WASHINGTON, Dec 2: Edward Latimer Beach, who wrote the 1955 novel “Run Silent, Run Deep” about submarine warfare in the Pacific, died of cancer at his home in Washington on Sunday, a family statement said. He was 84.

The book, written while Beach was Naval Aide to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was made into a movie starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster which became a Hollywood classic.

Beach gradauted from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1939 and carried out 12 submarine patrols during the Second World War, receiving 10 decorations for gallantry in combat.

In 1960 Beach commanded the nuclear-powered submarine Triton in an 84-day circumnavigation of the world during which the vessel remained submerged at all times.—Reuters