, The Luck of the Draw is an entertaining, enthralling, and educational retelling of submarine combat in the Pacific, both for history nerds and old salts with fond memories of their naval service. It will leave you with a renewed appreciation for what men such as Capt. Ruiz did for their country, and the free world, more than 70 years ago.