Big Red: Three Months On Board a Trident Nuclear Submarine [Hardcover]

Douglas C. Waller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2001

The Trident submarine is one of the most remarkable feats of engineering in human history: a sleek metal tube powered by a nuclear reactor, breathtakingly silent, yet strong enough to resist intense pressure deep under the surface of the ocean. But the human experience inside-as crews spend months crammed together beneath the sea, manning 24 nuclear-tipped missiles, and always listening for the stealthy enemy - is even more remarkable. For Big Red, veteran Time correspondent Douglas C. Waller was granted unprecedented access by the Navy to take readers inside this silent, secretive world. Here is the gripping story of a three-month cruise on the U.S.S. Nebraska: the rituals of the closed society of submariners, the top-secret plans for a nuclear holocaust, the elaborate fail-safe mechanisms, and the extraordinary security measures designed to protect the world's deadliest weapons - even from the men who handle them. Even in the post-Cold War world, America's defences ultimately rest on these men and their vessel; Waller's account brings both vividly to life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Big Red might have been subtitled The Anthropology of a Submarine. On these pages, Time magazine correspondent Douglas C. Waller--granted surprising levels of access by the Pentagon--describes life onboard the USS Nebraska, a Trident nuclear submarine, in compelling detail. Big Red lacks the thrills of Blind Man's Bluff, but it is nonetheless an engrossing book on the routines of the silent service.

The Nebraska is an awesome triumph of military engineering: standing on end, it would be taller than the Washington Monument. And its might is impressive, including missiles that could wipe out Moscow and torpedoes "with three times the explosive power of the 1995 blast that leveled the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City." Readers will gain an intimate understanding of how the Trident works without ever having to set foot on one themselves. Waller has an uncanny sense of what questions to probe, such as why Trident submariners aren't likely to drown in claustrophobic compartments--a staple scene in submarine movies. (Answer: Flooding would cause the sub to sink, and then crushing water pressure would end the ordeal before the air ran out.) And yet movies are more than diversions, writes Waller: "Practically every Trident submariner had seen Crimson Tide and been jarred by it.... Officers still discuss Crimson Tide during private seminars on commanding a ship."

Waller also displays a powerful sense of irony. He describes a Sunday service onboard the Nebraska, and then deadpans, "Their worship over, [the submariners] would now practice how to destroy much of what God created." He also isn't afraid to ask difficult questions, such as whether women and gays should be allowed onboard (currently, neither are), or to note that marital fidelity is a problem for both husbands at port call and the wives they leave back home. It would be wrong to say Big Red reads like a potboiler--there are no Crimson Tide-like moments of near launches or mutiny--but it is exciting in its own way. This is at once an impressive journalistic achievement and an incredibly informative book. --John J. Miller

From Publishers Weekly

The first reporter granted an extended stay aboard a Trident nuclear sub (which has 24 multiple-tipped missiles as its strike force), veteran Time diplomatic correspondent Waller (The Commandos; etc.) brings the reader into the exclusive submariners' club as he details USS Nebraska's weapons, propulsion, communications and on-board electronic gadgets--as well as the lives and careers of the crew. Most of the book focuses on a patrol that began in May 1999, when the "Blue Crew" boarded the USS Nebraska and headed to sea. Everyday events ensue: a near-collision with a buoy, a seaman with an attack of appendicitis, simulated war games with other subs and planes, along with drills designed to keep the crew sharp and test its mettle. Waller closely examines the elaborate safeguards against a spurious nuclear launch, and, less gravely, delves into the sub's relentlessly miniaturized kitchen and meal preparation. Less action-oriented readers will be engrossed by the backstories of the men who pilot her and the intricacies of their interactions with each other in such close quarters. Captain Dave Volonino comes off as a formidable, fiercely and generously intelligent figure, while the 106 officers and seamen interviewed over the three months by Waller show remarkable depth of character. While the sub only "pretend[s] to go to nuclear war," Waller perfectly dramatizes the perils even a routine steer through Connecticut waters can bring and the second-by-second adjustments captain and crew must make. 16-page photo insert not seen by PW. (Mar. 10)Forecast: While many readers won't recognize Waller's name, the idea of three months on a Trident will appeal to (male) readers of all stripes. But the lack of a broadly compelling story beyond the unprecedented access will keep this meticulous chronicle from Red October-like numbers.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1ST edition (March 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060194847
• ISBN-13: 978-0060194840
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,302,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but disappointing, March 18, 2001

By 

James D. Lyons (Bremerton, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Red: Three Months On Board a Trident Nuclear Submarine (Hardcover)

As a former submariner and SSBN crewman, I was greatly looking forward to this book. I've long hoped for a book that I could hand to friends and family, one that would serve to explain to them what the life was like.

And I was vastly disapointed in 'Big Red'.

It's glaringly obvious that the author did not in fact spend 'three months onboard a Trident submarine'. In fact, it appears the book was assembled only from interviews, with no first hand experience at all. The book only covers a week or so of refresher training. It barely mentions refit, and does not cover the off-crew portion of the cycle at all. The actual patrol period itself is covered in only forty pages (out three hundred plus) at the end of the book. (And the bulk of those are given over to Halfway Night and the transit to NSB Kings Bay.) If this book was written to cover an airline flight from Los Angeles to New York, it would begin with pushing the throttles forward at the end of the runway of the Los Angeles Airport, and end with the planes wheels leaving the ground.

The book is filled with numerous minor technical errors. In referring to the DPER, the author gravely informs us that it is named 'deeper'. DPER is an acronym that is pronounced 'deeper'. On several occasions he mistakenly refers to the Nebraska's sail as a 'conning tower'. When the CO issues the order to 'warm the main engines', the author goes off into a two paragraph description of the power plant, but leaves off the final two sentences that would actually explain what the order meant. A complete list of the errors would stretch to almost the same length of the book, while correcting them would increase the length of the book hardly at all.

Annoyingly, this book continues the all too common pattern of largely ignoring the enlisted crewmen in favor of concentrating on the CO and a few officers. In a segment of the book dealing with repairing a simulated failure, two paragraphs are devoted to depicting the Engineer rushing forward and discussing the problem and it's solution with the CO. The crewmembers who actually performed the troubleshooting, and who would do the work of the repair are dismissed in two sentences. Such writing does a vast disservice to the teamwork that is a submarine crew. Historically enlisted crewmen are partners with the officers onboard a submarine, and this book fails to illuminate that relationship.

Lastly and most disappointingly this book utterly lacks any sense of history, proportion, or Naval and Submarine force traditions. The reader of this book could easily be forgiven for believing that the USS Nebraska is the only submarine in the fleet, the author completely fails to connect events and objects onboard the submarine with history or the rest of the fleet. During a man overboard drill, the author informs us that the crew of the Nebraska have nicknamed the dummy 'Oscar'. He fails to mention that this nickname is Naval tradition of long standing. During 'angles and dangles' the author informs us of why the CO intends to perform this drill. He does not mention that the 'angles and dangles' drill is a standard one in the submarine service dating back decades. Along with the technical errors in this book, I don't believe that the manuscript was ever read or commented on by a knowledgeable, unbiased observer.

'Big Red' is worth reading for the content it does have, but the reader should be aware of what was left out as well.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A shallow account, May 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Big Red: Three Months On Board a Trident Nuclear Submarine (Hardcover)

I spent many years on Trident SSBN Submarines and went through nearly every evolution that one can do including new construction, refit, torpedo and missile launches, patrols and 'unique' operations. I found Mr Waller's book to be lacking in depth, access, and in many cases, technically inaccurate. I found his generalizations and stereotypes of the crew, enlisted and officer alike to be bordering on the offensive. While it may be a lively read for a civilian, it serves as only an introductory course to life undersea. It is quite obvious that Mr Waller did not spend 90 days underwater on the Nebraska as his story consists mainly of anecdotal evidence, much experienced secondhand and only includes any amount of depth in the first brief portion of a patrol upon which 'riders' like himself would normally be part of. A full SSBN patrol is a physical, emotional and pyschological endurance marathon that is unlike any other experience. I would recommend this book to people unfamiliar with the submarine service for it does provide entertainment and insight. I would not however recommend this as a factual account that accurately reflected the experiences of life on patrol.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Something Seems Amiss, April 25, 2001

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Big Red: Three Months On Board a Trident Nuclear Submarine (Hardcover)

I believe one of the most extraordinary accomplishments of the Author, Mr. Douglas C. Waller, is his gaining permission to spend the length of time that he did on a Trident. However based on my reading I would not bet heavily on how much of the entire cruise he actually spent on the ship. The book does not read as though he was onboard for the entire cruise. I thought there were far too few details about what he experienced that would seem to be essential to communicating to other civilians what life on board The Nebraska is like. Where did he sleep for 3 months, how was he affected mentally/emotionally by the strain that even the most experienced of the crew endure every time they go out? I rarely felt as though I was reading an eyewitness account. This book seems to hit some highlights, reviews some major events very briefly (like the refit), and just does not read, as a first person account should. I suppose it's possible the Navy restricted what he was allowed to divulge, as he certainly cannot have the security clearances the crew requires, but definitive time he spent on the boat would not seem to qualify as a secret.

This is not like the books and movies, "Red October, and Crimson Tide", however a good deal of dialogue during a missile firing simulation lent credibility to the latter of the two movies I mentioned. This is fairly dry reading unless you choose to really read about what this 1.8 Billion dollar weapon is capable of, the complexity that is almost beyond comprehension, and the fact that this ship that would stretch higher than The Washington Monument is crewed by only 162 men with an average age of 27. The age may seem surprisingly low, but after you meet members of the crew, I did not find one who did not appear very highly capable despite their sometimes-young age.

There were some issues I enjoyed reading about and whether they were or were not possible and why. And even if theoretically possible why the likelihood of their happening is essentially zero. Can a captain fire missiles without the concurrence of The President? How many people must actively participate in a launch that is sanctioned, how do those who do so feel about what they may someday be required to do? Is it in fact possible for a ship to be without the ability to communicate with Washington? And finally when the seemingly endless steps that are required to authenticate and prepare for a launch are complete, what discretion does the Captain have if he has any at all?

The discussion on gay males serving aboard the ship was the most intelligent I have read. Politicians who know less about Submarine life than they do about most other topics they make decisions about also were not spouting it. The same can also be said as to the validity and the practicality of women serving on a Nuclear Submarine. Neither issue is without their problems, however to read intelligent solutions as opposed to moronic declarations from Politicians on photo opportunities was a pleasant change.

The passage in the book that is the most riveting is the simulated missile launch. If you can imagine the launch preparations as real, and imagine what is going on with the people participating, or perhaps how you might feel, this book is as intense as any imagined novel.

A good book for those who want to know more, but perhaps do not know better. This is a light treatment of what goes on at times, not a diary of a three-month voyage.