Edward L. Beach Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Edward L. Beach was a published American author.

Born April 20, 1918, Edward Latimer Beach Jr. is known for being a best-selling author as well as a decorated submarine officer serving the United States Navy. He passed away December 1, 2002.

He participated in World War II at the Battle of the Midway and in a dozen combat patrols as well. This would earn him ten decorations, including the Navy Cross. Once the war was over, Beach served as a naval aide to President Eisenhower in addition to commanding the first submerged circumnavigation.

Beach is the author of several novels. His first novel published was called Submarine and was released in 1953. His second novel was the best-selling 1955 Run Silent, Run Deep. It was adapted into a movie in 1958 with the same name.

Beach was the son of his father Edward L. Beach and his mother Alice Beach. Born in New York City, he was brought up in Palo Alto, California.

In 1935, he was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy. For his first class year, he served as a regimental commander. He graduated second in his class in 1939 and was credited with the midshipman who had done the most to promote naval spirit and loyalty in the regiment.

He was assigned to the USS Chester before coming onto the destroyer USS Lea. This ship was participating in the neutrality Atlantic patrol in addition to escorting a German passenger liner and surveying American occupation of Iceland while taking part of North Atlantic convoy duty. He left Lea in September of 1941 so that he could undergo training at Connecticut’s New London Submarine Base for Submarine Training School. He graduated top of the class after completing training in December 1941.

During the course of the second World War, Beach served above several submarines. These included the USS Trigger and the USS Tirante, commanding USS Piper at the end of the Pacific War. He held several different positions on Trigger, including engineering officer, communications officer, co-approach officer, navigator, and executive officer. The submarine participated in the Battle of the Midway. While on Trigger, Beach served on ten different war patrols. While aboard her, Trigger was awarded the Navy Unit Citation and the Presidential Unit Citation.

Beach was on the Tirante late in 1944. He was an executive officer. He received the Navy Cross for heroism during the attack on a Japanese harbor. The sub also received the Presidential Unit Citation.

Beach was put in charge as command of the USS Piper on June 25, 1945 at Pearl Harbor. The sub left on war patrol July 19 and was in the Sea of Japan on August 13. They were in the waters when the Japanese ended the war with a formal surrender and set back for Pearl Harbor.

Beach reported to the Navy to serve as personal aide to Vice Admiral Louis E. Denfeld in December 1945. Denfeld was chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. He would be attached to the Atomic Defense Section in March 1947 under Rear Admiral William S. Parsons.

Beach was given command of a modified submarine in May 1948. The USS Amberjack earned the nickname of ‘Anglejack’ because of its use of sharp angles to dive and surface. This engagement was cut short when he was called to Washington so that he could serve in August 1949 to General Omar Bradley as a naval aide, who was the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Once done with being an aide in March 1951, he was named a prospective commanding officer of the ship Trigger. He commissioned the Trigger II and became commanding officer of the second sub in the Tang-Class submarine to be completed.

Beach served as naval aide to President Eisenhower from 1953 to 1957. While there, he was responsible for Camp David’s management, the White House Mess, and the USS Williamsburg, the presidential yacht. He also coordinated a plan to evacuate the president for protection during a nuclear attack. He was promoted to captain on October 1, 1956.

Beach departed the White House first in January 1957 to command the USS Salamonie and completed a deployment to the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea in December of 1957. In 1958, he attended the training program for the Navy about atomic reactors so that he could command the USS Triton, a nuclear-powered submarine and the fifth in the United States. He took command in November 1959. The sub was the only nuclear sub with two nuclear reactors. It circumnavigated the Earth in 1960 for 84 days without coming to the surface. They covered over 66,000 kilometers, which had not been done before. It followed a similar route to that taken by Ferdinand Magellan. Captain Beach was presented the Legion of Merit by the President, and the Triton received the Presidential Unit Citation. Captain Beach wrote about the voyage in his 1962 novel Around the World Submerged: The Voyage of the Triton.

Beach would go on to command Submarine Squadron Eight for just over a year from July 1961 to August 1962. He would also study at the National War College. He also earned his Master of Arts degree from George Washington University, focusing on international relations. He also served in the office of the chief of Naval Operations from July 1963 to December 1966. He retired as captain from active duty in 1966. He was named to be the Stephen B. Luce Chair of Naval Science in Newport, Rhode Island at the Naval War College. During this time, he served as editor of the Naval War College Review. He also served seven years for the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee and for chief of staff for one year for Senator Jeremiah Denton.

Edward L. Beach published 13 books in total. He is known for his first novel, Sumbarine!, but is perhaps best known for Run Silent, Run Deep. He also wrote sequels to Run Silent, Run Deep with the second book being titled Dust on the Sea, and the 1978 third novel Cold is the Sea.

He has also written nonfiction works that include The Wreck of the Memphis, United States Navy: 200 Years, Scapegoats, and Salt and Steel, as well as Keepers of the Sea.

Submarine! Is a novel that recounts Beach’s own time in the Navy. For those who are on a submarine during World War II, every day could be life or death. They’d go to sea for long months, endure dank conditions that could be claustrophobia-inducing, or just getting through the long stretches of silence that would be marked by random episodes of adrenaline-inducing episodes.

Few can handle this, according to the book, and even fewer could make it through. Beach writes about his time on Trigger and draws from real life to make this an interesting novel that you won’t want to put down anytime soon.

Run Silent, Run Deep is a novel based on Beach’s personal experience in history. Character Captain Richardson is handed over command of a sub after Pearl Harbor with the instruction to take out Japanese shipping in the Pacific.

Things go well initially, but when the Captain sees Bungo Pete, a Japanese destroyer, the stakes have never been higher. Check out his book that is based on a true story and be sure to see the movie made about it too starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster.