Customer Reviews

October Fury

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Peter Huchthausen provides an "I was there" account of the Crisis from alternating perspectives of U.S. Navy destroyer crews attempting to enforce a blockade of Cuba and Soviet submarine crews that unknowingly stumble into the largest antisubmarine warfare force ever assembled during the Cold War. In 1962 Huchthausen was a junior officer on the American destroyer USS Blanding which hunted the Soviet submarines and inspected Soviet freighters withdrawing from Cuba with ballistic missiles.

Other sources provide better overviews of the strategic and political aspects of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but the unique aspect of October Fury is the story, based on Huchthausen's interviews with former Soviet submarine officers, of what happens to four Foxtrot Class submarines when the USSR attempts to move them from their base near the Artic Circle to the port of Mariel in Cuba. The Foxtrot crews, unaware of the larger ongoing Soviet deployment of land-based ballistic and surface-to-air missiles, bombers and other forces to Cuba that will soon trigger the Crisis, depart the Kola Peninsula in early September 1962, with orders to make their way to Cuba while avoiding detection by American forces at all costs. As the submarines near the Bahamas in mid-October the U.S.-Soviet face off over Cuban-based nuclear weapons has commenced and the Foxtrots receive orders to cancel their voyage to Cuba and deploy instead to combat patrol stations in the Atlantic and Caribbean . The rest of the book details action over several days as the Soviet submarines vainly try to remain undetected while American destroyers and aircraft hound them mercilessly, trying to force them to surface and withdraw. There are several tense encounters between the Soviet submarines and their American tormenters that nearly result in actual combat.

Huchthausen's writing would benefit from more editing to eliminate wordiness and repetitions (we're told three times that a pre-Crisis American military exercise was called "Ortsac, which is Castro spelled backward") and some of the dialog wording sounds improbable. The one small-scale chart showing the area of ocean and islands where the destroyer-submarine confrontations take place is grossly inadequate to help readers follow vessel movements as each side jockeys for advantage. And the former destroyer officer should have asked a submariner to edit the descriptions of submarine operations to correct some terms and details.

Despite these shortcomings, I greatly enjoyed October Fury and recommend it to everyone interested in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cold War military topics, submarine adventure and signals intelligence (SIGINT). Huchthausen's depiction of the Soviets' ambitious intended military deployment in Cuba and the operations of the Soviet Navy and its submarine crews will fascinate Cold War buffs. Readers won't want to put down the dramatic, detailed, back and forth descriptions from submarine and destroyer crew perspectives as the Crisis builds up and fades away. This story has the potential to make a great movie. A Foxtrot submarine like those in this book is currently on display to the public in Seattle...

While most people know the basics about the threatening events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, I think this is the first book I've read to really unfold how close we actually came to nuclear war. These pages tell the gripping, yet frightening, encounter of US and Russian submarines in a the historic showdown at sea. The author brings this all-too-real Cold War story to life, re-creating the dramatic and harrowing events. Any lover of naval, military, or modern history should not miss this book.

I bought this book because I was offended by the hype on the dust cover, which presented it as another Kennedy Court History in which the Cuban Missile Crisis is made to sound even more scary than it really was. It was a pleasant surprise to read a balanced account of Soviet submarine operations during the Crisis, which refutes many of the exaggerated claims still being made about the possibility of unauthorized use of tactical nukes. We learn that Soviet nuclear torpedos were escorted by armed KGB officers who actually slept on top of the weapons, and the Rules of Engagement were so onerous that a sub would have to be actually sinking before one could be fired. Just to be safe, the sub crews were given no training on the nukes and were kept ignorant of their capabilities. This isn't too surprising when one considers that a military coup was always the secret nightmare of communist govenments. If the tactical nukes assigned to Soviet Army units in Cuba were under similar restrictions, it is hard to see how they could ever have been fired -- the nightmare scenario still being cited by Robert MacNamara to justify the Kennedys' secret treaty with Khrushchev.
Another revelation is the very poor mechanical performance of the Soviet subs which suffered an appalling series of engine breakdowns. From the limited details given in this book, it appears that many of these failures were due to mistakes by poorly trained engineering personnel. (Fatigue due to the intense tropical heat and humidity may be a factor also.) Since these subs had specially selected crews and were just out of refit, the mind boggles at what the average Soviet diesel boat must have been like in 1962. Had Khrushchev actually proceeded with his plan to base Golf-class missile subs permanently in Cuba, the result could only have been utter disaster. The more we learn about the Soviet side of the Missile Crisis, the more it looks like the most badly planned and implemented military operation of all time.

This book is a very detailed account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as told by both the Russian submariners tasked to get through to Cuba and the American destroyers bent on stopping them. In 1962, the decision was made to station both land based nuclear missiles and nuclear armed bomber, as well as SSB submarines armed with nuclear missiles in Cuba. The land based portion, dubbed Operation Anadyr, would use cargo ships to deploy the land based missiles, bomber and troops. The Naval operation, Kama, was to be initiated by four Soviet Project 641 Foxtrot diesel attack submarines, sailing from the Kola peninsula bound for Cuba. These would act as an advanced guard, to be followed by seven Project 629 Golf class balistic missile submarines, each carrying three nuclear tipped missiles. The plan was for these submarines to be based out of Cuba, where they could threaten the southern US. Just prior to departure, each of the Foxtrot submarines received, in addition to their normal torpedo loads, one 10 kiloton T-5 nuclear torpedo. Admiral Gorshkov's orders were "You will use these weapons if American forces attack you submerged or force your units to the surface and the attack...." The fate of the world was thereby placed in the hands of four Russian submarine commanders.

The book skillfully weaves the ensuing tale, alternating the Soviet submariner's stories with the American destroyer's ASW pursuits as the crisis progresses. A showdown in which USS Blandy drops small charges to force one of the submarines, B-130, to surface, leads to frustration for the submarine captain. He therefore orders loading and flooding, in preparation for firing, of the torpedo tube with the T-5 nuclear warhead. Fortunately, cooler heads prevail upon the captain to back down.

Although overall a good read, I had a few minor quibbles. The author uses interviews to reconstruct conversations, and the places them in quotes. In fact it is highly unlikely that those represent the actual words spoken, as quotes imply. He also has tow Russian attaches taking the train to Boston in order to observe the submarines at the New London sub base when the train stops in New London. In fact, Electric Boat is visible across the river, but the submarine base and piers are not at all visible from the train. The closest approach of the train is on the bridge over the Thames River, still some distance, with the sub base some 3 miles away.

Nonetheless, this book lends new insights into just how close the world really came to disaster during that alarming time in history. The author was on board one of the American destroyers, USS Blandy, assigned to the USS Essex task force group, and thus tells tale that from a first hand perspective.

Peter Huchthasuen has captured the magnitude and scope of the Soviet effort to establish a foothold in the backyard of the US, in Cuba, just 90 miles away. The introduction of nuclear armed missles and torpedos to the theater was indeed chilling. The author's unmatched access to the personal stories on both sides makes for absorbing reading.

"October Fury" is set against the Cuban Missile Crisis in the Fall of 1962. This was when the United States was supposedly "eyeball to eyeball" with the Soviet Union over Russian missiles in Cuba. Author Huchthausen was a crewmember of the USS "Blandy", which assisted the U.S. Naval blockade of that Caribbean island. He extensively interviewed sailors from both Russian and U.S. ships involved in the deployments. Readers will receive a definite grasp for the prevailing undertones in both navies. One lesson is crystal clear: The Russian Navy was a paper tiger, though few U.S. citizens were aware of that fact at the time. Russian subs were in poor mechanical shape and not ready for a protracted siege with a superior foe. Russian rules of engagement were so onerous that the firing of any shots was very unlikely. Actual command of vessels seemed divided between the skipper and the political officer aboard. In OF, Soviet commanders are portrayed as quite responsible, solid and capable naval professionals who cared for the welfare of their crews. They appear as the polar opposite of war mongers. Their true conflict appears to have been between they and their hidebound higher-ups back in Mother Russia. OF capably paints a small picture of that halcyon crisis which probably did not exist. The big geo-political picture has been portrayed elsewhere, perhaps by those driven to burnish President Kennedy's image for posterity. A popular viewpoint is that Premier Khrushchev of Russia dismantled the Cuban missiles when JFK secretly did the same to our weapons in eastern Turkey. (As a side note, this reviewer is still appalled by the rudeness and disrespect that Chief of Naval Operations Anderson showed Defense Secretary McNamara. That guy should have been sacked!). The 3 star rating above results from a reduction in rank due to the appalling (!) inadequacy of the so-called maps. Also, there is no glossary for the plethora of Navy slang. Who makes these decisions to omit? Why are are authors-or more likely, publishers-so remiss? Repair of these defects in future printings would elevate "October Fury" to a more deserving permanent rank of 5 stars. The foregoing is a virtual mirror review of this observer's thoughts on Mr. Huchthausen's "Shadow Voyage", which was plagued by the identical drawbacks. Potential readers are forewarned!

Finally, a wonderful account of the United States Navy in action during the Cuban missle crisis....... I was aboard the U.S.S. Lowry DD770 during this time, and the author caught the excitement of those times. It was the U.S.S. Lowry DD770 who identified one of the Russian subs and steamed side by side with her for three days attempting to make verbal contact with their crew. We played dixie land music. A band brought over from the U.S.S. Randolph. Several interpreters were also brought over in our attempts at contact, to no success.

How wonderful to read such an exciting story. Well done Mr. Huchthausen!

AN excellent book to read, I really enjoyed reading what the Russian sailors had to tolerate and I am glad that part of our history is over.
This book does a reasonably good job, in revisiting the Cuban crisis.
Most definitely not a Tom Clancy book, but a good read never the less.

It would have been a lot better had it also described what the enlisted personnel went through o both sides, as officers in both navies tend to think they actually run the ships. They pass the orders yes, run the ships how??.

No doubt though this book is a great read especially for its historical revelations.

To start with I purchased the book only because I was there and heard that the Russians subs carried nuclear weapons and wanted to find out how close it was to my not being here.After reading the book I find that the author made a serious misrepresentation in the book.I was on the USS Borie which he barely even mentioned only twice.He said that the Blandy brought the B-130 to the surface when in fact it was the Borie that first caught the sub on the surface and dogged the sub for some 14 hours until she surface on our starboard side approx 100 yards away.The sub was close enough were we could make out the the crew in the conning tower.In fact we were the ones that kept the sub contact with our VDS
(variable depth sonar).In fact the Blandy was on the opposite side of the circle we had around the sub.The Blandy never ever got close to the sub except possibly after we were re-assigned.Considering this gross misrepresentation I have doubts on the accuracy of anything else said in the book.I wanted to get hold of the author and take this up with him,but have found that he passed away in 2008.So I guess his account will have to stand.I suppose his description of the encounter was gleaned from the Log book of the Borie which was checked out by him and apparently never returned.

This is an excellent piece mainly dealing with the actions of four Soviet diesel submarines that were deployed offensively during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Their mission was to attack the US Navy operating around Cuba in the event that the Cold War turned hot, as seemed to possible, even probable, at the time. The key revelation in this book is the fact that the four Soviet submarines were armed with one nuclear torpedo apiece, and, incredibly, under certain circumstances the captains of these vessels had discretion to arm and use these torpedoes without direct orders from Moscow. In a very real sense each of the submarine captains had within his hands the ability to ignite a nuclear exchange. I had always known that Khruschev was a reckless employer of "brinksmanship" but the rules of engagement applicable to the use of these nuclear torpedos shows that the world was a safer place when Khruschev was deposed the following year. Fortunately, the four Soviet submarine captains proved to be more responsible men than was Khruschev.

The author served on the US Destroyer "Blandy" during the crisis, and this book counterpoises his actual experience in connection with hunting these four Soviet subs while serving on the Blandy, with what his research learned was going on aboard the Soviet submarines. The result is an effective telling of a key part of the most dangerous moment of the Cold War as seen from both sides. Recommended. RJB.