Customer Reviews

U.S. Submarines Since 1945: An Illustrated Design History

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Despite the review that claims this isn't a sub-buff book -- it is! Packed with details rarely seen, this tome is sure to fascinate. I received a copy a couple of Christmas's back, and spent the next hour on the couch, absolutely fascinated. Author Friedman deftly blends both technical and political information. You learn about the systems that created the ships. Indispensible for the sub buff and historian.

Like Friedman's other books on US warship design, his description of the play between evolving doctrine, organizational imperatives and technical issues to arrive at each class of submarine gives the reader insight not just in what a ship became but also _why_ a ship became. I was a plank owner (original crew) of a SSN-637 class submarine in the early seventies. It was fasinating to see _why_ my ship was built and what her predecessors and successors became. Being interested in Naval Science without being a professional practitioner, Friedman's book hits just the right level of technical detail. This is _not_ a buff book. It is a serious effort to document the design evolution of (mostly) nuclear submarines.

This is an exceptionally good book, perhaps THE reference book on U.S. submarines in the post-War era. Very detailed and accurate, it covers not only final designs, but how each design evolved over time -- including designs that never made it off the drawing board. If you're in to submarines, you MUST own this book.

If you were never intimate with a submarine, this might be little more than a quick browse, but if you were, and want to understand the evolution of U.S. submarines in the covered era, you will find this book hard to put aside. A previous reviewer (who found sonar details too dull) refuses to cherry-pick and evidently demands a pithy payload out of every paragraph. I agree that a handful of passages contain non-contemporary references that could be better dated, but the book discusses many complex ideas and those complaints are simply petty. Other minor suggestions: I would have enjoyed more comparison to Soviet subs and the names to go with a few Naval bigwigs who were referenced by title only.
I was a sonar technician on board a Polaris SSBN in the 1960's. I became immediately engrossed when I dove straight to Chapter 11 (Strategic Submarines, of course). After reading to the end, I went back to Chapter 1 and was pleased to savor something on nearly every remaining page in spite of a few dull moments.
Anyone on board during the Cold War remembers that classified matters enjoyed limited promulgation (there's a word I haven't used for a long time). This book paints in a lot of the big picture. Better yet, it is nice to see many previously unmentionable issues in print.
Having also served on a Guppy IIA boat, I gained a new appreciation for U.S. efforts to implement the snorkel and to bring to fruition the German-conceived "closed cycle" (hydrogen peroxide) power plant. (Only one such boat was actually put in service.) There are photos of several rarely seen screw designs and, as you would expect, frequent discussion of silencing. The author variously refers to the number of equipment TONS, the impact on boat length and the increased power plant capability required to computerize functions that a common laptop could do today! TM's will appreciate the conflict between improved sonar arrays and their weapon configurations. Periscopes get a nice expose regarding their capabilities and what infrastructure is required to support them. In the hull department: steel formulas, fabrication methods, shape, plane configurations, snap-roll and depth criteria are elaborated. Especially fascinating are illustrations of concept boats and many ideas that were never put in production. There are many insightful, boardroom-level explanations of the political, personal, financial and strategic issues that shaped the fleet our country has sent to sea. There are several interesting references and photos of Scorpion and Thresher.
I recently had occasion to tour The USS Rhode Island (SSBN740). This book has given me a greater appreciation of recent submarine developments and I am happy to find that U.S. submarine innovation continues. Now I could enjoy a mirror-image account of Soviet submarine design - in English, please.

I'm re-reading Mr. Friedman's volume on U.S. subs.
There is so much junk on submarines out there. This one, like all Mr.Friedman's studies has real meat to it. It is technically a little heavy going for someone unfamiliar with ship design (as I am), but it is written so well that one isn't bogged down. He does not alienate the regular reader as many academic writers are wont to do.
The same holds true for his other volumes on carriers, destoyers,and amphibious ships.
They're all a bit pricey, but worth every penny. You won't find this kind of detail,in an as accesible form anywhere.
Tom Levang

I love history of technology, but some authors show only the engineering solutions that reach the hardware stage. They omit all the concepts and designs that compete or lead to it. There are no missing links in this book: early and alternative concepts to submarines that actually went to hardware, designs that never went out of the drawing board, dead ends concepts like Jupiter armed subs or the LSST. Indeed, all the submarines that entered operational service with the USN are deeply detailed with its associated weapon systems.
I read reviews here, before ordering, describing the book as too technical. In my opinion, it is neither a textbook nor a novel but you can enjoy a captivating story in a non stop reading and then use it as a reference guide.

I can't speak for most of this book on the numbers but the boats I have been on were dead accurate on speed, weapons, TD and SHP (all boats of those classes are razor blades now so it doesn't really matter). I'd say that a lot of the other information is close, if not dead nuts, on the attributes of many of the other classes based upon sea stories that I've heard from my prior shipmates.

If you want to learn about the modern US submarine force's history this is a good place to start.

The only negative I can find is that it stops at the development of the Seawolf (SSN-21 class) so it is a bit outdated. However it gives a good insight on the process the U.S. used to develop its submarine programs.

I follow the other reviewers here in their praise for the text which introduces you to this class of ship very well, and gives you lots of detailed descriptions not only what was built, but why. For me, as a person who never served on a submarine but is interested in naval technology, very interesting.

The only major shortcoming I found is in the unit lists (and this applies equally to the companion volume on Submarines through 1945): while the lists are exhaustingly complete (I assume) they lack a link to the class a particular unit belongs to. As a non-expert, it took me a while to figure out that 'Plunger' belonged to the 'Thresher' class, mainly because the index, too, was incomplete (indicating for 'Plunger' only the page where you can find the ship's name in the list - while there are pictures and she's mentioned in the text several times.) If I buy such a book on the subject I don't want to be forced to Wikipedia for such basic stuff...

Friedman did better in both 'US Destroyers' and 'US Cruisers' so maybe a future, revised edition will fix this - and earn the book its (otherwise well deserved) full five stars from this reviewer.

This is a fascinating modern submarine history book but it is a little too techie for me. After the first few chapters of in depth, detail descriptions of every type of sonar, radar and radio system known to man, I kind of nodded off. However, having spent a few years on the Regulas boats out of Pearl Harbor in the mid sixties I found the book enlightening and am glad I bought it. If you want to know a great deal about modern submarine design and development buy this book. If you enjoy reading about submariners and their activities read Blind Man's Bluff.