The Silent Service

The Silent Service (Japanese: 沈黙の艦隊, Hepburn: Chinmoku no Kantai) is a manga series written and illustrated by Kaiji Kawaguchi. It was published in Kodansha's Weekly Morning manga magazine from 1988 to 1996 and collected in 32 tankōbon volumes. The series was adapted into an anime TV special and OVA series by Sunrise. The first two episodes of the anime were later spliced together and released in North America as a single volume. The rest of the series remained untranslated, though excerpts of the manga were published in Frederick Schodt's Dreamland Japan, however.

The manga won the Kodansha Manga Award for general manga in 1990.

Plot

During the Cold War, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force jointly developed a nuclear submarine with the United States Navy. On its maiden voyage, the captain of the submarine declares the submarine to be an independent state, "Yamato".

Sea vessels in OVA

• Russian:
  • Romanov (fictional submarine)

• Japanese:
  • Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
    • Yamanami (fictional Diesel submarine)
    • Tatsunami (fictional Diesel submarine)
    • Haruna (DDH-141)
    • Kurama (DDH-144) (AKA "Ship #8")
    • Asagiri (DD-151)

• American:
  • United States Navy 7th Fleet
    • USS Sea Bat (fictional nuclear submarine) (AKA "Yamato")
    • USS New York City (SSN-696)
    • USS Chicago (SSN-721)
    • USS Dallas (SSN-700)
    • USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) (flagship)
    • USS California (CGN-36)
    • USS Alabama (fictional or misnamed)
    • USS O '​Brien (DD-975)
  • U.S. Navy 3rd Fleet
    • USS Enterprise (CVN-65) (flagship)
    • USS Vincennes (CG-49)
    • USS Long Beach (CGN-9)
    • USS Vella Gulf (CG-72)
    • USS Lake Erie (CG-70)
    • USS Cape St. George (CG-71) (misnamed as "Cape St. John")

Reception

The Silent Service is generally regarded as one of the rare Japanese comics that covered the unparalleled scale of realistic international geopolitics with a commercial success.

See also

• Last Resort (U.S. TV series)

References

External links

• The Silent Service (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Silent Service (TV special) (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Silent Service (OVA) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia