non-fiction book about SSNs
 

Hey,

can anybody recommend me any book about SSNs, which is non-fictional? I do not mean history stuff (not that I'd not like such books, but have already read a bunch of them) but more insights about the life on a SSN and the engineering aspects.

For books about Soviet or Russian boat disasters that are rather technical and historical published in English see:

Hostile Waters by Peter Huchthausen, Igor Kurdin and Alan White.

Not to be confused with the appallingly bad made-for-TV movie supposedly based on it Hostile Waters details the sinking of the Soviet K-219, (Soviet Project 667 PLARK, NATO Yankee Class SSBN). The boat sank in 1986 with loss of life after a liquid fuel leak in one of its RSM-25 (NATO SS-N-6 Sawfly) caused an explosion in one of the missile silos. Lots of technical info, Igor Kurdin had been XO of K-219 before her last patrol and it contains many details of on board operations in a first generation SSBN.

Fire at Sea: The Tragedy of the Soviet Submarine Komsomolets by D.A. Romanov.

The sole Project 685 (NATO Mike Class), Komsomolets (K-278) was lost in the Norwegian Sea in 1989. Very technical, the author was one of the boat's designers. Reads like an air-accident investigation report. You can find a review here at SubSim:

http://www.subsim.com/books/book_fire_at_sea.htm

A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy by Robert Moore.

One should be wary of books proclaiming to be "The Untold Story of..." anything but Moore doesn't do too bad a job of disecting Russian fleet operations in the post-Soviet era. Of the three it is the least technical and the one that relies the most on non-Russian primary source material. For all that, it is readable and relatively free of hyperbole and logical contradictions.

Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of US and Soviet Submarines by Norman Polmar

U.S. Submarines Since 1945 - An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman

Submarine Design and Development by Norman Freeman

"Submarine" by Tom Clancy.

Mine even came with a beta version of that horrible video SSN video game with his name on it.

Yep. Good book I finish reading that few days back for the 2nd time.

Another good non fiction but mainly about the cold war is Blindmans bluff by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew. I don't know how accurate it is but I found it an enjoyable read.

Hostile Waters by Peter Huchthausen about the RUS Sub K-219.

I have just read the reviews @ amazon. Some claim that the facts presented in the book are not accuratly researched.

So, is this book still of value if you know already sth about SSNs or is it written for people who do not have any clue about post WWII subs?

Clancy as a talking head just demonstrates that he should have stuck to writing fiction. Submarine is OK if you like propaganda and superficial techno-babble.

Far better as a starter book on American nuke boats is Blind Man's Bluff by Sontag and Drew. Ned Beach's Around the World Submerged: The Voyage of the Triton serves as a good primer for the early days of the SSN if you can find a copy.

Tom Clancy's non fiction is to history what Reader's Digest is to literature but your mileage may vary.