non-fiction book about SSNs

06-12-11, 02:28 PM

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.

06-12-11, 02:28 PM	#2
Randomizer Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	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. Last edited by Randomizer; 06-12-11 at 03:13 PM.