Book Review...Submarine by Jonathon Crane

Well, that didn't take long to read! In taking my mind of things, a book is always a good start, but it has to be engrossing, and this one is. Those who read my review on Clancy's book of the same title will be interested to know that this book came out 8 years earlier and is more factual considering relaxing of security post-Cold War.

For those old enough to remember, and those who had any interest, this is the book to the BBC doco where we followed a few officers of the RN, Submarine Branch. This is fully RN unlike Clancy who was mostly USN with a touch of British.


The book opens with a visit to Warspite, an SSN and gives us a tour, and meet a few of the crew while she partakes in a NATO exercise. It goes through a lot of details that help you in the next section which covers Perisher, the RN's famous (or infamous) CO's course. This is the best part of the book, and has all the elements of good writing - heroes and villains, drama and suspense, and at time elation and despair. It is so well written it immediately took me back to the series wit fully vivid memories...now, where could I locate that again?

HMS Repulse - one of four British Polaris
Missile Boats

Following this it goes into the history of the submersible/submarine, and this is so comprehensive, I learnt more facts in this chapter on subs than I think I have in all sub books previously read. It chronicles way back in Alexander The Great through the Civil War, into WWI and WWI to the start of the nuclear age. The most fascinating parts were around the German use of the sub through the two World Wars; history I thought I was well versed in, however some new information had me floored.

The final part of the book takes us on board Repulse, a SSBN, or 'bomber' (boomer in USN). Being a Polaris Missile Boat, this section doesn't go too much into detail of it's intricacies of nuke boats, but has a good insight into the crew and the families they leave behind on eight week patrols. The figures of the food stowed on board are somewhat unbelievable.



Argentine Cruiser General Belgrano, sunk by RN
hunter-killer Conquerer during the Falklands War.

 All in all, this book is a superior insight compared to Clancy's without too much technical knowledge allowable due to the Cold War. It also has a fantastic array of photos and diagrams to give visual reference to what is being discussed, and helping out 'land lubbers' with terminology. I would recommend for sub enthusiasts, reading We Come Unseen by Jim Ring.

Book Review...Submarine by Tom Clancy

Well, I held high hopes for this book as I had read Patriot Games and watched Red October, and it started off very well going into the history of the submarine.
Then it took a tour of a Los Angeles class SSN USS Miami, which overly detailed was quite interesting. It took up the majority of the book, and a hint of what was to come showed in this section - his pro-American stance hinted that nothing, absolutely nothing, could match it. OK, fair enough, I guess he would know, although I am not aware he has ventured onto too many Russian subs. This was written in the early 90s after the Cold War, and it felt like a propaganda publication to ease the public and give them a sense that nuke subs were needed despite the fall of the former Soviet Bloc.
Then, and of more interest to me, he took us on a tour of a UK Trafalgar classSSN HMS Triumph, and this is where the book began to do my head in. Nothing on the UK sub, while he admitted was very good, was in the same field as American technology...excuse me Mr Clancy, but how many US subs have been in accidents versus British boats since the end of WWII? 28 to the British 8! Even the 'inferior' Russians have lost only 25 (source lostsubs.com). And the tour through this boat was like a 100m dash compared to the undulating cross country run on the US boat!
The next section provided hypothetical scenarios that SSNs could be used for, whether escorting Boomers, inserting SEALS into hot spots, to taking out aircraft and the famous Ivy Bells project. This was the most laughable tripe I have ever read...Goebbels himself would have been impressed with this pro-Yank carry on. Not a single scenario even gave enemy forces a chance in hell of locating, attacking, or god-forbid, sinking a Los Angeles sub. Absolutely shite...I finished the book barely halfway through this section disappointed.
The tour of the US sub is quite compelling reading, but that's where I would recommend ending the book unless you can handle Uncle Sam and home-made apple pie. I will be reading Carrier, another book in his series...of course, it is a US carrier.
2 out of 5, and that's more for the pictures.

Book Review...Red November by W. Craig Reed

In the vein of "Hunt for Red October",
a good non-fiction parallel.

In a new addition to my blog, I will post some reviews of books I have read...I try to read a book a week (sans Finch from "The Office" whether it be Asterix, history, bios, fiction or otherwise... my preference is towards historical references, especially covering the World Wars (esp. naval), music, sport, and humour. On the sidebar of my blog there is a link to www.librarything.com which is a Facebook for Bookworms and I do review some of the better (and worst) books there.

So, Red November is my most recent accomplishment. This is a great read that may have some artistic license to it, but that does not detract from the overall roller-coaster ride of the book, nor likely makes the story seem too fantastical. The involvement of the author (and his father) into submarine history helps lend some weight to this book.

From the early beginnings of ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) during WWII to The Cold War covert ops, this book does stray a little off the beaten track but drags you right back in with eyewitness accounts of those who served on US and Russian subs on their missions to have the ascendancy in nuclear destruction...and in some chapters (Cuban Missile Crisis, Ivy Bells) you just begin to realise how close the world was to coming to an end. The stories of the raising of a lost Russian sub, and the US obsession of photographing a Victor III 'pod' and it's consequence stand out for me.

This makes Clancey's "Hunt for Red October" seem so accurate, when even as a serving Officer of the Navy, I rubbished a lot of the 'facts' of the movie.

A must for any warfare boffin, or conspiracy theorist...but whether you have any knowledge into naval goings-on or not, this book will be an easy read as some of the terms and acronyms (the military is full of them!) do not have you wondering what the hell is going on.

I give this book a 4 out of 5.

Russian Project 641 ( NATO designation "Foxtrot") submarine - it is
amazing how close we came to world obliteration due to the actions of
four such vessels during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the '60s