TORPEDOES AWAY

If this is an indication of what some editors are beginning to consider juvenile writing then the effect is in our opinion a wholesome one even though we can't quite see why the book wasn't published as adult fiction in the first place. Neither deep nor tightly plotted, the inclusion nevertheless of an almost photographic reality strikes a fresh note in this portrayal of life aboard a submarine. Some eyebrows may be raised at the dialogue which stops short only at the men's undoubtedly lewder references to sex than permitted here, for the commoner swear words- hell and the smoking and the drinking are in view. Set in the months after the start of World War II, the thin story line follows reserve Ensign Winslow and his problems of adjustment to a very binding way of life aboard the Planekton on her long chain of missions out of New London. Yet the other officers and the crew are vividly characterized, especially the captain whose love for his men and his ship becomes a touching thing when an injury prevents him from going back to them. Thoroughly companionable and humorous this feels as if it could have been the same with any one of thousands who saw submarine duty in the 40's.