I apologise in advance for the extraordinary vagueness of this question but I figure there can’t be that many books in the genre.
Basically a long time ago I read a review of a non-fiction book written from the perspective of a US submarine crew member (most likely an officer) basically detailing what its like to go on a typical multi-month duration tour.
It was written in the 1980’s at the earliest and something tells me its much more modern than that.
It looked really interesting and I had it booked marked but can’t find the link anymore.
Doubt this is it, but Big Red, is an account written by a journalist embedded aboard the U.S. Ohio class ballistic missile submarine, U.S.S Nebraska. It is an interesting account.
Probably not the one you’re looking for, but Blind Man’s Bluff is an excellent account of American submarine espionage during the Cold War. It includes a chapter on the tapping of a Soviet underwater telephone cable in the Sea of Okhotsk by the Halibut.
My father served on a sub in the early 50’s and has a connection to the Cochino (the first chapter in the book).
Actually I’m fairly sure that is it, although it seems to be getting very mixed reviews on that Amazon link which is concerning. Still for £1.50 for a second-hand copy (on the UK site) I’ll be ordering a copy.
That brings up something else, I’m somewhat wary of ordering books from sellers based in America from the UK Amazon website, it kind of seems too good to be true that they’re going so cheap and suspect hidden costs or a catch somewhere. Am I just being paranoid?
Nope, I’ve seen it in the Clearance section of my local half-priced books, so I’ve no doubt that’s what it probably goes for. IMHO, it’s worth it, for that. It’s pretty straight forward, and laudatory. If you’re expecting a critical analysis of the U.S. submarine force, you’ll be disappointed, but as a “what’s it like to sail in a steel pipe with 80 other men for 2 months?” travelogue, it’s pretty good.
I wonder what Doper robby thinks of it? (Wasn’t he a bubblehead?)
Adding on to other posts: I also recommend, as sco3tt and Bumbershoot do, the books: The Terrible Hours and Blind Man’s Bluff. Very good reads. I like As an addition, the book Das Boot was based on, (I think it was The Boat, but not sure.), is extremely good and well worth your time. Great read as to what it was like to sail in an iron coffin.
I’m trying to think of the memoir of one of Rickover’s butt boys, a guy John something or other who was in charge of many of the projects dealt with in Blind Man’s, and I can’t think of it. It’s not a bad book either.
I was disappointed in both The Terrible Hours and Big Red, due to the pedestrian style of the authors, but if you’re interested in subs they’re worth a read.
I devoured the WW2 sub books Submarine! by Ed Beach, Wahoo: <snip> and Clear the Bridge! by Dick O’Kane, Thunder Below! by Eugene Flukey, and Silent Victory by Clay Blair.
