The Submarine: A History

A detailed look at one of mankind's most powerful - and vulnerable - weapons, from the Turtle built during the Revolutionary War to the sinking of the Kursk in 2000. With a loving look on the history of the engineering challenges presented by submersibles, and a particular focus on key battles, sinkings, and captains, this is an extremely comprehensive history that can almost be used as a reference for students of war machines. Weighing in at over 500 pages, this may not be appropriate for bedtime reading, if only for the sheer weight of the book. Fascinating and extraordinarily detailed, this is a book well worth reading.

This is a comprehensive overview of the submarine from it's earliest development to it's last iteration. The book does a particularly good job on WWII and WWI because one of its narrative threads is about how the submarine, which came to dominate military strategy in the Cold War, was not at all appreciated for it's usefulness until quite late. It's not a chip on the shoulder type book but the lack of appreciation is there throughout.
There are some wonderful sections. I didn't know for instance about what a maniac Rickover, the father of the modern nuclear sub, was and will have to read more. The ancedotal stories are terrific.
My father was a lieutenant on two submarines during the WWII and one was Gato class, what the book did not do show more was explain the workings on a sub which is what I am interested in learning about. But that aside I think this is fairly definitive and has at least pointed me to new areas of research. The final about the eternal patrol was quite moving. show less