Review: "Tales of a cold war Submariner"

[wireman]

Okay here is the deal; this is not a book from the same bolt as "Iron coffins" but it is still an exciting read. It covers the cold war years when the advances in nuclear technology were first being used on subs to the massive ICBM launchers that hid in the oceans waiting for the call to exact a pound of flesh from an ill advised attack on America. The author, Dan Summitt, was too young for the second world war, but shortly thereafter he graduated from Annapolis and began his service with the navy. His first tour was with destroyers in the pacific. After his initial sea duty and some shore time, he volunteered for subs. His experience on subs began with hardly updated Fleet class boats, then to the "guppys", on to the first group of nuke attack subs, and finally finishing with the Polaris class. No naval memoir in that period can fail to mention the famous Hyman Rickover and therefore if the reader has not heard of him, he will now. Summitt worked for Rickover an does a diplomatic job on the experiences he had. For readers who are only interested in the regurgitation of numbers and dry facts then this book isn't for them. If, however, the reader is into a memoir that covers the transition from the submersible to the submarine then this is the book.The book is available in both hardcover and softback.

"Tales of a cold war Submariner"
Dan Summitt
Texas A&M University Press
ISBN 1585443603 hardcover
ISBN 1585444146 softcover

[Iron Budokan]

Sounds interesting. I may have to take a look at it....thanks for the tip!