Talk:Run Silent, Run Deep

Separate book and film articles

I see this repeatedly, and it always strikes me as odd, that a bestselling novel and a major film adaption are combined in a single article. Unless the book is really obscure, made notable only after a film comes out, or the film version was low budget, tanked, and was never written about, the two should always get separate articles. im surprised no one has even brought this up. Needless to say, if i dont see arguments to keep them together, i may break out the book into its own article.Mercurywoodrose (talk) 06:42, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Done. Bmclaughlin9 (talk) 00:37, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Impossible in the WW2 US Navy

The African American actor Joel Fluellen plays a member of the crew. Impossible in WW2 and very uncommon in the submarine service even at the time the film was made. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.245.132.22 (talk) 07:01, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Not true. Blacks did serve aboard subs, even if only as the officers stewards. However, during combat, they had their combat stations just like any other member of the crew.

I copied this comment to Run Silent, Run Deep (1958 film) Bmclaughlin9 (talk) 00:42, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Before or after the attack on Pearl Harbor?

The "Plot" section begins, "Soon before the attack on Pearl Harbor." This conflicts with the at least the 1983 edition of the book and is historically problematical.

• The first paragraph of the 1983 edition of the novel includes, "The story ... begins ... right after Christmas, 1941."

• If the story begins before December 7, 1941, it suggests that President Roosevelt was acting to provoke the Japanese into attacking the US. There has been some suggestion that the Roosevelt administration was indeed trying to provoke an attack that they could claim was unprovoked. However, it seems unlikely that US submarines would have been engaged in open hostilities against Japanese shipping prior to December 8, 1941. This would be particularly true for actions inside Japanese territorial waters like the Bungo straights, which was the scene for a substantial portion of the story.

• I couldn't conveniently access a copy of the original 1955 edition, but I'd be surprised if Beach, an active duty Navy officer at that time, would have suggested that the Roosevelt administration was actively trying to provoke the Japanese into an attack something like what occurred on December 7, 1941.

• Similarly, I'd be surprised if the producers of a movie in 1958 would have suggested that the US had been actively using submarines against Japanese shipping prior to Pearl Harbor.

Accordingly, I'm changing that one line to read, "The story begins right after Christmas, 1941." DavidMCEddy (talk) 07:23, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

I've clarified some of the timing based on the first edition. It helps to read more than the first page. There's a back story. Bmclaughlin9 (talk) 21:39, 14 March 2014 (UTC)