Peter Maas - The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History

Pros: Peter Maas spoke with real submariners - it shows!
Cons: The hand of fear gripped my heart again.

This is a mesmerizing tale of courage, death, and dedication. Once I opened the cover - I could not put it down.

While reading Peter Maas’ Terrible Hours my breathing became labored, my heart raced, and my skin perspired. I spent...

Pros: Vivid description of the rescue of men facing certain death in terrifying conditions
Cons: None

Peter Maas' "The Terrible Hours" claims to be about the greatest submarine rescue in history. It states that right on the cover. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea if the claim was valid until I read this excellent work by the man who also wrote...

Pros: Exciting and moving, even if you know how it ends.
Cons: The book on tape is tarnished by a poor reading.

I’m a sucker for good military fiction and non-fiction, and “The Terrible Hours” by Peter Maas fed this need like a hot dog feeds a craving at a ball game. It is the true story of Charles “Swede” Momsen, and how his perseverance and ...

Pros: Page-turner
Cons: A bit dry at times, no illustrations

The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas is a must read for anyone riveted by the Kursk submarine disaster. It is an account of the US sub Squalus that sank off the coast of New Hampshire in 1939. In the initial moments of the crisis, many...

Pros: Excellent account of tragedy
Cons: none

Peter Maas tells the story of two separate struggles in The Terrible Hours, which came together in May of 1939.

The initial struggle unfolds in a series of flashbacks and references, woven into the more immediate stories about...

Pros: Fast-paced, well-written, heroic true story
Cons: a little slow around page 224

Ever hear of Charles “Swede” Momsen?

Chances are you haven’t, and that’s a crying shame, but Peter Mass’s superb book “The Terrible Hours” might change that. “Hours” is a painstakingly researched chronicle of the first successful submarine...

Pros: wonderfully written, gripping
Cons: none

"In memory of an extraordinary man, Swede Momsen, whose likeness rarely passes our way."

The Terrible Hours is dedicated to Charles "Swede" Momsen and rightfully so since without him the rescue of the men aboard the...

Pros: Very detailed and very well told
Cons: none

Terrible Hours is the true story of the rescue of trapped sailors aboard the submarine Squalas and of the salvage operation that followed.

During a training dive, something went wrong and the Squalas sank in a little over...

Pros: suspenseful, engaging
Cons: sometimes it gets bogged down in navy jargon.

Reason For Reading

The recent events concerning the Russian submarine “Kursk” that was lost at sea made me interested in the topic of submarines and submarine rescue. I went looking for a book on the subject and found a fairly recent...

Pros: Interesting, exciting, timely
Cons: No photos or sketches of equipment

They say that truth is stranger than fiction. Well, in the case of The Terrible Hours, Peter Maas has certainly made truth more exciting than fiction! Although touted as a biography of Charles Momsen, inventor of the Momsen Lung, it is really more a...

Pros: Excellent rendering of the sub disaster; includes emotions experienced by crew, not just dry history
Cons: none

Peter Maas scored big time with this riveting account of sailors who were trapped below the ocean surface in the submarine Squalus. The submarine sank and remained at the bottom until salvage operations, after several attempts, managed to get her back...

Pros: Very detailed and easy to read
Cons: Not long enough

Being an ex-submariner, I was completely astounded by Peter Maas book, The Terrible Hours. The entire time reading it I felt as if I was trapped on the submarine. I am amazed that in my four years of Naval service that I didn't ever hear of Swede Momsen....