Customer Reviews

The Submarine: A History

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

 

 

Parrish covers the history of submarines from ancient times right up to the present. Naturally enough, he concentrates on 20th Century submarine development and employment, though earlier attempts at creating a functional submarine are also mentioned.

As in any general history, the author has to compromise. There are places where you might wish for a bit more detail. Just the coverage of submarine operations, both Axis and Allied, in World War II could easily fill two or three books of this size. Still, he does a fine job.

This is a good book for anyone who thinks he might be interested in the general use and development of the submarine as a weapon. The bibliography lists plenty of other books that will allow him to expand his knowledge.

In THE SUBMARINE: A HISTORY, Thomas Parrish aims essentially to provide a history of the 20th century, told through the "periscope" lens of the submarine and its impact on world events. Of course, his history briefly dips back into the sixteenth century, jumps forward to the Civil War, and finally discusses the two innovators, Holland and Lake, in submarine design and technology. But the meat of submarine history occurs during the two World Wars and Parrish wisely decides to spend most of his time exploring these waters. I decided to pick up this book primarily because I have been fascinated by submarines ever since I was kid, stemming from the fact that my grandfather served on the USS Apogon (a Balao class) during WWII. I figured it was high time I learn a bit more about them.

I am no submarine historian, nor am I an avid reader of war histories. Therefore, I think that I provide a fairly objective viewpoint when I say that I enjoyed reading Parrish's text. It is extremely digestible and Parrish seems to have done his homework. Indeed, he provides quite an extensive bibliography for further reading. I can only fault the book on two points. First, I believe that Parrish gets so caught-up in re-telling the wars and the surrounding context that he forgets to tell us what we are really interested in: the submarines. Naturally, it is nice to have a sense of the landscape before going deep into the bush, but I would have enjoyed spending more time "under the waves" rather than riding around on the surface. In short, I would have liked more detail and stories from the actual submarine tours and less abstract text about "the submarine" as a naval unit.

Secondly, given that Parrish does spend so much time dealing with the politics and abstract developments of submarine warfare, I believe that Parrish overestimates the role of the submarine in his history. No one is going to doubt the powerful impact that submarines have had on modern warfare, but there are other aspects of warfare (indeed, even of naval warfare) that have played an equally important, if not more important, role. Let us not, for instance, forget the powerful importance of the aircraft carrier. Parrish is forced at several points to deal with the difficulties and failures surrounding the development and performance of the submarine. In essence, he brushes these events aside, telling the story as if the submarine was destined for perfection, but was simply unrealized at various points in history. The story, quite frankly, appears to be much more complex than that.

Of course, this slanted view of the submarine arises from the fact that THE SUBMARINE: A HISTORY is told from the viewpoint of the submarine. It is bound to be a little glowing in its treatment. Overall, I found this text quite entertaining and informative. I have always been fascinated by submarines and it was nice to finally learn more about the history of these amazing machines.

This book is an attempt, largely successful, of a comprehensive history of the submarines. The author, who has written a number of military history books, opens his book with the recent recovery and brief history of the Hunley. Another brief chapter explores early submarine efforts such as Bushnell's Turtle, Robert Fulton and Wilhelm Bauer's work and the Spanish effort on Monturial's Ictinio. The modern realization of the submarine as embodied by Holland and Lake is covered, along with the substantial design differences in submarines espoused by each inventor. The coverage of the German U-boat campaign in World War I is excellent, running almost 120 pages. The interwar period of submarine development is described, with the advances in technology and the differing philosophies on the future role of the submarine. The Second World War is addressed from both the German U-boat perspective in the Atlantic (100 pages), as well as an excellent overview of the US Fleet Boat operations in the Pacific (125 pages), including details of skippers who won the Medal of Honor. After the conclusion of the war years, the book immediately launches into the development of nuclear propulsion. To his credit, Parrish does not start with (then) Captain Rickover, but covers much of the background technical work leading up to the point where Rickover became the driving force behind achieving nuclear propulsion in a short time frame. As is obligatory in these histories, some "Rickover interview vignettes" are included, as are examples of his shrewd use of US Congress Members to further his aims (and keep him from mandatory retirement). Rickover's growing power and his ability to challenge (and survive!) Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze in the late 1960's are examples of his political savvy. Two chapters are devoted to the submarine missile programs, and another chapter deals with the loss of Thresher and Scorpion, the submarine special operations missions, such as the Halibut's cable tapping operations. This chapter covers material up to the present day, including a brief mention of the Seawolf and Virginia classes. The book closes with a brief chapter "On Eternal Patrol" about the WWII Submarine Veteran's Association.

Overall, this one volume history can serve as a decent, if somewhat episodic guide to overall submarine history. The treatment focuses a fair amount on politics, and not on submarine technology evolution. Some topics are given very minimal coverage, such as the Postwar Tang and Guppy fleet boat conversions, which are both covered in a single paragraph. The extremely important Albacore design gets a single mention in one sentence. The Soviet submarine developments during the Cold War get minimal coverage. Notable submarines such as the British T-class submarines receive passing mention, and the large Japanese aircraft carrying I-boats are not covered at all. Nonetheless, even with these omissions, I would recommend this book to anyone who desires a detailed and well written book that does cover most of the essentials.

Thomas Parrish has written a history of the submarine for general consumption, rather than an analytic history of the ship. Despite his aim at a general audience rather than a group of specialists, Parrish does have an important thesis to share - that the submarine was developed for military use and, throughout its history, has been used primarily as a military weapon, with increasing success.

Starting with the earliest submersibles, Parrish wraps 200+ years of history into this single 500+ page volume. The book is written well, and reads quickly. Almost out of necessity, Parrish spends much of the work focused on submarines in WWI and WWII, where they really came of age. It is unfortunate that the book runs from WWII to the 21st century in a short perid - less than 90 pages, since that is a period that probably needs much more examination than has been given in the past.

Overall, this is a very good book, and one well worth reading. The only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars is because of the lack of attention on the post-WWII time frame.

Much as its title suggests "Submarine" follows the history of the military submarine from the first pre-modern boats (the Revolutionary War "Turtle"; the CSS Hunley) through the end of the cold war. I was skeptical that an author could encompass that much history in a single volume while giving the subject its deserved depth (no pun - I swear!!), or whether such an attempt was even worth the try. Unfortunately, having finished "Submarine" last night, I've determined that the answer is "no".

There's nothing that's plainly wrong with "Submarine", no gross inaccuracies that I could think of. It's that constrained to place in one volume what others have done with multiple volumes gives Parrish little room maneuver. The history that he depicts is one of loosely connected episodes which don't sufficiently come together to form a single historical narrative. We get a lot of history, but little of it adds to what's already been written. "Submarine" is strongest in its early chapters, illustrating how the submarine became the terror weapon of the "Great War", although that may be because I've read little in that area. The story gets to its weakest in the cold war years, which becomes most glaring because that era was already covered extensively by the end of the 1990's in "Blind Man's Bluff" and Parrish provides little to add to it. (The "Kirsk" disaster occurred after "Bluff" was published, but Parrish gleans little not already published in the last nearly 7 years.) The evolving role of the submarine in the post-cold war era, and the need for ships like nuclear attack subs or missile submarines in an era with a single superpower is never touched on. Earlier sections dealing with the submarine in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during WWII also expose cable-documentary style history, in which the historical outcomes are never in doubt, no matter how closely those events came to producing a different result. (Parrish recounts the catastrophic assault of the U-Boats against allied convoys like PQ-17, yet breezes through the turn of events that ended the Battle of the Atlantic with over 30,000 U-boat sailors lost at sea.)

Much has been written about the submarine already - and despite what fans may say, those books are quite approachable to the casual reader while providing more coverage than this book.

Thomas Parrish's weighty coverage in The Submarine: A History revolves around three key themes: the functional operations of submarines, their history, and their personnel. Add a focus on how the submarine affected the history of the world, from early invention to modern times, and you have a history which covers both the submarine in particular and water navigation in general.

Tom Parrish's "The Submarine" chronicles the history of the submarine from the early beginnings in the 19th century to its critical role in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Parrish has written "The Influrence of Seapower upon the History of the 20th Century", a worthy sequel to Admiral Mahan's classic studies. He skillfully interweaves political, technological, and military developments, with a fascinating cast of characters, brilliant historical insights, and dramatic stories of sailors under water when depth charges go off. A wonderful book!

This was a good journalistic (that is gossipy, not analytic) history of the politics surrounding submarines: the obtuseness of naval departments and international politics that surrounded and usually hindered the development of subs. But if you pick up this book really wanting to learn about the subs themselves, you will be quite disappointed. A few minutes with Hutchinson's "War Beneath the Waves" will tell you more about them than hours with this general history.

Review:
"The Submarine" by Thomas Parrish
Viking-2004-576 pages including notes and large bibliography

Over the past ten years, many submarine books have passed by my reading chair. There has been a fair mix of fiction and non-fiction. The fictional books are needed to keep a level of interest and fun going through the much tougher reading non-fiction works. Some of the fictional books are keepers. All of the non-fiction works have lasting value and are keepers. Some of these later genre of books are ingrained in my mind as worthy of greater accolades than they receive in that brief period before and after the publishing date.

In my opinion, "The Submarine" falls into that more worthy class. There are two books that are recent that tell the whole story of submarines and retain the readers interest throughout. "The Navy Times Book of Submarines" and "The Submarine" are those two works. Certainly you must say that Clay Blair's works and Norman Friedman's technical works are very important but in ways that handle a specific time frame or the more technological advances in submarine building.

Parrish does a superior job of research and his bibliography of 10 pages indicates his devotion to detail and accuracy. Yet the book is full of anecdotes and facts that were new to me and added great interest. The book traces early developmental history to the Holland versus Lake early days through the battles with Admiral Rickover and Electric Boat and Congress., I never tire of hearing tales of the wily Rickover or of the work done by "Red" Raborn in the early Polaris missile program. All areas are covered from the Turtle through the USS Virginia SSN 774.

The books should be included in every serious submarine historian's library and referred to often. Although my library now resides in storage and is waiting it's placement as the cornerstone of a planned museum's library, this book will stay here and join my retained works that form the core of my knowledge. Those being Silent Victory, Thunder Below, Submarine Operations in WWII, Friedman's 2-volume work, United States Submarines, Admiral Lockwood's books, Blind Man's Bluff, Hitler's U-Boat Wars and a few others.

My thanks to Thomas Parrish for his devotion and for helping me fulfill the Creed of U.S. Submariner Veterans, which is to "perpetuate the memory of our shipmates."

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