Hara-Kiri!

Authors: Craig DiLouie
Narrator: R.C. Bray
Duration: 4h 23m
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tags: miltary - action - adventure

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And again, the series that haven’t disappointed me.

Not much stuff happened in last part, but it was still great enjoy to listen to the book.

And now I understood what does Hara-Kiri as a Charles nickname means (damn you English pronunciation!)

Quotes:

While the award ceremony was highly formalized, the ritual of changing command was even more formal and steeped in navy tradition. The ceremony officially transferred responsibility and authority over US warship from one commanding officer to another. All hands mastered had a clear view of the proceedings as this required a entire crew to bear witness.

Superstition wasn’t something you can reason with. In the old days of wooden sailing ships sailors threw coins in a foam and poared wine on a deck. They wore tatoos to ward off evil spirits. After getting their crew cuts the wouldn’t trim their hair or nails again until the voyage was over. They spat into the harbor before launching. Today the navy had fewer pervasive rituals - though plenty developed around each particular ship. …

When the submarine originally launched a bottle of champagne was broken against her bow - harkening back to the days of vikings and greeks greasing the skids with blood which became wine and eventually the more celebratory champagne.

Whatever his accomplishments, their retelling made them sound far more incredible that he remembered them. For him … was a blur, revisited in slow painful detail only in his nightmares.

Submarining was a team sport - if you had a best team you had a best odds of dealing with any variables and winning the game.

Serving a war would makes you think about taking life more seriously. Live it in a little more hurry.

Evy knew the old Charlie, the ambitious boy who joined navy to find himself. And she wanted to live a full life with him. Jane knew the new Charlie, the man who found himself in war. And she wanted him today, because only today was real. Which of this two wonderful woman understood the real Charlie required that Charlie first understand himself.

It was the captain’s prerogative to avoid ribbing and tell his man to mind their business so he can focus on command.

He joined the submarines to find himself and learn what he was made of by facing death in combat. He mat that man and liked him. He was about to meet him again, this time under very different circumstances.

While he borrowed command, he never owned it. Each time he had taken a con, a boat was at big crisis, requiring big risks.

On the boats, every crewman carried great responsibility. A submarine was a densely packed and complex machine, just as a failure of a vital piece of equipment can cause a disaster, so too could a small error by one of the crew. Still, the captain bore the ultimate responsibility.

Having benefited more than once from change, Charlie understood the role of luck in war but did not see it as anything superstitious could influence. He believed in making your own luck through smart planning.

The bottom line is - you have to pick your battles. Pick your battles, then win the one’s, that matter most.

I’m gonna screw everything in sight. (The obligatory answer for a sailor). - And after that ? Go somewhere else. Screw everything there. - You have ambition.

For as long as he could remember, submariners had given him advice, all of it ponderable, most of it useful, some of it lifesaving. As captain he was now expected to give some of his own, based on what he had learned.

Young man had a death wish. Not a real wish to die. But a willingness, almost a crawing to face death and survive it.

Each of Charlies former captains had used activity to pass a time and build comradery among his officers. … chess, hearts, poker, solitary … Weather focused more on skills or chance, this games sharpened instincts through competition. For Charlie it was music. He bounded with his officers through melodic collaboration. As for a good piece of music - submarine crew had to come together to build a perfect harmony.

Sometimes you get lucky. The lesson was - you didn’t need to be lucky all the time to win, you only needed to get lucky once, when it mattered and be ready to act on it.

A thin line separated caution and cowardliness. Heroism and insanity. And in Charlies mind the line disappeared. There was only his duty.