Though he disapproved of Hollywood's rendition of the story in a movie starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster, the veteran of more than 30 years in the U.S. Navy still is most widely known for his best-selling 1955 novel, Run Silent, Run Deep . Naval historians count him both as a peer and as a topic of their own research. In his distinguished naval career, most notably in submarines, he earned the Navy Cross, set a speed and endurance record that still stands with the first submerged circumnavigation of the earth (he captioned the photo above left "'Bulldog Beach' at the periscope"), and served as naval aide to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He is the author of many highly acclaimed books (the most recent written in his office, above right), several published by the Naval Institute Press. His latest project is the newly released From Annapolis to Scapa Flow , the edited and annotated autobiography of his father, Edward L. Beach Sr. He spoke in November with Naval History Editor Fred L. Schultz at his home in Washington, D.C. Captain Beach died on 1 December 2002.
