Customer Reviews

Rising Tide: The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines that Fought the Cold War

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I picked up this book having read many books on submarines and submarine warfare, in addition to many Cold-War histories. The end result from having read this book was that I came out wanting more information, since if one looked at the book on the outside, one would expect a bit more than was delivered.

With 304 pages offered, I had hoped for most of that to be centered upon the experiences of the Soviet submarine fleet as it grew into a force that caused the West no shortage of concern. However, the amount of material on the Soviet submarine service was understandably limited, and depended heavily upon only a few people who had significant experience at the end of the Cold War, as opposed to the beginning and turbulent middle. What seemed like the last third comes in the form of an unusually informative analysis of Soviet naval doctrine as seen by Admiral Gorshkov, and a primer on the many individual sumarine varieties that were fielded by the Soviets during the Cold War.

There were a few semi-lengthy stories about specific incidents, but it repeated what can be found in many other books, including the far more revealing Blind Man's Bluff. It did not have the detail about the daily lives of the crew and challenges such as was found aboard U.S. subs in Big Red. It did have some discussion on the poor construction of the boats and the political interests outweighing sound employment of these critical naval assets, but it didn't dwell too long there.

The value of this book is that is one of very few references on the Soviet submarine service, but it is not authoritative enough that it can be consulted often. Still, it does add to the growing list of available sources on the "other side" of the Cold War, and thus sheds just a little more insight.

When I first started on the book I found that it captured my interest right away. The authors had a confidence that came through in the writing that made you believe everything they were saying. The book attempts to tell the story of the Soviet Unions submarine fleet from its start pre World War Two through the cold war. In order to do this they used both written works and a number of interviews with former sailors that where there when the action was going on. For the most part they cover the interesting events like crashes or major exercises or events. They spend time on the Cuban missile crises that provided me with some interesting and before unknown details about what the Soviets were doing with their subs during the event.

The problem I had with the book is that that the authors did not good a very good job of covering any aspect of the book. They almost did not touch on the life of a navy man in the USSR or how they got into the subs. They also did a poor job at covering in any detail USSR verses USA cold war action. The events that they covered the most outside of the Cuban missile crises had a distinct USA tint to the reporting. The details of the crashes was not in any sort of order, it seemed like they threw them in here and there. Plus the detail of the crashes was somewhat lacking. They did not do any of the events justice. The book ends with a review of the Krusk event and again they did report some interesting info from the Russian side, but it was diminished by the overall skimming of the story.

Overall I thought the book was just average. The writing was good and the authors come across like they know what they are talking about. A number of the stories are interesting, it is just that as a full history it is lacking. I do given them a little slack, given the USSR / Russia's view toward public viewing of military information, the authors probably did the best they could at times. The disappointing thing for me is that I have read other books on some of the events covered in this book and a lot of the missed detail in this book is in the public arena.

Rising Tide is a fairly decent book about the activites of the Soviets during the Cold War, sort of a "Blind Man's Bluff" from the other side. The author undoubtedly had a significantly more difficult time researching this subject, due in part of continuted secrecy of the Red Navy, the overall breakdown of the Soviet/Russian navy, and the sources which he used (which were primarily oral histories from those Soviet Sailors involved.) In spite of these limitations, the book does provide a fairly interesting insight as to how the Soviet submariners viewed the cold war.

However, there are several shortcomings that stand out. First, the organization of the book, at times is appaling. in the first few chapters of the book, the authors often try to make the book more interesting by telling some historical anecdote that distracts from the overall theme of the chapter. For example, the retelling the story of the accident on K-19 falls in the "Uncertain Nuclear Begginning" but probably would have been better off in "Death in Depts" chapter. Furthermore, the author tries to fill in space by providing American and German histories and achievements as comparisons. Unfortunately, many of these histories take way too much time and detract from the Soviet theme of book. Many of these anecdotes easily could have been reorganized and placed into different chapters to give the book a better flow.

Additionally, while the stories from the submariners are interesting, the book offers little of the technical history behind the creation of the submarines and the nuclear reactors. I was left wondering if the Soviets had their own version of a Admiral Rickover besides Gorshkov, or how did the American react to abilities of certain Russian subs (particularly the Alfa, which the author stated could run at 45 knots and dive to almost 3,000 feet) Other than the actual accidents that happened at sea, you get little of the technical problems that went into submarine design and building from the Soviet standpoint.

Finally, one of my disappointments with the book was the lackof information contained within the two appendix. The first appendix contains a commentary on Admiral Gorshkov's history of the Soviet Navy, but never provides a substantial piece of the original text for the reader to get a sense of Gorshkov's views. The author blasts Gorshkov's revisionist history of how the US NAvy took down the Japanese in WWII, but we never get Gorshkov's own words to make a independant analysis. Providing at least some of the orignal Gorshkov text would have been appropriate. The second appendix provides a comparison of Soviet and American subs thoroughout the cold war. While the information and brief synopsis of each sub is interesting, the list is no where near complete. (The author talks at length about the Alfa sub, yet provides no technical information in the appendix.)

Unlike many of the recent books about cold war submarines, this one isn't a gripping read. Books like "Blind mans bluff", "October Fury", "The Silent War", "Dark Waters", etc. have pretty much all been excellent. This one never seems to get exciting. Much of the book is devoted to non-Soviet topics (e.g.: a long introduction of the history of submarines and the German U-Boats), or non-Submarine topics (e.g. the very long appendix one which is a "cliffs notes" style commentary on Admiral Gorshkovs view of world Naval history and Russias place in it.)

Much of the book features stories already detailed in other books, so if you've read some or all of the books I listed above you've already covered a lot of the book.

I was particularly disappointed that the book failed to get into any sort of techinal detail. I saw a TV show with interviews of Soviet sub commanders who talked at length about the problems with the nuclear reactors etc. I was hoping for details about that sort of thing -- e.g. the twin hulls of the typhoon subs, or the methods used to manufacture the alfa's titanium hull, etc. This book pretty much avoided technical details beyond simple explanations like 'engine trouble'.

It's not a _bad_ book, it's just not a _great_ book. A lot of the recent books in the genre have been really good and this one disappointed.

The biggest problem is that just as something might start to get exciting the story ends and switches to a different story. The "Wet Blanket Effect". Instead of a book that is hard to put down, it turned into a "must read to get my $26 worth out of it".

There have been quite a few books in recent years based upon first-person accounts of submarine operations during the Cold War. These include several books by retired US Navy Captain Peter Huchthausen (Hostile Waters, October Fury, K-19), several books on the Kursk (A Time to Die is excellent), and Dark Waters, on the NR-1 research submarine. Of course the book that kicked it all off is the excellent Blind Man's Bluff. One thing to keep in mind for all of these books is that for the most part they are based upon interviews, not documents, which are still classified. The problem with writing history based upon interviews is that people remember things the way that they want to remember them, not necessarily the way that they really happened. And memories can fail. So these books are not truly history, but memoirs.

Rising Tide was written by Gary Weir and Walter J. Boyne. Weir is a professional historian for the US Navy and has written about the SOSUS underwater listening array. Boyne is a professional aviation writer, and I suspect that Weir did most of the research and writing and Boyne may have polished it up.

Despite the fact that Weir is a historian, not a journalist or retired naval officer, the book is not as historically grounded or researched as I would have preferred. It is based primarily on interviews and I found the footnotes to be superficial. While this will not bother most readers, I find that it makes it much harder to look for further information on things mentioned in the books, and it makes it harder to totally trust the information that is provided. We have no way to confirm the stories in the book. (More on this in a moment.)

Rising Tide starts out a little slower than some of Huchthausen's books, and initially re-covers much of the same territory--the plight of the K-19, Soviet submarine operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a succession of submarine accidents. One problem with all of these books is that because they are often filled with "thrilling stories of the sea" rather than recounts of exactly what the submarines accomplished, it starts to seem as if submarine operations were nothing but daring adventures and near-fatal accidents, rather than military missions that served a clear purpose. The US Navy's submarine service likes to brag that it never suffers accidents, but when one picks up these books it looks like submarines were in constant danger of sinking. Clearly this form of storytelling can leave a false impression of what really happened.

Because Weir interviewed many of the same people that Huchthausen did, the stories and perspectives are largely the same, and the reader who has already read those other books will not learn anything new in these sections. There are some differences of interpretation in some cases, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, and I wish that the authors had specifically responded to them. Why not clearly identify where these books disagree on details? In some cases these are important. For instance, I have seen two different accounts of the near-use of an atomic torpedo during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I would have preferred if Weir had tried to settle the dispute.

Another problem with interview-based history is that the people that you interview always come across as brave and smart and noble, whereas the people you don't often look worse. That is true here--several of the commanders are portrayed as "experienced" and "brave." But the now-dead people that they worked for or disagreed with are portrayed as drunks or incompetent. It is important to keep in mind that we are only seeing one side of the story here, and that people who look badly in these stories often did not get the chance to speak.

About a third to halfway through the book Weir and Boyne start covering entirely new ground that has not been discussed in previous submarine books, such as a couple of bold multi-boat intelligence operations that the Soviets engaged in during the 1970s and 1980s. There are even photos of some American equipment recovered by the Soviets in 1970, proving that they were successful. The authors make a few comments that are quite intriguing, such as the claim that the Americans with their superior technology could be sneaky and stealthy all of the time, whereas the Soviets had to respond in an entirely different manner, such as brute force intelligence collection.

Unfortunately, what the book lacks, however, is the American side of this. It would have been fascinating to see what the Americans thought the Soviet submarines were doing during these periods. But except for a few paragraphs about a US Navy officer doing this or that, we get none of that contrast. (As an aside: Huchthausen attempted to do this in October Fury, even though he is much more of an memoirist than a historian. So October Fury tends to be more balanced and more engaging on the subject of Soviet submarine operations during the Missile Crisis.)

One other thing that is missing in Rising Tide are solid American testimonials as to how much better Soviet submarines got during the 1980s. We are told, based on Soviet claims, that the Victor II and III submarines were much better than their predecessors, and even rivaled American submarines. But there is no mention of the Toshiba propeller milling machine scandal, or other Soviet quieting efforts. Comments from long-serving American commanders about how much the Soviets improved over the decades would have been nice.

The introduction includes an interesting comment that Soviet society was so brutal that people began to devalue their own lives. They developed a kind of fatalistic approach to their lives and work. This theme is not explicitly revisited again in the book, although the many Soviet submarine accidents seem to support it. It's an intriguing theory that deserves more attention. Finally, the book makes the now-familiar comparison of submarine operations to spaceflight. (Dark Waters did this, so did Blind Man's Bluff--it is now a cliche of submarine books.) Somebody should really explore this analogy better to question its validity.

All in all, this is an enjoyable book with some intriguing ideas and new research. The sections on intelligence collection are the most unique and interesting in my mind. Worth reading.

The concept was great. The execution leaves a little to be desired. It is obvious that Mr. Weir is an apologists for the Soviet Navy and tends to view much of what the submarine force did as nothing short of god-like, while the American effort was lacking and far behind the Soviets. Mr. Weir's pronouncement that Soviet subs habitually tracked American Ohio Class SSBNs is so ludicrious that it is beyond flawed research. The Ohio class SSBN has never been successfully tracked by an foreign submarine force and probably never will be. Mr. Weir also states that Soviet ICBMs were more accurate that the American versions is also absurd. Data released after the Cold War ended, as well as data collected during tests of the Soviet missles conclusively proves that the Soviet missiles were very inaccurate as well as had the annoying tendency to explode when fueled prior to launch. It seems that Mr. Weir was far more gullible when it came to what the Soviet submarine commanders had to tell him. I guess he didn't bother to check his facts, assuming that the Soviets would never exaggerate. It's too bad, really. The stories told in the book concerning the more personal aspects of the numerous mishaps of Soviet nuclear boats and the drive to produce a vital, powerful submarine force is well worth reading. Just don't beliece everything you read.

Interesting. Obviously the author became good friends with some Russian submariners, and of course, that is the inside story. So, for that reason, especially if you find it on the $3.33/copy bargain shelf (as I did), do buy it. There will probably never be another book published in the West, based on such interviews.

Inaccurate. Opinions of former Soviet submariners, no matter how "nice" or enthusiastic they are, should not be taken as a fact, especially when numerous other sources contradict them. So, as a source of "oral history", it is a great book ... but should be taken with a grain of salt. Other reviewers before me went into the details...

Can't spell... The mis-spellings are there on almost every page, whether related to a place name, a submarine type, or an acronym. Just a small example, so I don't waste the reader's time by the hundreds of errors: The so-called GIUK Gap is an important place in the history of Cold War submarine operations (and even today0. It refers to the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap (two relatively narrow sea passages), well guarded by Western anti-submarine forces. The abbreviation, as "GIUK" makes geographic sense, but "GUIK" does not. Yet, the authors have both on the same page, referring to the same place. Many of the mis-spellings may be low-cost type setting errors, but even so...some are definitely not.

Recommendation: buy it if you can find it on the bargain rack...

Readers who demand a complete and meticulous history of Soviet submarine warfare should join the CIA. For the rest of us who cannot or will not join the CIA, Rising Tide comes as close as possible to describing the Soviet sub program -- the maneuvers of her vessels, conflicts with American boats, strategies, technologies, and the political tit-for-tat that accompanied it all. As a bonus, Rising Tide sports an appendix containing an itemization of Soviet boats replete with tonnage, diving depth, length and special features.

Particularly heartbreaking was the account of the nuclearization of the Soviet navy, her transition to reactor power. For example, the Soviets inserted two reactors into most boats -- before they were fully developed. The result was repeated volunteer suicide missions by crew members to turn off overheating reactor cores and leaking cooling pipes.

Also interesting is the account of Soviet technological progress in shipbuilding. From early diesel-powered jalopies, the Soviets managed to produce, in 1977 (initial design, 1957), a reactor-powered Alfa-class boat, made entirely of Titanium, that could dive to 800m at 40 knots. The boats were all still intolerably hot and sweaty in warmer climates, until Typhoon and Akula class boats appeared with warheads and nuclear-armed torpedoes.

Beyond the edifying history, however, Rising Tide breaks down the last Cold War barriers of mistrust and ignorance, finally documenting the heroism and ingenuity of honest sailors who, trapped by a history never in their control, fought steadfastly for a dying and unworthy ideology.

This book seems to try to cover all aspects of the submarine cold war, without a lot of detail on any particular subject. I found the coverage of the Cuban crisis particularly interesting, but somehow felt as though I had to read between the lines, which was true with all the other subjects covered.
All in all, an intersting book, but not in the league of Blind Man's Bluff.

This is the first real sub book I have read. The historical appendix is really good covering The Russian Navy. There are many facts in here that are amazing to someone new to the genre. This may not be the best book, but it is worth a reading. The info on the Kursk and K-19 were informative and cleared out all the nonsense you get from Hollywood movies. Very informative about Soviet Naval Culture.