The incredible true story of nine Hellcat submarines assigned to penetrate the dense minefields protecting the Japanese fleet.

In 1945-with no knowledge of the development of the atomic bomb- American submarine commanders, desperate to avoid an invasion of the home islands, believed that if the Japanese merchant fleet was sunk, the enemy would be forced to surrender. The problem: the ships were protected in the Sea of Japan from American submarines by a seemingly impenetrable barrier of deadly minefields.

For the first time, Peter Sasgen tells the gripping story of Operation Barney, a suicide mission in which nine submarines, nicknamed Hellcats, were tasked with the impossible-get through the underwater mines and decimate the enemy fleet. Success would hinge on a new experimental sonar system that would-with luck-guide American submarines safely past the mines.

Drawing on original documents and the poignant personal letters of one doomed Hellcat commander, Sasgen crafts a classic naval tale of the heroic submariners and one of World War II's most ambitious and dangerous missions.