Stealth at Sea: The History of the Submarine [Hardcover]

Dan Van Der Vat (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 1995

An acclaimed military historian tells the story of a weapon that played crucial parts in both world wars and in the cold war: the submarine. This fresh and wide-ranging chronicle arrives as strategists rethink the role of these vessels in the new world order. In less than a century the submarine has matched or overtaken in military significance the battleship, the aircraft carrier, the strategic bomber, even the land-based missile in its silo. Dan van der Vat tells how the submersible man-of-war progressed from being a gleam in the eye of Fenian Irishmen intent on damaging the British Navy to becoming the most intricate technological system devised by man. Most important and fascinating of all are his accounts of the development of submarine strategy during the epochal naval campaigns of the twentieth century. At the close of the cold war, the world has more than seven hundred submarines, some three hundred of them nuclear-powered and scores still equipped with nuclear missiles. The qu

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The first workable prototype?the Fenian Ram?of an underwater warship was designed by Irishman John Holland in 1882. By the turn of the century, the U.S., Britain and especially Germany began to equip their navies with submarines. The submarine became infamous in 1915, when a German U-20 sank the luxury liner Lusitania off the Irish coast?with a tremendous loss of life?an attack that eventually brought the U.S. into WWI. The submarine also necessitated new means to subvert it: convoys, rudimentary sonar, depth charges and ships outfitted with seaplanes. Van der Vat's coverage of the WWII period focuses on innovative German Admiral Donitz's U-boat "wolf packs"; the Allies relying on convoys; and the successes of the U.S. and Japanese in submarine warfare against each other. The post-WWII era concentrates on Admiral Hyman Rickover and the first nuclear-powered sub, the U.S.S. Nautilus, and its trip to the North Pole. The cold war period looks at the technological advances made by Soviet and U.S. subs that became capable of firing ICBMs from any ocean. Van der Vat (The Grand Scuttle) has written a comprehensive volume that will delight submarine buffs. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This narrative history of undersea warfare is particularly useful in its coverage of the world wars. Van der Vat (The Grand Scuttle, Naval Inst. Pr., 1985) describes the evolution of submarine tactics and technology, the difficulty of coordinating submarine operations for maximum effect, and the problem of deciding whether warships or merchantmen made the more profitable target. He also presents the evolution of countermeasures-convoys and hunter-killer groups-and makes strong cases for the nearly decisive effect of German U-boats during World War I and the major contributions of U.S. submarines to the defeat of Japan between 1941 and 1945. The decision to treat the nuclear age in an epilog results in an overly cursory treatment of submarine development in the past half-century. Nevertheless, this is a worthwhile addition to general collections.
D.E. Showalter, Colorado Coll., Colorado Springs
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 374 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 1ST edition (April 3, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395652421
• ISBN-13: 978-0395652428
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,070,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A first class history from an undeniable expert., April 5, 2009

By 

Ned Middleton (British professional underwater photo-journalist & author) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Stealth at Sea: The History of the Submarine (Hardcover)

Before settling down to read this book, I glanced through the 30 pictures arranged together in two areas of the book and immediately learned something which I felt I ought to have known. I was well aware that HM Submarine MI had been fitted with a single 12 inch battleship gun and that M2 had an aeroplane hangar capable of housing a floatplane. What I did not know was that M2 had also been originally fitted with a large gun before being converted to seaplane duties. Whilst many might think this comment superfluous, the two photographs of HMS M2 showing her in both roles, reveals more information than a photograph of both M1 and M2. As a champion of detailed research, this exposes the degree of thought which has gone into even the minor aspects of this work.

First published in 1994, this author starts right at the very beginning with an informative account of early submersibles when others have avoided the work of those submarine pioneers - if only because their efforts were not as well recorded as modern historians would like to find. Having made a good start, it is uphill all the way with flags flying as we read and learn about one of the most intriguing maritime vessels and weapons of war ever conceived. There is the very first U Boat, Nautilus and HMS Holland before we arrive at WW1 where, of course, we encounter the contentious loss of the Lusitania. The author continues through the inter-war years as he switches from one Navy to another and approaches the dark years of WW2. Then it's all about Convoys and Wolf Packs on one side of the world and the US vs Japan on the other. From the largest "milk cows" used for refuelling at sea to the miniature X-Craft, their story is found here. After WW2, the book enters the nuclear age and concludes with a photo of the Russian "Typhoon" which, at that time was the largest submarine ever constructed.

This is probably the best history of the submarine one is ever likely to discover and has been skilfully put together by a master craftsman historian. I really cannot think of a better introduction to the subject.

NM