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Tangent coming! This reminded me of the book "Up Periscope", which I read as a kid, about a frogman during WWII using a sub to infiltrate a Japanese camp to ph

Tangent coming! This reminded me of the book "Up Periscope", which I read as a kid, about a frogman during WWII using a sub to infiltrate a Japanese camp to photograph a code book. I remember it talked about the then-new diving technology. I thought it was SCUBA. It was Aqua-Lung; verified with a checked out copy at https://archive.org/details/upperiscope00whit/page/150/mode/2up?q=lung https://archive.org/details/upperiscope00whit/page/150/mode/... . Turns out that book is based on the movie. ('Garner called the film "another piece of crap that Warner Bros. stuck me in while I was under contract."' says Wikipedia.) And Aqua-Lung wasn't available until after WWII. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua-Lung https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua-Lung Guess the book wasn't that accurate. I enjoyed it when I was 12 or so.

Spooky23 4y ago
That was a fun book. I remember I picked it up at a yard sale when I was on vacation around the same age. Thanks for the nostalgia. Too bad it wasn’t real.
ghostpepper 4y ago
I'm curious what you mean when you say it was not SCUBA? From your link: "Aqua-Lung[1] was the first open-circuit, self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (or "scuba") to achieve worldwide popularity and commercial success" Was there ever a brand called SCUBA? AquaLung still exists and is still a popular choice for diving regulators.
- eesmith 4y ago
  Sorry for the confusion. I meant to say that I thought it used the word SCUBA (and I thought it used it in caps).
- eesmith 4y ago
  Tying two threads together. This Atlas Obscura article mentions: > the OSS commandos pioneered lightweight and compact rebreathers, such as the Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambertsen_Amphibious_Respiratory_Unit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambertsen_Amphibious_Respirat... says: > The LARU is what the initials SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) originally meant; Lambertsen changed his invention's name to SCUBA in 1952;[2] but later "SCUBA", gradually changing to "scuba", came to mean (first in the USA) any self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Looks like the Navy wasn't interested in the LARU, while the OSS was. "Up Periscope" refers to both a rebreather (presumably LARU) and the open-circuit Aqua-Lung, which you can see at https://archive.org/details/upperiscope00whit/page/150/mode/2up?q=rebreather https://archive.org/details/upperiscope00whit/page/150/mode/... : > He liked the Aqua-Lung immediately. He found that it was much easier to control his depth than with the rebreather and there was no taste in the air he breathed. In any case, the story takes place in 1943 ("Other ships were rusting, burned-out hulks as a result of the Japanese sneak attack on that Sunday morning almost two years ago."), while 'The Aqua-Lung was invented in France during the winter of 1942–1943' (Wikipedia). The patent, in German-occupied France, was issued "some weeks later in 1943", so it's nominally possible that the idea could have made it to the US by the time the story takes place. However, Wikipedia adds that Cousteau coined the name Aqua-Lung to sell to English-speaking markets, which would mean post-D-day at the earliest, not 1943.
willcipriano 4y ago
I thought aqualung was a weird word Jethro Tull came up with: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqualung_(album) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqualung_(album)
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
jonwachob91 4y ago
>> And Aqua-Lung wasn't available until after WWII. Your on link says it was invented in winter 1942/43, WWII didn't end until September 45. That's plenty of time to train, equip, and utilize the technology in warfare. This article may not have been about Aquq-lung, but your book may have been accurate. "The Aqua-Lung was invented in France during the winter of 1942–1943 by two Frenchmen: the engineer Émile Gagnan and the Naval Lieutenant Jacques Cousteau."
- eesmith 4y ago
  My comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32080389 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32080389 gives more details. In short, it's therefore impossible for a US frogman in WWII to be using a term which wasn't coined until after the war ended. The CG45 regulator wasn't patented until 1945. It was "commercialized in France as of 1946, [and] was the first to actually be called the "Aqua-Lung"." Furthermore, the book starts a little under two years after Perl Harbor, i.e. 1943.

Spooky23 4y ago

That was a fun book. I remember I picked it up at a yard sale when I was on vacation around the same age. Thanks for the nostalgia. Too bad it wasn’t real.

ghostpepper 4y ago

I'm curious what you mean when you say it was not SCUBA? From your link: "Aqua-Lung[1] was the first open-circuit, self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (or "scuba") to achieve worldwide popularity and commercial success" Was there ever a brand called SCUBA? AquaLung still exists and is still a popular choice for diving regulators.

eesmith 4y ago
Sorry for the confusion. I meant to say that I thought it used the word SCUBA (and I thought it used it in caps).
eesmith 4y ago
Tying two threads together. This Atlas Obscura article mentions: > the OSS commandos pioneered lightweight and compact rebreathers, such as the Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambertsen_Amphibious_Respiratory_Unit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambertsen_Amphibious_Respirat... says: > The LARU is what the initials SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) originally meant; Lambertsen changed his invention's name to SCUBA in 1952;[2] but later "SCUBA", gradually changing to "scuba", came to mean (first in the USA) any self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Looks like the Navy wasn't interested in the LARU, while the OSS was. "Up Periscope" refers to both a rebreather (presumably LARU) and the open-circuit Aqua-Lung, which you can see at https://archive.org/details/upperiscope00whit/page/150/mode/2up?q=rebreather https://archive.org/details/upperiscope00whit/page/150/mode/... : > He liked the Aqua-Lung immediately. He found that it was much easier to control his depth than with the rebreather and there was no taste in the air he breathed. In any case, the story takes place in 1943 ("Other ships were rusting, burned-out hulks as a result of the Japanese sneak attack on that Sunday morning almost two years ago."), while 'The Aqua-Lung was invented in France during the winter of 1942–1943' (Wikipedia). The patent, in German-occupied France, was issued "some weeks later in 1943", so it's nominally possible that the idea could have made it to the US by the time the story takes place. However, Wikipedia adds that Cousteau coined the name Aqua-Lung to sell to English-speaking markets, which would mean post-D-day at the earliest, not 1943.

willcipriano 4y ago

I thought aqualung was a weird word Jethro Tull came up with: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqualung_(album) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqualung_(album)

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

jonwachob91 4y ago

>> And Aqua-Lung wasn't available until after WWII. Your on link says it was invented in winter 1942/43, WWII didn't end until September 45. That's plenty of time to train, equip, and utilize the technology in warfare. This article may not have been about Aquq-lung, but your book may have been accurate. "The Aqua-Lung was invented in France during the winter of 1942–1943 by two Frenchmen: the engineer Émile Gagnan and the Naval Lieutenant Jacques Cousteau."

eesmith 4y ago
My comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32080389 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32080389 gives more details. In short, it's therefore impossible for a US frogman in WWII to be using a term which wasn't coined until after the war ended. The CG45 regulator wasn't patented until 1945. It was "commercialized in France as of 1946, [and] was the first to actually be called the "Aqua-Lung"." Furthermore, the book starts a little under two years after Perl Harbor, i.e. 1943.