History Mauled Summary and Analysis

Kohler and Chatterton return to Washington to renew their research after the two main possibilities for the identity of the submarine are eliminated. They begin to compare the records of submarine encounters by the Navy off the East Coast with the records made after the war that assess each incident and record its probable outcome. They are startled to find that the official accounts that are completed after the war sometimes contradict the records that are made shortly after each incident.

One such case intrigues them especially. A Navy destroyer called the Gustafson encounters U-857 off the coast of Boston in April, 1945 and fires on it. The sub is hit, but it submerges and no debris is ever discovered. The Navy assessors at the time classify the status of the submarine as "probably slightly damaged" (p. 227). However, in the...