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Below is a list of suggested readings by members of the SubCommittee:
Blind Man's Bluff (suggested by
Site Administrator
)
by Christopher Drew and Sherry Sontag
Those of us that have been interested in submarines but not cleared for classified information had always had some suspicions about what was going on "out there". News leaks and spy stories, little tidbits picked up here and there, made it clear that US submarines were doing really important but never to be discussed actions in the Cold War. Blind Man's Bluff tells some of those stories and leaves you in total awe of what American submariners have done. This book reads better than most action novels, with a drama and tension far beyond fiction.
Midget Submarines (suggested by
Site Administrator
)
by Paul Kemp
Midget submarines have always had a special fascination for many of us, myself included. Paul Kemp has brought together an excellent and fairly comprehensive study of this topic, well worth having. Both text and photographs will intrigue you and for the modelers, there are foldout plans for both the British X-Craft and the German Seehund midget subs. This is the most expensive book on the list, but if you share the interest in these brave boats, you have to have this one to read & study.
Of Ice and Steel (suggested by
Site Administrator
)
by D. Clayton Meadows
Coming Soon!
Visit http://4335h2t7.adminsites.com/index.html for details.
Operation Drumbeat (suggested by
Wiljan Bakers
)
by Michael Gannon
The dramatic true story of germany's first U-boat attacks along the american coast in world war II. It reads like a novel but it's not. ISBN 0-06-092088-2
Red Star Rogue (suggested by
Site Administrator
)
by Kenneth Sewell with Clint Richmond
Red Star Rogue
Author: Kenneth Sewell with Clint Richmond
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
273 pages plus references
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-6112-8
ISBN-10: 0-7432-6112-7
List: $25.00 USA $34.50 Canada
Reviewed by: George A. Snyder, SubCommittee member
During September of 2005 I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Kenneth Sewell, the author and submariner, at the introduction of his book at a Barnes & Nobel Booksellers store in Columbus, Ohio. During that time he officially introduced his book to the public. This book introduction and signing was attended by some members of the public as well as many ex Cold War submariners who would have had experiences similar to his. Ken is a Columbus, Ohio resident and chooses Columbus to introduce this very interesting and revealing book at this meeting.
While attending the meeting to purchase a book and have it signed I managed to meet and talk with Ken and many of the US Sub Vets in attendance. Perhaps their interest in me was caused by the nice SubCommittee golf shirt I was wearing. The group in general was as interested in meeting me and hearing about the scale sub hobby as I was in hearing about their exploits on the real boats. Our sharing of the hobby and real life brought instant comradeship and an invitation from them to join the US Sub Vets which I did as an associate member. My sponsor is Galin Brady, one of the sub vets that I sat next to and exchanged stories with.
The book may be ordered through the Columbus Base of the sub vets by going to www.columbusbase.com as the price will be less and I think they may not charge for shipping. Book information may be obtained at www.redstarrogue.com.
With all that said and done what is the book about? Red Star Rogue deals with the sinking of the Russian sub K-129 in the Pacific Ocean on the morning of March 7, 1968. This incident is probably best known to most of us as it relates to the USA clandestine mission run by the CIA, Navy and Howard Hughes to lift the sub with the Glomar Explorer recovery ship. You as well as I have been the recipients of many aspects of disinformation about the incident over the years since it occurred. Ken’s book provides information as close to the truth as we’ll ever get. Ultimately the story as portrayed by others in news releases, other print media and shows on TV pretty well confuse the facts either on purpose or because the authors and creators of those stories were also feed the wrong information. Ken mentioned that others over the years had thought about investigating the incident and writing the findings as he has. Those other people did not have the access or right political climate in which to execute their plans. Ken happened to have the right background and to be in the right place at the right time.
The conventional story of the incident sort of goes like this. A Russian ballistic missile sub on a “normal” deterrent cruise during the Cold War sort of strayed from its usual patrol box by a “little” bit and because of the build up of hydrogen gas during battery charging it suffered a catastrophic explosion and sank in the Pacific. Through some generally undisclosed and muddled means and explanation the sub was found by the US Navy and a US government decision was reached to retrieve parts if not all of it in one piece as it supposedly sat intact on the floor of the Pacific. After a tremendous but brief attempt the giant grappling claw broke while raising the sub and the sub vanished again into the depths of the ocean. We recovered nothing in the way of useful information and only six bodies of the crew which were ultimately shown being buried at sea.
The correct points of that version are that it was a Russian missile sub, it did blow up in 1968, it was in the Pacific, we did recover bodies and that is about as truthful as it gets according to Red Star Rogue.
The real story as far as can be made out is involved, complex, interesting and full of good surprises. The Russians had never forgiven the US Navy for the role it played in the Cuban Missile crisis when it forced numerous Russian subs to surface. As a result some people were looking for ways of getting even. Russia was effectively a country of divided control with power resting with the politicians and arm/navy while the KGB was a government unto itself. Power seemed to wax and wane between the two factions over the years. At some point in the ‘60s government and KGB people recognized that the country was going to go broke soon because of the many failed multi-year plans, the expense of the arms race and the lack of a productive economy. Something needed to be done.
Not only is the economic outlook very bleak but the government and KGB soon realize the Mao’s China was a loose cannon ball, had arms from Russian, had great social unrest. Mao openly spoke of being able to take a nuclear hit and survive what with the hugh land mass and great population. China became Russians number one enemy with the USA a close second. The problem was how to deal with economics and your enemies?
High level Russian politicians and KGB determined that if they could fake a Chinese nuclear attack on Pearl Harbor then the two enemies would duke it out with the USA probably knocking China back to the stone age and the USA becoming a mere shadow of itself with cities destroyed by war and the economy in ruins. Thus Russian eliminates the enemies and become a new social and economic power in the new world.
To accomplish this a Russian Golf sub similar to the ones the Chinese had was turned around quickly after a recent routine and untypical after a patrol. A group of eleven special forces osnaz/spetsnaz people, in addition to the regular crew, were placed with the crew of K-129 before she sailed on a not normal scheduled sailing making for one packed diesel sub. The sub followed typical operation procedures up to a point then it went silent for the Russians and continued on to a point NW of Hawaii. This point was carefully chosen because of the intersection of latitude and longitude lines that would help in positioning the sub (a typical Chinese procedure) to program the missile for the short flight to Pearl. The close in location would help in establishing that the sub was a Chinese one as they used short range missiles when compared to the same sub in the Russian navy.
It seems that the magnitude of the situation was never disclosed to the American public. Fortunately the number one missile went into fail safe and self destructed. Rather than the explosives, that surround the atomic war-head exploding in unison to cause a chain reaction, they blew apart and away separately spreading plutonium on the ocean into the oil slick that formed after the sinking. We should remember to thank Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson for sharing our self destruct technology as that is all that saved us from a nuclear Pearl Harbor.
The explosion of the regular explosives on the missile war-head caused a rupture of the missile fuel tanks instantly mixing the liquid propellant with sea water. This brew is extremely volatile causing a tremendous detonation blowing out the top of the sail and the bottom of the sub. The sub accelerated to nearly 60mph as it pitched over in a 30 degree final dive to the bottom where it broke in at least four major parts. The seafloor impact knocked the one Russian sailor off the sub and his body was found nearby. One might wonder what the sailor was doing in cold weather clothing gear outside while the rest of the crew members bodies were found inside in a few compartments over crowded.
Well, that’s about it for this review so that I don’t give the whole story away. Buy the book soon and read it carefully to learn about Henry Kissinger’s role, the University of Hawaii suddenly receiving many beneficial gifts, the thousands of photos, the actions of Walker our naval spy, the secret diary of a Russian submariner that was found on board and was the sub dropped from the recovery claw into the ocean as is so often portrayed or did something else happen?
Good reading and keep a level bubble.
George A. Snyder member and book reviewer
RCsubman@aol.com
Salt and Steel (suggested by
Site Administrator
)
by Edward Beach
No secret here, this is a sentimental favorite for me. Capt. Beach has been entertaining me with his books, both fiction and non-fiction, for forty years – so his own (sort of) autobiography, has to be high on this list. This is far from a conventionally structured autobiography; Ned Beach picks the topics he wants to talk about and also leaves things not on his agenda with little or no discussion. But the book will tell you about the man and the US Navy and the evolution of the submarine service over some of the most fascinating years of its history. Capt. Beach was not only a player in some of the most important parts of this history, he was also a thoughtful observer of what was happening – what he has to say in this book will make you wonder about and probably reconsider what you thought you understood about this part of submarine history.
Silent Steel (suggested by
Site Administrator
)
by Stephen Johnson
Kirkus Reviews
Dissecting one of the U.S. Navy's most tragic and perplexing losses and the nearly four decades of investigation that have followed. Journalist Johnson, who first wrote about the Scorpion for the Houston Chronicle, deals with this unsolved mystery by exhaustively exploring everything known about the vessel's final year-and-a-half of operation, culminating in its fatal dive in May 1968, about 450 miles southwest of the Azores Islands. The resultant aggregation of events specific to the Scorpion and its crew, coupled with known parallels in the annals of nuclear submarine technology, is a collection of hair-raising possibilities. So shrouded and silent was the Scorpion's disappearance-at the height of Cold War tensions, when the U.S. jockeyed with the U.S.S.R. for superiority at sea-that families and friends of the crew were awaiting its return dockside in Norfolk, Va., some five days, it turned out, after the vessel had been lost. The author spares no detail in linking some of the snafus occurring during various exercises aboard the Scorpion to distinctly fatal possibilities. Prime among them: weapons glitches, including a "hot run" malfunction in which a torpedo's engine started while it was still lodged in its firing tube and the inadvertent release of a dummy homing torpedo that, had it been live, could have returned to kill the sub (still favored by some speculators as the likely cause of Scorpion's loss). Other potential disasters, such as the flooding of a main storage battery with poisonous chlorine gas, can't be totally ruled out. Engrossing documentation of haunting, grisly what-ifs.
From Publishers Weekly
Johnson painstakingly details the last 18 months of the Cold War–era fast-attack nuclear submarine U.S.S. Scorpion, which disappeared with all hands on May 22, 1968, in the mid-Atlantic. Commissioned in 1960, the Scorpion tested nuclear sub warfare tactics in exercises around the world until its final voyage following four months of duty with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. When the ship didn't emerge at its homeport of Norfolk, Va., on its scheduled arrival date of May 27, 1968, the navy launched its largest search in U.S. naval history and reported the ship and its 99 crewmen officially dead on June 5. Four months later, the navy located pieces of the ship's hull in more than 10,000 feet of water. Further investigations came to no definitive conclusion about what caused the demise of the Scorpion. Was it a Soviet attack? Did one of the Scorpion's torpedoes accidentally detonate? Did its hull crack due to poor maintenance? Did its main storage battery explode? Mining navy documents and first-person testimony, Johnson's deeply researched effort explores these and other possible explanations, but concludes that the ship's end will remain an enigma. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
"The magnitude of the tragedy of the USS Scorpion is matched only by the depth of the mystery surrounding her loss. Stephen Johnson has done a remarkable job of shining new light on this dark moment in U.S. submarine history."- Sherry Sontag, co-author, Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
"Stephen Johnson has crafted a forensic masterpiece that leads the reader back through time to unravel the gnawing enigma of the tragic 1968 loss of the nuclear attack submarine USS Scorpion. Sifting through a maze of conflicting theories, he meticulously lays out a tale of undersea detectives searching for conclusive evidence to one of the most baffling mysteries of the cruel sea." -- Rear Admiral Thomas Evans, author, analyst specializing in submarine history and operations, and former officer on the Scorpion
"The manuscript arrived with yesterday's afternoon mail. I finished reading it by nightfall. It's that good! Thoroughly researched, impeccably documented, with an appealing and literate style, Silent Steel should become essential reading for submarine enthusiasts and for anyone else who enjoys an engaging and informative yarn." -A.J. Hill, author of Under Pressure:The Final Voyage Of Submarine S-Five
"What happened to the USS Scorpion" The question has vexed submariners for almost four decades. Now, with meticulous research and incredible attention to detail, Stephen Paul Johnson examines and dissects one of the most tragic and mysterious submarine accidents in U.S. Navy history." -Douglas Waller, author of Big Red: Inside the Secret World of a Trident Nuclear Submarine
"Silent Steel captures the intense mystery and trauma of the Scorpion sinking and explains the background leading to her loss in the words of many of her former crew and their families. The thoroughly researched story is a must read for all serious history buffs." -- Peter Huchthausen, author of October Fury, America's Splendid Little Wars, Shadow Voyage,and co-author of Hostile Waters
Sub vs. Sub (suggested by
Michael Winter
)
by Richard Compton-Hall
Covers tactics and technology of underwater warfare. Good descriptions of on-board systems, development and use.
Interesting scenarios that make you go 'Hmmmm'.
The Corvette Navy (suggested by
Steve McKenzie
)
by James B Lamb
True stories from Canada's Atlantic war and the little ships and her men who battled the wolf packs.
The Greatest Raid of All (suggested by
Steve McKenzie
)
by C.E.Lucas Phillips
The most daring and brilliant exploit of WWII was the raid on St. Nazaire in 1942. The story of teh 600 who put the Normandie dock out of action and prevented the German capital ships from braeking free in the North Atlantic. Amazing story that not even the movies can equal.
The Silent Service, Seawolf Class (suggested by
Pete Piekarski
)
by Riker
Fiction - The story follows the career path of a Navy Commander as he moves from command to command. Demoted to XO after politacal powers determine he screwed up his last command, he gets command of the U.S.S. Seawolf by default when the Captain gets seriously injured. His boat is the only thing standing between the Chinese retaking the islands of Taiwan and sinking a U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier in the China Sea. The story is peppered with geo-political intrigue, looks into the inner-workings of Naval command and the Pentagon, and coordinated espionage missions between Navy SEAL teams and the submarine service.
The Terrible Hours (suggested by
Site Administrator
)
by Peter Mass
Like Blind Man's Bluff, this is the unusual non-fiction submarine book that made it to the New York Times Best Sellers list during the year. This is the story, told again, of the sinking and incredible rescue of the submarine SQUALUS in 1939 off the New England coast. Maas focuses his story on the character and role of Commander "Swede" Momson, the Navy's leading submarine rescue expert of that time. Maas tells the story well, notwithstanding that this is a revisiting for him of the same topic that he explored in his ___ book, The Rescuer. It is an important and sobering perspective that the SQUALUS rescue was and remains the most successful rescue of men from a sunken submarine ever – every other accident has left more bodies (or a larger proportion of the total crew) behind for the sea.
The Type XXI U-Boat (suggested by
Steve McKenzie
)
by Fritz Kohl & Eberhard Rossler
From the Anatomy of the Ship series the definitive book on the Electroboat.
Undersea Warriors: Submarines of The World (suggested by
Michael Winter
)
by Captain Ernest Louis Schwab, USN (RET.)
A good history of submarine development past and present.
Excellent drawings, and a host of photographs of subs from all over the world. An excellent reference book.
Union and Confederate SUBMARINE WARFARE in the Civil War (suggested by
George Protchenko
)
by Mark K. Ragan
This has to be the most comprehensive book ever written on the topic. Mr Ragan has done exhaustive research among letters, reports, diaries, telegrams, factory records, and log books to bring to light the unbelievable number of submarines fielded by both sides during the Civil War. Complete with photos, diagrams and illustrations, it is a must read for submarine history buffs!
USS COD Photo Museum Guide (suggested by
Site Administrator
)
by Oxford Museum Press
This is a small booklet, the cheapest book on this list, but a jewel of a collection of photographs of a GATO class submarine in excellent condition. This is a key reference book for any Fleet Boat modeler – second only to the Floating Drydock Plan Book.
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