# Looking for good technical military naval fiction novels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2008, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-technical-military-naval-fiction-novels/474539 "2008-11-26T10:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NBYodo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9a28c/32.png) [@NBYodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NBYodo)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-technical-military-naval-fiction-novels/474539/1 "2008-11-26T10:31:00Z")
Hi all, I’m looking for some good technical military naval fiction novels, along the lines of David Poyer’s Dan Lenson series and John (J.) Gobbell’s Todd Ingram series. I’ve read Tom Clancy, Robin White, Joe Buff, a bit of Stephen Coonts, a bit of Dale Brown. Not bad, but a bit too superficial with the technical details and/or gritty details of naval ship operation. I find both Poyer and Gobbell convey the complexity of ship operation, and other stuff like how little sleep the crew gets. Not that I know actually how anything is; sounds realistic to me 😉 I’m looking for more along these lines. Has anyone read the Dark Pacific series from David E. Meadows? Is it any good? Anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks! NB ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-technical-military-naval-fiction-novels/474539/2 "2008-11-26T12:52:34Z")
I’m not familiar with the work of Poyer and Gobbell, buy if you like technical naval fiction, I’d recommend the ultimate classic submarine novel _Run Silent, Run Deep_, but distinguished submariner Capt. Edward L. Beach Jr. Its sequels _Dust on the Sea_ and _Cold is the Sea_ are quite good as well. If you’re interested in well plotted non-fiction as well, I also recommend Beach’s _Around the World Submerged: The Voyage of the Triton_, his account of taking the new nuclear submarine he commanded for a little shakedown cruise, the first undersea circumnavigation amidst the height of cold war tensions. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-technical-military-naval-fiction-novels/474539/3 "2008-11-26T15:48:12Z")
_Choosers of the Slain_ by James H. Cobb is a fun, generally plausible tale of a high-tech U.S. Navy destroyer in the near future. There have been some sequels, but they’re not quite as good. Maybe not technical enough for you, but _The Cruel Sea_ by Nicholas Monsarrat is a wonderful, deeply affecting book about a Royal Navy corvette on convoy duty during WW2. Anyone who loves naval fiction should read it - it’s a classic, and rightly so. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-technical-military-naval-fiction-novels/474539/4 "2008-11-28T06:23:53Z")
One of the newly great works of Naval history (with lots of tech & specs) is _Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors_. It’s non-fiction, but it flows through the whole story like fiction. A scrappy flotilla of Destroyer Escorters and Carrier Escorts off the Philippines in 1994 just happens to run into the largest Japanese fleet (at that point in the war). Burnination follows. But on the Japanese. The Battle of Samar was one of Naval histories great upsets, but is little known. It’s a cool book, and like I said, has lots of info on the different types of ships and tactics daily life of a Sailor, if you’re looking for something historical. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-technical-military-naval-fiction-novels/474539/5 "2008-11-28T14:20:48Z")
> [@Skylark](#): > > One of the newly great works of Naval history (with lots of tech & specs) is _Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors_. It’s non-fiction, but it flows through the whole story like fiction. A scrappy flotilla of Destroyer Escorters and Carrier Escorts off the Philippines in 1994 just happens to run into the largest Japanese fleet (at that point in the war). Burnination follows. But on the Japanese. The Battle of Samar was one of Naval histories great upsets, but is little known. It’s a cool book, and like I said, has lots of info on the different types of ships and tactics daily life of a Sailor, if you’re looking for something historical. Nitpick: 1944 was when Taffy 3’s famous stand took place. By 1994 the US Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force were on relatively friendly terms.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-technical-military-naval-fiction-novels/474539/6 "2008-11-28T22:05:30Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Nitpick: 1944 was when Taffy 3’s famous stand took place. By 1994 the US Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force were on relatively friendly terms.😃 :smack: