Customer Reviews

Unknown Waters: A First-Hand Account of the Historic Under-ice Survey of the Siberian Continental Shelf by USS Queenfish (SSN-651)

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

 

 

Captain Fred McLaren's well-told story about cold war submarining in the 1960s, and through to the early 1970s, is a good read for armchair travelers, arctic explorers, and scientists. McLaren has provided lots of good photos that help humanize the book.

Unknown Waters provides a first-hand account of life and exploration in a nuclear submarine, the Queenfish, while it and its crew explored and mapped important and remote regions of the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic-Siberian Shelf Expedition of the 1970s represents the bulk of the story.

McLaren, using the first person, describes in fascinating detail how a giant nuclear attack submarine operates under thick polar ice and makes its way between icebergs that penetrate long distances below the surface.
Chapter 11 is of special interest to the layman; it includes the submarine surfacing at the North Pole and how it got there. McLaren provides a lot of photos of the surfaced submarine with crew members, including McLaren, posing with Jack Patterson dressed as Santa Claus on August 5, 1970.

It was nice to read a personalized description of the legendary Admiral Rickover and how he selected his submarine captains, an ordeal for any self-respecting naval officer. McLaren sat through 15 interviews with Rickover and thus became an expert on where to sit for an advantage and how to respond to challenging questions. The reader will end up with a good feeling and lots of respect for the Admiral.

McLaren has provided a good index of 11 pages that can help the reader to back into the book to find favorite stories.

CAPT McLaren's splendid account of USS QUEENFISH's historic under-ice survey is well-written and gripping. As a former submarine sailor and arm-chair Antarctica junkie---I had little difficulty translating the submarine-speak and ice-speak. Some who have reviewed made the point of the "trade language"---I would offer the potential reader the following: CAPT McLaren's explained (more than once) the more esoteric terms---and had the grace to include an exhaustive glossary. I plan to purchase this book for one of my children--who has never served on a boat---and advise marking the glossary for quick reference. The prose is somewhat repetitive, but the nature of their work was repetitive. CAPT McLaren managed to make a topic that had potential to be dull and boring into a riveting story of a time not so long ago when submarine skippers had no leash. Based on the story and a few people of acquaintance who know of CAPT McLaren, I could recommend this book for up and coming leaders---regardless the vocation. By all accounts, CAPT McLaren was/is thoughtful, honest, and courageous---good attributes for anyone, particularly anyone in a position of leadership.
Highly recommended.

This book is a dry and tedious read for the layman, but with patience, turns out to be exciting and worth the read for those tenacious enough to stick with it. Anyone into accuracy, detail, and military protocol will appreciate this account of a dangerous and chilling (no pun intended) tremendous accomplishment.

There really is no other way to properly present this information. It does not need to be sensationalized, and I fear readers will be seeking a quick thrill and miss learning about this incredible accomplishment.

This book deserves appreciative readers!

In writing my review I feel that I need to warn some readers about the nature of Dr. McLaren's writing style. As some low star reviewers point out, it's military report writing and is somewhat dry. But the story he tells transcends all this. McLaren also manages to convey a great deal of information about the Arctic along the way. But the first thing you learn is that even nuclear submarines designed to survive under hundreds of feet of ice and water are really just fragile bubbles. The way the author writes conveys an ordered and matter-of-fact style of training, management and thinking which must become second nature to any military officer if he and his crew are to survive, let alone succeed in their mission. In short, he can't write his memoir any other way and still be true to the experience; the style should be considered a component of the story. If you want a salty sea-faring tale of Cold War daring-do, look elsewhere. This book is much more about exploration.

All that being said, I tore into this book and read it in two days while on a Caribbean cruise. Before I read it, I had very little interest in the Arctic or the people who explored it. I found the fact that so little was known about the Arctic Ocean as late as 1970 to be incredible and fascinating.

A good, serious book about oceanographic exploration.

Of the several books in print on nuclear submarines in the cold war, McLaren's "Unknown Waters" is by a good margin the most thorough, serious account of actual submarine operations, in this case in the Artic. Calling it a "cold war" book would, however, be misleading. Its focus is on the scientific exporation and charting of the shallow seas north of Siberia. The author is impressively qualified to convey his material - an accomplished submariner and naval officer, a research scientist, President Emeritus of the Explorers' Club - this fellow is a true Renaissance man.

Readers looking for daring exploits in the face of hostile Russians would do better to pick up Edward Beach's "Cold is the Sea," or a Tom Clancy novel. The Soviet Fleet is only mentioned in passing in "Unknown Waters." The focus of the narrative is unquestionably exploration by nuclear submarine of waters that were in 1970 almost totally unknown. As a former naval officer, deeply interested in martime engineering, cartography, and oceanography, I found myself enthralled. That said, this is not a book for those whose interests do not run in similar directions. It is an aficionado's book - the writing, though clear and competent, is not inspired and the structure of the plot is more diary-like than I suspect some would enjoy.

Those minor faults should not detract from a genuine appreciation of this book and its author, provided one takes them on their own terms: this is not Sean Connery flying a 25,000 ton "Red October" at insane speeds and impossible depths through fantasy canyons of digital rock - "Unknown Waters" is a painstakingly careful groping in the dark by a team of highly trained professionals, with no extraneous expressions of angst or drama, in a real-world exploit of science, technology, and the human spirit.

In 1970, CDR Alfred McLaren took the USS QUEENFISH, one of the Navy's most capable nuclear submarines, on a secret mission to to survey the Siberian Continental shelf. This journey took McLaren and his crew to the North Pole and back in a never before undertaken excursion. No submarine had ever been under the ice that long, and there was not a lot of knowledge on what to expect or what they would run into. From surprise icebergs to underwater "ice garages," McLaren's crew handled it with the professionalism and humor expected from the elite "Silent Service."
Complete with photos, artist's drawings, and personal anecdotes, this book gives an excellent account of the voyage and the difficulties faced. It is obvious that the author is both a master in the art of submarine warfare and also has deep love and respect for the arctic and the ocean. Though very technical at times, it is still relatively easy to follow and provides even readers unfamiliar to the world of submariners an interesting and enjoyable description of the voyage. It is a must read for anyone interested in the submarine community, including submarine veterans and future submariners.

I liked this book. But then again I like stereo instructions. Not a lot of suspense or intrigue but seems to be a factual account of the under-ice survey of the continental shelf around the north pole. Written by the boats skipper don't look for a page turner. Written by a man who rightfully so garners the respect for the mission he and his men undertook, it's a slow book. Unless you have an interest in subs this might not be the book for you. But, if you have an interest in subs the book goes into a bit more detail in their operation then most.

This book is concerned with the submerged voyage of the nuclear submarine USS Queenfish which was made during the Cold War to perform a hydrographic survey of the continental shelf of much of Siberia. The performance of the submarine,its officers and crew was outstanding in every respect. In addition there are a number of marvelous anecdotes describing the behavior of Admiral Rickover which give an interesting insight into his behavior that was clearly more that 3 SD. from the mean. The book was a hard read for me and would have benefited had the editor been more effective. There are numerous repeats of the procedure used to surface the submarine in polynays including how many gallons of water were pumped in and out of the variable buoyancy tank when only one would have been sufficient. These repeated activities make the book informative but not entertaining in contrast to the 24 news channels which are rarely informative and occasionally entertaining. I found that I had to read it in relatively short sections as the process required effort. Those with sufficient interest in this topic who also have sufficient "sitzfleish" should certainly read it; however, I think it may be problematic for the general reader.

An extremely graphic example of life under the ice during the Cold War, and the dangers facing exploration of the earths last frontier.I found the book very difficult to put down, not for the excitement value, far from it, but because it is the most interesting narrative of this expeditionary probe by a lethal fighting machine second only to the initial experience by Nautilus.


Commander MacLaren was able to describe the adventures of himself and his crew in vivid detail, and from this it is easy to accept that the ice water was not only outside the submarine, but ran freely through his veins also.

My husband, who likes to read naval history, reports that this is a fine book if you're interested in the subject. However, he said it's rather dry reading, not suited to the general reader. Good info on the Arctic Ocean and the giant icebergs at the top of the world.