THE ANGLE OF DESCENT: A Novel of Survival, Silence, and the Long Wake of the Deep

On February 11, 1969, USS Chopper left Key West for what should have been a routine training exercise. Hours later, submerged at 150 feet, the submarine lost AC power. Within minutes, the boat plunged bow-first to a depth no one aboard should have survived, then rocketed back toward the surface at a near-vertical angle. The Angle of Descent is a literary historical novel based on the true story of USS Chopper and the men who survived one of the most harrowing submarine accidents of the Cold War era. Through the eyes of sailors, officers, wives, children, and families, the novel follows not only the terrifying descent itself, but the long aftermath carried into homes, marriages, reunions, silence, and memory. A story of courage, duty, silence, and the hidden cost of survival, The Angle of Descent honors the crew of USS Chopper and the families who lived in the long wake of the deep.