Crash Dive: True Stories of Submarine Combat [Hardcover]

Larry Bond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2010

They are the ultimate unseen deterrent in modern warfare.  Thousands of tons of steel, missiles, torpedoes, and men, lurking silently hundreds of feet underwater, able to lie off any coastline and unleash a devastating hail of destruction with pinpoint accuracy.  They are the true masters of the oceans, bringing hostile military sea traffic to a standstill, striking swift and unseen, and slipping away in an instant, ready to do it all over again at a moment’s notice.

Edited by best-selling author Larry Bond, Crash Dive collects the best non-fiction excerpts about the mighty submarines and the crews that man them.  From the tough Gato-class boats that harassed the Japanese Navy during World War II to the cat-and-mouse games played by U.S. and Soviet submarines during the Cold War, Crash Dive will take you inside the silent but deadly world of the military submarine.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Former naval officer and best-selling thriller writer Bond offers a smorgasbord of excerpts from published narratives of submarine warfare. They range from the opening stages of WWII (“First Blood,” about the Asiatic Fleet sub S-39) to “Improving the Breed” (Russian submarines successfully challenging NATO antisubmarine forces). In between are American, German, and British submarines sinking ships (at least once, a friendly one) and rescuing POWs in WWII. Here, too, are Nautilus’ trail-blazing voyage under the North Pole, the disastrous voyage of the Soviet K-219, and intelligence missions in the deep Pacific. In short, a feast for submarine buffs. Sizable naval collections may already own many of the better-known volumes Bond excerpts, and to those this anthology may serve as a tantalizing introduction. --Roland Green

Review

“Nobody alive knows more about submarines and submarine tactics than Larry Bond, the designer of Harpoon.  In addition, he’s one hell of a writer, which he proves once again in Cold Choices.”
—Stephen Coonts, New York Times bestselling author of The Assassin

“Larry Bond’s new submarine thriller, Cold Choices, sends The Hunt for Red October, Das Boot, and Run Silent, Run Deep straight to the bottom of the sea!  A nuclear fireball of a thriller!”
—Douglas Preston, New York Times bestselling author of Blasphemy

“Forget everything you’ve ever heard about submarine novels!  The sub battles in Cold Choices will have you biting your nails, shaking in your shoes and gasping for breath.  The King of the 21st Century Sub Thrillers is back.”
—David Hagberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Expediter

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (April 13, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765303132
• ISBN-13: 978-0765303134
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,084,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but very one-sided history, August 15, 2010

By 

M. Rosen (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crash Dive: True Stories of Submarine Combat (Hardcover)

I bought this book hoping to get first-person accounts of submarine warfare from a variety of sources. I got half that. Plenty of sub warfare and espionage stories, virtually all from U.S. or Royal Navy history. The only exceptions were the story of the Russian ICBM sub K-219 which suffered an accident while on station that killed several crewmen and nearly caused a reactor meltdown. The other is an dry essay on the Cold War Russian sub fleet by two American writers. There is plentiful information about the sinking of Japanese subs by U.S. Navy crews, and some mention of the German U-Boats. There are no chapters dedicated to the story of crews from either of the Axis forces, despite the fact that the German navy consisted almost entirely of submarines during the war, and the Japanese fielded a sizable and effective sub force as well. I know Larry Bond belongs to the same super-patriot gang of writers such as Tom Clancy and Stephen Coonts, but still, the "bad guy's" subs were used very effectively during the war (until overwhelmed by Allied resources) and it would have been interesting to read about their very different perspective on the events of World War II. If you're new to the world of sub warfare, there is a lot to be learned about the subject in this book. It's just that you'll only learn how we did it, and how much better we are at it than anyone else.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for submarine lovers, August 5, 2011

By 

Mauro Taschner - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crash Dive: True Stories of Submarine Combat (Hardcover)

This is a very good compilation of many reports on military submarines operations, in and out of war.
For those who are interested in knowing about submariners' lives it's a must.
Mauro Taschner

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heros of the Deep, May 5, 2010

By 

W. Bentrim (Bucks County, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crash Dive: True Stories of Submarine Combat (Hardcover)

Crash Dive by Larry Bond

This is a collection of short stories about submarine warfare. The stories were, for the most part, penned by the men who lived them. The statistics showing the loss of boats and lives were daunting. The stories show the character and courage of the sailors that were courageous enough to fight our countries enemies from beneath the sea.

I didn't know that submariners were all volunteers nor did I realize how much submarine action took place on the surface of the sea rather then beneath the waves. I toured a WWII submarine one time. I'm over 6 feet tall and I know I would never have survived in a sub. Between cracking my head and my shins I felt lucky to survive a walking tour let alone a cruise in war time. The people that staff submarines are a special breed. They are better educated and more accomplished than the rest of the navy. They may be working on a nuclear reactor or peeling potatoes but they do it underneath the waves. If a ship springs a leak there is a high likelihood that no one will be injured. If a sub springs a leak while submerged there is a high likelihood no one will survive. T

These stories are illustrative of the finer attributes of the warriors willing to put their life on the line for their country.

I recommend the book.