Richard Snow - A measureless peril: america in the fight for the atlantic, the longest battle of world war ii

Snow writes with verve and a keen eye. He is a kind of John McPhee of combat at sea, finding humanity in the small, telling details of duty.

The New York Times Book Review

In this exhaustively researched and gracefully written book, Snow vividly re-creates the epic showdown between German submarines, sent to hunt merchant ships in the Atlantic, and the vessels sent to thwart them, one of which bore Snows father. This is a hell of a story, at turns rousing, terrifying, fascinating, surprisingly funny, and deeply moving, and the postscript, telling of the peacetime fate of Snows father, brought me to tears.

Laura Hillenbrand, Salon.com

A Measureless Peril will keep you riveted.... [Snows] description of key personalities is flawless.

Forbes

An accomplished historian with a welcome personal touch.

Kirkus Reviews

Snow ably uses his fathers letters to reconstruct Atlantic duty in the final years of a vital battle for Allied victory.

Publishers Weekly

Richard Snow captures the sweep of battleyears long, thousands of square miles in extentand its life-sized, daily events, from routine tasks to hellish violence, as seen through the eyes of the men who were there. The result is a stereoscopic view of a world-historical struggle and of the authors father, Lieutenant Richard B. Snow, USNR, a representative member of the greatest generation.

Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father:
Rediscovering George Washington

By way of a great raft of sea stories, each impeccably told and perfectly turned, Richard Snow has transformed the faraway and half-forgotten world of the Atlantic convoys into a narrative as touching and exciting as it is melancholy and memorable. This is a valuable book: few better accounts have ever been crafted about this cruelest of wars, fought for year after year on the most imperturbably cruel of the worlds great oceans.

Simon Winchester

Richard Snows A Measureless Peril is epic, poignant, and until now the story he tells has been little known. At the same time, Snows voice is warm, wildly entertaining, and achieves that rare magic effect in writing history: complete intimacy and authority. The book is chock-full of engrossing detail and the surprising stories spool out like private movies shot by our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and brothers and sent back from the warbut arriving only now in this world of ours. Most of all, Snows father, a courageous presence, is as literate and humane a voice as one could hope to meet in the darkest hours at sea. Snow smartly and thoroughly honors the men and womenand their familieswho served in WWII.

Doug Stanton, author of Horse Soldiers and In Harms Way

There is one very annoying and upsetting aspect to A Measureless Peril: it ends. However, I have to admit that when I am fascinated and excited by a book, and having the time of my life, Im able to read really fast. What a fine writer is Richard Snow, and what a treasure this is.

Alan Furst

In this terrific tale, Richard Snow has written a splendid and exciting account of an unjustly overlooked story of World War II: the fight for the Atlantic. With a skillful narrative hand, he moves between scenes of combat and peril at sea (and under the sea) to moments of debate and decision at the highest levels of Washington and London. A Measureless Perilthe phrase is Churchillsis a book to savor, and to remember.

Jon Meacham

ALSO BY RICHARD SNOW

The Funny Place

Freelon Starbird

The Iron Road, a Portrait of American Railroading

The Burning

Coney Island, a Postcard Journey to the City of Fire

Scribner
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Copyright 2010 by Richard Snow

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Scribner Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Scribner trade paperback edition May 2011

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Designed by Nancy Singer

Manufactured in the United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009052995

ISBN 978-1-4165-9110-8
ISBN 978-1-4165-9111-5 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4165-9507-6 (ebook)

Except where noted, all insert photographs are credited to the National Archives.

For Carol

and, of course, Rebecca, who brightened the

last five years of Lt. R. B. Snows life

Whats the Matter with the Davis?
Looking back on the Atlantic struggle

Flower Show
The dangerous state of the U.S. navy on the eve of war, 1939

Too Dumb to Stay on the Farm
The making of a sailor, 1940

Building Hitlers Navy
Superbattleships vs. submarines, 193339

The Simple Principle of Fighting Several Steamers with Several U-boats
Captain Doenitz works out his strategy, 191839

On the Devils Shovel
U-boat life, 193945

The End of the Athenia
The sea war begins, 1939

Captain Gainards Killer Dillers
An American freighter comes to the rescue, 1939

Prison Ship
The difficulties of keeping out of the war, 193940

The Neutrality Patrol
Guarding the western hemisphere, 193940

A New Chapter of World History
The destroyer deal goes forward, 1940

Doenitz Goes to France
Germany builds her Biscay U-boat bases, 1940

Germany First
Planning Americas naval war, 1940

A Length of Garden Hose
FDR sells Lend-Lease, 1940

Fishing Trip
Churchill and Roosevelt meet, 1941

The Moving Square Mile
Learning and relearning the lessons of convoy, 191741

The Rattlesnakes of the Atlantic
Americas first losses, 1941

A Present in the Fhrers Lap
Hitler declares war, 1941

Five Boats against America
The East Coast submarine offensive, 1942

The Most Even-Tempered Man in the Navy
Admiral King in command, 1942

The Hooligan Navy
Yachts and cabin cruisers go to war, 1942

Cadet OHaras Last Fight
The Naval Armed Guard and the ordeal of the
Stephen Hopkins, 1942 179

Start Swinging, Lady
The Liberty ships, 194145

A Visit to the Ship Cemetery
Desperate times on the Eastern seaboard, 1943

Sighted Sub...
A little good news, 1943

How Lieutenant Snow Got to Sea
A reserve officers journey, 1943

The Smallest Major War Vessel
Inventing the destroyer escort, 1942

Set the Watch
The birth of a warship, 1943