About the Author:
Dr. Gary Weir, a leading expert on submarines, is Historian of Science and Technology at the U.S. Naval Historical Center, and Adjunct Professor of History, University of Maryland. He is author of several books including Building America's Submarines 1914-1940, a Naval Institute Notable Book of 1991. He lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Walter Boyne, former director of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, enlisted as a private in the United States Air Force in 1951 and retired in 1974 as a Colonel. His non-fiction books include The Smithsonian Book of Flight, The Leading Edge, Weapons of Desert Storm, and Boeing B-52: A Documentary History; his fiction includes The Wild Blue (with Steven Thompson), Trophy for Eagles, Eagles at War, and Air Force Eagles. He lives in Ashburn, Virginia. Dr. Gary Weir, a leading expert on submarines, is Historian of Science and Technology at the U.S. Naval Historical Center, and Adjunct Professor of History, University of Maryland. He is author of several books including Building America's Submarines 1914-1940, a Naval Institute Notable Book of 1991. He lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Walter Boyne, former director of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, enlisted as a private in the United States Air Force in 1951 and retired in 1974 as a Colonel. His non-fiction books include The Smithsonian Book of Flight, The Leading Edge, Weapons of Desert Storm, and Boeing B-52: A Documentary History; his fiction includes The Wild Blue (with Steven Thompson), Trophy for Eagles, Eagles at War, and Air Force Eagles. He lives in Ashburn, Virginia.
Review:
A superb account. -- Peter Huchthausen, author of October Fury
An important book. -- New York Times bestselling author, Larry Bond
Gripping. --New Scientist
Beginning with a descritpion of Stalin's vision about the post-war Soviet Navy and fulfilled with former Russian submariners' personal accounts, this book gives us a good deal of the submarine technology and the safety problems emerged throughout the Cold War era in the Soviet submarine fleet. It is quite clear that although the Soviet technology was quite comparable to the one in the West, the Soviet doctrine and bureaucracy held the submariners from performing at 100% of their true capabilities. Quite sad that it had to be a political, rather than a military matter the deployment of a new submarine type, a new technology or a new weapon. Most important was the fear of failure that existed in the ranks of every man in this service. From commanding officers to the very last enlisted person, they all had to cope with the rigidity of the Soviet state, apart from any other potential danger regarding weather conditions, poor material quality etc. The part where it is mentioned that some crew members did not reveal serious problems in a submarine, because of that rigidity and the fear of punishment, is quite frightening for all of us who happened to live the latest years of the Cold War era. Who knows what could have happened? As for the last chapter, describing the loss of the Kursk, well... I'm afraid that this mystery will remain unsolved... At least for a decade more, even though the authors present a bundle of evidence and personal accounts from truly experienced people in the Russian Navy (and many others). In cocnlusion, a truly nice book, easy to read and comprehend, and above all, a first hand account of the conditions inside a Russian nuclear submarine (both attack and ballistic). May those people's sacrifice be the last one, and may, through these pages, some other people understand and appreciate the wonder of life. --By Stelios
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