Zoomies, Subs, and Zeros

By: Charles A. Lockwood

Narrated by: Brian Wiggins

The Submarine Lifeguard League was formed toward the end of World War II in order to rescue downed Allied pilots. The League helped to save the lives of hundreds of Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps pilots from the Japanese as well as from death at sea.

The author provides a riveting narrative of the adventures of this subdivision of the US Naval Fleet. From being killers, the US submarines changed into lifesavers in the last two years of the war. The author, Vice-Admiral Charles Lockwood (1890-1967) was the legendary commander of the US submarine fleet in the Pacific.

Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks

Excellent book!

Some recommendations for the narrator. Proper pronunciation of common names and references will make the book much more pleasant for the listener.
2 examples would be: Halsey is pronounced like “Hall-z” not “Hal-c.” The second is a particularly offensive recurrence in the narration of this book. Submariner should NEVER be pronounced “sub-mariner” as this would indicate a below par mariner, or sailor. The proper, really only way, to refer to these brave men who risked, and often lost, their lives for our country is “submarine-er.”
This is very important and should be noted for all future productions of books refering to submarines.

Pronunciation

Wow!! This narrator’s ability to pronounce any word other than in New England English was quite tedious. A little effort to pronounce Asian place names properly would have made the narration less “grating”!!!

Boomer Review

No problem with Charles Lockwood's book I also have his much more comprehensive tome covering all the submarine activity of the United States in the Pacific. Narrator is obviously way too young (And whoever proof-listened, presuming they do that) to have spent their rainy Saturdays watching John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, and Cary Grant win the war for us. Let alone watching documentaries like the Victory at Sea Series on Channel 11. But come on guys! What about YouTube? They mostly get it right on there. Many easy words were butchered, Halsey, Tarawa , and you don't want to know how he handled Leyte and the chain of island that contains the island of Saipan are the Marianas, not the Marinaras (Seriously?) I wouldn't kvetch if I didn't think I could do a better job myself. I guess I should look into that.