CLASSIC DIVE BOOKS
Submarines and submersibles.
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HOMEPAGE |
Please note: The books are listed for collectors interest
only, and not offered for sale.
See also Military
Operations and Navy Diving.
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A DAMNED UN-ENGLISH WEAPON : THE
STORY OF BRITISH SUBMARINE WARFARE
Edwyn Gray New English Library, London, 1974. ISBN Number: 0450014339 / 9780450014338 Mass Market Paperback. Submarines, WWI, British, World War I . (As shown:) Trade paperback, 191 pages. Has several appendicies that thge USA edition doen not have but surpirsingly does not have an index. THE UNDERWATER WAR - Submarines 1914-1918.
These two titles are of the same book - one being the
British publication (A Damned...), the other the American (The Underwater
War).
From the blurb of The Underwater War: This is the story of the development by the British of a primitive, unreliable and highly dangerous contraption into a formidable fighting machine. Edwyn Gray describes the inception and early days of the Submarine Service, its struggle against the naval bureaucracy and political machinations, its experiments with early submarines, the terrible disasters it suffered and the dramatic successes it achieved. Above all, he brings to life the men who took the risks in these fragile boats and whose courage ana endurance enabled them to smash German shipping to help make the strategic blockade of Germany a success. [ps-both-pb] |
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A MATTER OF RISK
The Incredible Inside Story of the Mission to Raise a Russian Submarine. Roy Varner and Wayne Collier. Hodder and Stoughton, London. 1978. Hardcover, dustjacket, 258 pagwes, sixteen mono pages. In April 1968, a Russian submarine was cruisingthe Pacific on a routine voyage when, about 750 miles north-west of Hawaii, it suddenly explodedand sank in waters three-miles deep. There were no survivors amongst its crew odf seventy. What interested the Americans was the millies on board and the contents of the top-secret naval code room. The Russiand were not too sure where it was, but the Americans found it and even photographed it, using their superior underater technoilogy. Under CIA control, a mission weas established to raise the sub under top secrecy, of course. It did not go to plan. Well... read the book, its fascinating. [ps] |
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A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF OCEANOGRAPHIC SUBMERSIBLES
James B. Sweeney Robert Hale & Co., London, 1970. Hardcover, dustjacket, A4 size, 310 pages, index, bibliography, 420 mono photographs and drawings. From the fly: Oceanography and space explorations are the last two frontiers mankind is now in the process of conquering. Of the two, oceanography is by far the most ancient, having had its beginnings in the days when Egyptian and Greek mariners, breathing through reeds, walked below the sea's surface to attack and sink enemy ships. These primitive war operations could well be considered the predecessors of modern atomic submarine warf are. So too could Alexander the Great's early descent to the ocean floor in a crudely constructed barrel be designated the forerunner of our modern Sealab and Tektit submersibles and underwater habitats. This enthralling development of the whole story of oceanographic submersibles from prehistoric times to today is told in hundreds of pictures and thrilling text. The advances made in each period of their history can be clearly seen. From the weird Greek, Roman, and Persian contraptions designed to let man breathe and move about under water, he rapidly progresses to the more scientific achievements of the seventeenth century: Halley's diving bells and Van Drebbel's so called submarine; then to the first American submarine-Bushnell's Turtle -used in the American Revolution. Now follows a parade of submarine innovators and their inventions, including Robert Fulton's Nautilus; Hunley's David, which during the Civil War sank the Union ship Housatonic; John Holland's many models of his Holland class; American, English, German, Russian, and Japanese submarines of World Wars I and 11; ending with the American atomic classes of submarines from the first one, the U.S.S. Nautilus, to the polaris-missile-equipped U.S.S. George Washington. Simultaneous with the development of submersibles for war was the designing of submersibles for researching the ocean depths and fathoming the mysteries of the deep. In the post-World War I era William Beebe in his Bathysphere, a submersible of less than five feet in diameter, reached an astounding depth of 1,426 feet. In 1968, the newest submersible Deep Quest planted an American flag on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean at a record depth of 8,310 feet. The author describes and illustrates these feats and those of all the other major submersibles and brings his account up to date with the Ben Franklin, in which Dr. Jacques Piccard recently explored a major segment of the Gulf Stream. What does the future of oceanography hold? In a long section with nearly one hundred illustrations the author explains the underwater habitats now on researchers' drawing boards and envisions submerged cities where man can live and work for indefinite periods of time. He describes fully the new principles and practices of saturation diving, by which men can be given a chemically-balanced breathing-gas mixture that makes possible underwater living. (Recently, aquanauts on Tektite I spent two months on the ocean bottom, just a prelude to what is planned in the near future.) Included are pictorial descriptions of hydrograph'c ships, diving devices, and decompression chambers-all of which are so vital to the successful operations of the submersibles themselves. [ps] |
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AGAINST ALL ODDS
Midget Submarines Against the Tirpitz. |
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AMAZING ADVENTURES
A Thrilling Naval Biography. E. Keble Chatterton. Published by Hurst & Blackett Ltd, London, 1935. Jacket shown left is from the 'First Cheap Edition 1936'. Hardcoverm dustjacket, 285 pages, index, appredix, quite a few mono plates. Corncerned with the naval career of one Commander Godfrey Herbert of the Royal Navy. "Commander Herbert's sea life affords material enough for several exciting novels: yet, incredible though some of these incidents and strange coincidences may seem, nothing has been related but what is sold fact and sober truth". From our diver point of view, it is the several chapters on the sinking of the submarine K13 that is of particular interest. |
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BACK FROM THE DEEP.
The Strange Story of the Sister Subs Squalus and Sculpin.
Carl LaVo. Naval Institute Press Annapolis, MD, U.S.A. 1994 . Hard cover, dust jacket, 226 pages b/w photos./ This epic World War II submarine saga follows the sister boats Squalus and Sculpin as they play out their dramatic destinies in the Pacific. The author, a seasoned journalist, re-creates their entire perilous journey, beginning with the rigorous stateside preparation of the crew. That training was put to the test almost immediately when the Squalus sank during a test dive in 1939. The revolutionary use of the McCann diving bell to save 33 trapped crewmen and the Sculpin's role in that historic rescue are the first of many incongruous twists of fate that bring the two subs together. The saga continues when the Squalus undergoes an unprecedented salvage and, rechristened the Sailfish, redeems its reputation through three years of battle. The extraordinary ordeals shared by the inseparable Squalus-Sailfish and Sculpin are described in gripping detail as the author skillfully weaves together the tragic defeat of the Sculpin by a Japanese destroyer and the frenetic wrath of its sister sub. The intertwined fates of the two boats come to an eerie climax as the Sailfish unleashes a ten-hour attack on the Japanese aircraft carrier Chuyo amid a raging typhoon, unwittingly killing 22 of the 43 prisoners captured from the sunken Sculpin. The narrative travels with the surviving 21 Sculpin crewmen as they face incredible hardships, torture, and disease as POWs in Japan. Today veterans of both boats view themselves as a single company and share annual reunions. Back from the Deep is certain to instill a renewed appreciation for the intrepid men and stealthy ships that were the soul of the Pacific campaign's silent service. |
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BATTLE BELOW
Robert J. Casey Written in 1943 with the encouragement and the special co-operation of the US Navy Department. Its publication was then held up by the Navy censorship, and released on June 8, 1945. I could more details but the info came from an eBay sale where I have not come across more parochial drivel that the description for this book. By the author of Torpedo Junction. |
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BLOW ALL BALLAST! THE STORY OF THE
SQUALUS
Nat A. Barrows. George G. Harrap, London, 1940. Hardcover, 8vo, 234pp. Dodd Mead and Co, New York. 1940. Court Book Company, 1941. Hardcover, dustjacket, well illustrated. Note: Easy enough to find and not expensive but - no one seems to have an edition with a dust jacket!!! |
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DARING DIVES OF SUBMARINES
AND SUBMERSIBLES
Gillian Hancock. Published 1980 by Kaye & Ward, London. Hardcover, dustjacket, 124 pages. Covers the dives of several early 'submarines' including the Turtle, followed by more recent 20th century events involving U-Boats, British and American submrines. It is by no means a classic and appears to be aimed at the teenage market, although this may be an injustice to the author. [ps] |
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DIVING INTO DARKNESS
Subtitle: A Submersible Explores The Sea Rebecca L. Johnson Published by: Lerner Publications Company, Minneapolis, USA in 1989. Black hard covers with dustjacket; 72 printed pages. Dimensions: 22.5 cms tall by 19.5 cms wide. With this book, the author presents a closer look at the work done with deep submersibles. It looks at the history behind deep water exploration (from Alexander the Great to Halley’s Bell to Barton and Beebe) and what was happening at the time of writing the book in 1989. It is divided into 5 chapters: “Early Attempts to Explore the Sea”, “Edwin A Link: Underwater Research Pioneer”, “Exploring a New World”, “A Journey to the Ocean Floor” and “Extending Our Knowledge of the Sea”. The author is a science writer who was fortunate enough to descend several times in a “Johnson-Sea-Link” submersible while researching for this book. Throughout, the book is very well illustrated with monochrome and coloured photographs as well as sketches and line drawings. [pt] |
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FEW SURVIVED. A history of
submarine disasters.
Edwyn Gray. Publisher: Leo Cooper, London, 1986. Illustrated with some photographs. Later republished 1996. ISBN 436 18740 X. Illus. with b/w photos. 258 pp .Appendices . A comprehensive account of every peacetime submarine disaster from 1774 to the time of publication. The author examines most of the important sinkings in considerable and describing the attempts made of rescuing the crew and or the vessel.From submersibles of the late 18th century down to the nuclear powered monsters of today, the authot describes in parallel the developements of underwater rescue operations and survival techniques. Several of the incidents in this book appear in print for the first time, others, such as the sinking of the Thetis have been told many times before, but lose nothing in the telling. Among the more extraordinary episodes may be mentioned that of the affray, the whereabouts of which were revealed by a ghost, and of Operation Jennifer, in which Howard Hughes was asked by the CIA to assist in the recovery of a soviet missile submarine. |
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H.M. SUBMARINES
Lieut.Comdr P.K. Kemp. Herbert Jenkins Ltd, London. 1952. Hardcover, dustjacket, 224 pages, index, mono photographs, list of submarine losses (there are about 200 of them up to 1951). From the fly: This book tells the story of the submarine from the time of man's earliest attempts to build an underwater craft up to the most modern vessels of to-day. It is no more than fifty years since the first submarines - five small Holland boats - joined the Royal Navy. Yet in this comparatively short space of time, the submarine has become the deadliest of all weapons at sea and has had a profound influence on the traditional naval strategy. This book shows their gradual development from experimental coastal craft to the long-range boats of to-day. There is of necessity much in it that is heroic, for submarines are in the front line of battle from the first day of war until the last. They go where no other ship can follow,' alone and with every man's hand against. them. Their losses during war- time are grievous, far higher than in any other branch of the Service, yet there is never a lack of men to man them. Their deeds of courage, endurance and skill have been written across the waters of every ocean in the world, and have established a tradition and record of service that is outstanding in the long history of the Royal Navy. Lieut.-Commander P. K. Kemp, archivist of the Admiralty, writes with the authority of first-hand experience, and the story he has to tell is a proud and gallant one - a tale of long endeavour and high success. [ps] |
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HELL AT 50 FATHOMS
Charles A. Lockwood. U.S.Navy submarine disasters that led to modern survival and salvage methods. |
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IRONSUIT - The History of the
Atmospheric Diving Suit
Gary L Harris Published by: Best Publishing Company, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA in 1994. Printed soft covers; 119 printed pages; dimensions: 21 cms tall by 13.5 cms wide The book comprehensively covers the development of the atmospheric diving suit from John Lethbridge in the early 1700’s up to the early 1990’s. It is divided into 13 sections and in turn, they are broken down even further: “The Beginnings of the ADS”, “Understanding The Pressure of Sea Water”, “The Birth of Understanding of the Effects of High Pressure and Decompression”, “John Scott Haldane”, “The SS Egypt”, “The Benjamin Leavitt Story”, “Early Life Support”, “The Decades of Stagnation”, “The dvent of Mixed-Gas Technology”, “The Post-War Years”, “The Decade of Discovery” and “The Technical Rebirth of ADS”. A whole host of ADS’s are included including Tasker (1881), Buchanan & Gordon (1894), Neufeldt & Kuhnke, JIM Suit, WASP and The Newt Suit to name but a few – there are too many to list here. All the systems written about are illustrated, some with line drawings, many with actual monochrome photographs, some 89 are listed in the acknowledgements in the back of the book. [pt] |
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MANNED SUBMERSIBLES
R. Frank Busby Office of the Oceanographer of the (U.S.) Navy USA, 1976. Hardcover, 4to - over 9" - 12" tall, 764 pages, index, list of acronyms. Profusely illustrated with black and white photos and line diagrams. Apparently quite rare and was selling in Canada for over $500. |
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MIDGET SUBMARINES OF THE SECOND WORLD
WAR
Paul Kemp Published by: Clatham Publishing, London, UK in 1999. Printed hard covers with dust jacket; 125 printed pages. Dimensions: 29.5 cms tall by 25 cms wide. This large format book comprehensively covers the midget submarines used by Italian, German, Japanese and British forces in world war 2. It is divided into 3 sections and in turn, those are subdivided into individual craft. Section 1 Human Torpedoes: “The Italian Mignatta”, “The Maiale”, “The British Chariot” and “Post 1945 Developments”. Section 2 Submersibles: “The British Welman”, “The German Neger/Marder”, “The German Molch”, “The German Biber”, “Seeteufel and Other German Designs”, “The Japanese Kaiten” and “Kairyu, Koryu and Other Weapons”. Section 3 Midget Submarines: “The Italian Forzatori di Basi”, “The Italian CA and CB Classes”, “The Japanese Ko-Hyoteki”, “The British X Craft”, “Perspective Drawing” and “The German Seehund”. Each craft is covered in great detail from design to manufacture to deployment. Throughout, the book is extremely well illustrated with monochrome photographs and very detailed line drawings. Inside the back cover, there is a pouch containing 1/24th scale set of plans of a British “X Craft” (numbers X5-X10, X20-25) and the German Seehund submarine. Apparently for modelmakers? [pt] |
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MONTURIOL'S DREAM
The Extradordinary Story of the Submarine Inventor Who Wanted to Save the World.
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NO TIME ON OUR SIDE
Roger Chapman. Nautical Publishing Company Ltd, Hampshire, UK. 1975. Hardcover, dustjacket, 168 pages, no index, mono photographs throughout. This tells the tale of the amazing rescue of Pisces III, a deep-sea untethered oceanographic two-man submarine (submersible) that was disable at 1,575 feet in the ocean 150 milers south of Cork, Ireland in August 1973. (It is a great failure of many books, and this one is not exception, that you have to search dilligently to find a date of when an event occurred. It is ridiculous to write "By Tuesday night I was feeling pretty tired", when you have no idea which bloody Tueaday!!! . From the fly: For three and a half days millions the world over held their breath for two men trapped on the Atlantic seabed, far deeper than any had previously survived a submarine accident. For Roger Chapman and Roger Mallinson there was the horror of plunging helplessly to the ocean bed; followed by the agonizing trials of lying day after day imprisoned by their tiny steel sphere in dank darkness with the air becoming so foul that it turned to a life or death struggle against slipping into a merciful coma. There was no time on their side when the rescuers were at last ready to risk hauling Pisces III up from the ocean bed; but for those trapped this proved the fiercest torture of all. Through what seemed an age their craft bucked them around brutally when suspended from a ship tossing on the surface, while divers fought to prevent it hurtling to the bottom again. Men and equipment were rushed by air and sea from Britain, Canada, USA and Ireland for the rescue operation which was led bv a man who himself had been rescued from the sea bottomand it had been in the same Pisces III. Peter Messervy and all those with him struggling underwater, afloat and in the air succeeded in a near miracle salvage against incredible difficulties. Aside from that fateful dive the author writes intriguingly of the amazing little underwater craft which are pioneers in the vast undersea development lying ahead of us. In his foreword Lord Robens of Woldingham writes 'How does one describe the quiet heroism and quality of men, sealed in their tiny craft for over 80 hours, finally rescued with the odds well against them, who continue to go diving again?'. [ps] |
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ONE OF OUR SUBMARINES
Edward Young.
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ONLY FOUR ESCAPED
C.E.T. Warren and James Benson Originally published 1958, many later editions, and retitled, THE ADMIRALTY REGRETS, and THETIS - THE ADMIRALTY REGRETS . US Edition: Published by William Sloane Associates, New York, 1959 - with indication that it was first published in Great Britaion in 1958 under the title 'The Admiralty Regrets'. Hardcover, dustjacket, fully illustrated. 219 pages, index, mono photographs, drawings. Cloth boards illustrated in green and blue with submarine silhouette. [ps] The true story of the account of the sinking of the Royal Navy Submarine, Thetis, on June 1, 1939. (Same year as the sinking of USS Squalus). Only four men survived out of a crew of 103. A truly tragic event in the history of Submarines. On June 1, 1939, His Majesty's Submarine Thetis sailed out into Liverpool Bay for diving trials. Aboard were technicians, civilian observers and others besides her crew - l03 men, double her usual com plement. England was still at peace; the weather was perfect; the boat was brand- new and had been checked from stem to stern before leaving the shipyard. There wasn't a reason anything should go wrong. At 2 o'clock, Thetis commenced diving. The dive began slowly - but ended with startling suddenness. At 11 o'clock, the B.B.C.. carried an alarming message. . . "The Admiralty regrets to announce that H. M. Thetis has failed to surface"- all because a yard workman had painted over a tiny but vital valve! In the stricken sub, there was no panic. Officers and men worked together, joked together, waited together. The air inside would last about a day. Plenty of time to feed out the men through the escape chamber, wearing the new breathing ap- paratus - and plenty of time for help to come from shore. But an escape hatch jammed.The men were slowly poisoning the air with their own breath. On shore, a vital telegram was delayed by a punctured bicycle tire. Differences of opinion over when to start rescue operations wasted precious hours.Divers made the slow sea route instead of traveling overland. Coal-heavers in Scotland refused to work before lunch. And the ship that was finally rushed to the scene was the slowest destroyer in the fleet. The result was a tragedy that will never be forgotten. In their authentic, hour-by-hour reconstruction of the disaster, based on the evidence of the four who escaped and on painstaking research, the authors have recreated all the bravery, bungling, help- lessness and heroism of men trapped by the sea. See personal comment below.
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SHIPS UNDER THE SEA -
A History of the Submarine
S. E. Ellacott Introduction by: Rear Admiral Ben Bryant CB, DSO, DSC Published by: Hutchinson & Co Ltd, London in 1961. Blue hard back covers with dustjacket; 142 pages. Dimensions: 20.5 cms tall by 13 cms wide. This book tells the story of the submarine from its beginnings to the then present day. It goes right back to submarines designed by Drebbel and touches on Bushnell, Fulton and the Holland coming right up to date with nuclear submarines. It is split into 14 chapters: “The Divers”, “Early Submarines”, “American Submariners”, “Progress Under The Surface”, “The Submarine Contest”, “The Trials and Test”, “The Q Ship and the Submarine”, “Progress of the Diver”, “Submarine Layout”, “The Battle of the Atlantic”, “Midget Submarines and Frogmen”, “The Old Order Changes”, “The New Nautilus” and “Undersea Atomic Fleets”. Extremely well illustrated throughout with line drawing all done by the author himself. Contains quite a bit of diving material. [pt] |
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SUBMARINE ENGINEERING OF TODAY
Charles W. Domville-Fife Published by Seeley, Service & Co Ltd, London in 1914 Hard cover with red board, title and author in gilt lettering. Cover also embossed with a gilt shield shape with a diving helmet. 324 printed pages with 98 illustrations and diagrams. Dimensions 20 cms tall by 13 cms wide. The book is described as “A popular account of the methods by which sunken ships are raised, docks built, rocks blasted away, tunnels excavated, and many other feats of engineering beneath the surface of the water, together with a description of the latest types of submarine boats”. This is truly an interesting book with 31 chapters and 2 appendix. Chapters include subjects like “The moden diver and his dress”, “the submarine telephone”, “pumps and compressors”, “submarine pneumatic tools”, “miscellaneous items of a divers gear”, “stories of salvage” plus much, much more. Like all other similar books of the time, many of the photographs are credited to Messrs Siebe Gorman & Co Ltd. [pt]
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SUBMARINE WARFARE OF TODAY
Charles W. Domville-Fife Published by Seeley, Service & Co Ltd, London in 1920. Hard cover with red board, title and author in embossed lettering. Cover also embossed with a gilt shield shape with a diving helmet. 304 printed pages with 53 illustrations. Dimensions 20 cms tall by 13 cms wide. The book is described as “How the submarine menace was met and vanquished, with descriptions of the inventions and devices used, fast boats, mystery ships, nets, aircraft., also describing the selection and training of the enormous personnel used in this new branch of the navy”. Also see “Submarine Engineering of Today” by the same author. [pt]
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THE COCKLESHELL CANOES
Subtitle: British Military Canoes of World War Two Quentin Rees Published by Amberley Publishing, Stroud, UK 2008 Card cover with no dust jacket 309 printed pages. Dimensions 25 cms tall by 17 cms wide Following very much extensive research by the author, this book gives an updated 2008 account of the World War 2 exploits of the teams of Royal Marines and their training and raids using canoes. But what's this to do with diving or being 'underwater'? Let's hope not too many of them sank during service - and if they did, they would hardly make a great dive. But there is a small tenuous link to being under the sea. . Chapter 15 is aptly entitled “The Canoe that was Made to Sink, Q’s Canoe – His Little Sleeping Beauty”. The whole 36 page chapter is about the famed one man submarine called “The Sleeping Beauty”. It is difficult to find anything meaningful about this craft, but, in here, it is covered in very much detail both in text and photographs. Well spotted PT. [pt] |
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THE HISTORY OF SUBMARINES
Commander Jeff Tall OBE RN In Association with the Royal Navy Submarine Museum Published by: Ticktock Publishing, UK in 1998. (A Snapping Turtle Guide) Soft printed covers ; 32 printed pages. Dimensions: 24 cms tall by 17 cms wide. This is a really interesting abridged guide to submarines, really aimed at juveniles. It is split into 14 very well illustrated sections with so many explanations about all things on the Submarine: "What is a Submarine", ""early Submarines", "The Holland", "Up to 1913", "The First World War", "Between the Wars", "World War II", "How A Submarine Works", "Attack and Defence", "The Cruel Sea", "Midged Submarines", "The Nuclear Age", "Submarines Today" and "Did You Know". Only a small book but very interesting. It gives an overview of various subjects like Bushnall's Turtle, The Hunley, The Holland, life in a submaring in both world wars, submarine escape, various midget submarines and modern submarines. [pt] |
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THE MYSTERY of X5
Subtitle: Lieutenant H Henty-Creer’s Attack on Tirpitz Frank Walker and Pamela Mellor. Published by: William Kinber & Co Ltd, London in 1988. Blue hard back covers with dustjacket; 239 printed pages. Dimensions: 24 cms tall by 15.5 cms wide. In 1943, three British “X Craft” midget submarines (X5, X6 and X7) set out to attack the German Tirpitz. X5 disappeared without trace but the crew of X6 and X7 were captured and the Tirpitz was crippled and never took part in the war again. All three commanders were recommended for a VC but X5 was deferred pending further investigation. This book is the story of an expedition organised by Henty-Creer’s sister (Pamela Mellor) and a naval expert (Frank Walker) and their attempt to confirm the X5’s part in the attack on Tirpitz, sadly the search was unsuccessful. As well as the search, the book contains Henty-Creer’s autobiography which he wrote while training in Scotland for the Tirpitz expedition. The book is divided into 4 parts, each part being split into further chapters. Part 1 – Wavy Navy Occasions: The Autobiography of Lieutenant Henty-Creer. Part 2 – The Attack on Tirpitz: “Submarine Sketches by Lt Henty-Creer”, “Training for the Day by Lt. Henty-Creer” and “The Attack (by Frank Walker)”. Part 3 – The Search: “The Search (by Pamela Mellor” and “The Eye Witnesses”. Part 4 – The Case for the VC by Frank Walker. Sadly, the search was not successful and many attempts have been made to locate the Midget Submarine X5 ever since. Illustrated with 35 monochrome photographs, drawings and maps. [pt] |
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THE ROGUE'S YARN
The Sea-going Life of Captain ‘Joe' Oram. By H.K.Oram; edited by Wendy Harris. First pubished in Great Britain by Leo Cooper, London, 1993. Hardcover, dustjacket, 243 pages, index, mono photographs. The main interest in this excellent autobiography, to me at least, is the authors involvent in several tragic submarine events. From the fly: Captain H.P. K. ('Joe') Oram's name was once familiar to all Naval Officers and most of the civilian population of the British Isles as well, for it was his unique misfortune to have been involved in three of the most dramatic submarine accidents in the comparatively short history of that service prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. Of these, it was the Thetis disaster in 1939 which secured for Captain Oram a place in the nation's memory as one of only four survivors who risked their lives in vain to save ninety-nine shipmates who perished in Liverpool Bay (off west coast Britain). During his lifetime, Joe Oram steadfastly steered clear of all attempts to extract the 'Thetis story' from him. It was neither in his nature to seek profit from the retelling of events in which so many had lost their lives, nor was it his desire to redouble the anguish of the bereaved through unwanted publicity. In old age, however, he felt the need to set the record straight within the context of his long and remarkable Naval career. He decided to record his story in a series of taped interviews with a trusted friend, Wendy Harris, setting her the task of splicing them together with diary extracts and other personal memoirs for publication. The words are all Captain Oram's, editing being limited to the excision ofmaterial which would be of little interest to the general reader. The book charts Oram's passage from boy-sailor in the sail training vessel Worcester just after the turn of the century to the exalted corridors of the Admiralty by the end of the Second World War. It tells of his transition from the Merchant to the Royal Navy just before the Great War, ofhis early experience in submarines under the tutelage of some of the pioneers of this revolutionary technology, and ofhis eventual appointment to Captain (S) 5th. Flotilla at HMS Dolphin, the submarine training school at Fort Blockhouse. [ps] |
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THE ROMANCE OF SUBMARINE ENGINEERING
by Thomas Corbin.
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THE ROMANCE OF THE SUBMARINE
G. Gibbard Jackson Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. No date. (Copy reviewed has school presentation label, dated December 1941). Hardcopy, no dustjacket on review copy and possibly none, 244 pages, many mono photographs and drawings, sixteen pages at end of book advertising other titles from the publishers. This is a most informative book with over seventy photographsThe author notes that he has taken this book predominantly from an earlier title of his called The Story of the Submarine which is now (and at the time of the author's writing) out of print. There are noneteen chapters, from ‘The Beginning of the Subnarine' through to ‘The Submarine in the Great War', which is the First World War of 1913-1918. Ttwo of the last chapters include ‘Lost Submarines' (9 pages), and ‘The Salvage of Submarines' (16 pages). Of the lost submarine we have brief details on : Fulton, Berwick Castle, Farfadet, Dephin, Bonite, Suffren, the H27, and the L12. There are no doubt more modern and authoraative publications on the development of the submarine but the text is easy reading, perhaps aimed at the senior teenager, and the photographs excellents. [ps] |
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THE TERRIBLE HOURS
The Man Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History
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PREPARE TO DIVE - The Story of Man Underwater.
J.Coggins
Published by Bailey Brothers and Swinfen Ltd, Fokestone (England), 1973; and Dodd, Mead & Co, New York. By no means a classic, it is still a very readable and interesting book, covering early diving bells, through to submarines and underwatwer research vessels. Many line drawings throughout, no photographs. Hardcover, 128 pages, dust jacket. See further - History of Diving. [ps] |
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RAIDERS OF THE DEEP
Lowell Thomas First published by William Heinemann Ltd, London, in 1929, with subsequent reprints to at least May 1932. Also: Doubleday Doran Garden City, NY 1928 (as indicated in a publication) "This 1928 best seller offers a sympathetic, behind-the-scenes look at the men who prowled the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and English Channel in U-boats."
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SHIPS BENEATH THE SEA: A HISTORY OF SUBMARINES AND SUBMERSIBLES.
Robert F. Burgess.
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STAND BY TO SURFACE
Richard Baxter. Published 1944 by Cassell and Company, Ltd, London. First Australian edition 1944. Hardcover, dust jacket, 8 3/4" x 5 1/2", 208 pages, well illustrated with thity-six mono photographs although (Australian edition) is poorly printed; brown cloth-bound boards. A salute to submariners from many navies - Royal Navy, Polish, Dutch, Greek, & American - heroes all! A history through anecdote and action of those who go to sea in submarines. Stories of the men nd ships in th submarine service, including the ships Safari, Sealion, Truant, Trusty and many others. Predominantly on the British service, also covers Polish, Dutch, Greek and American submarines. From the back dustjacket blurb (part of the Foreword by Admiral Sir Charles Little: "This is a story of ordinary men, but ordinary men whom the traditions and the life of the Sub- marine Branch have made heroes. The Commanding Officer of a submarine has all the excitement of the dive, but also the responsibility; the waiting eyes of his men on diving-wheel kingston, fore end, engine room and communications watch for his smallest wish, while enemy propellers sound overhead and depth charges foretell his purpose. And so it is with our Allies - Polish, Dutch, Greek or American - all speak the language of the submarine. Mr. Richard Baxter has done a great service in bringing something of the life and exploits of our submarine personnel before the public. [ps] |
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SUBMARINE ENGINEERING
Subtitle: All about work underwater, diving, submarines, torpedoes, cables, signalling, dredging, etc Sydney F Walker, R. N. Published by C Arthur Pearson Ltd, Henrietta Street, London 1920 (first published 1914). Cover also says the book is number 8 from the “How Does It Work” series Card cover with 127 printed pages. (Also available in “cloth boards”, ie hardcover). Dimensions 18.5 cms tall by 12 cms wide Contains 16 plates and 24 line drawings. First published in 1914, this 1920 soft back edition of the book contains 12 chapters covering all aspects of work underwater, then each chapter is further broken down into sub sections. For instance, the chapter entitled “Work Underwater” is sub-divided into sections including The Diver, The Physical Condition of Men Who Dive, The Diving Dress, The Helmet, The Dangers of Diving, Work Done Underwater and The Diving Bell. Other chapters include “The Submarine”, “Mines and Torpedoes”, “Submarine Cables”, “Repairing Ships Underwater”, “Dredging”, “Submarine Signalling”, “Lighting Underwater”, “Compressed Air and its Uses” and “Sounding Apparatus”. As with many other books of the time, the author acknowledges the firm of Siebe Gorman & Co Ltd for their help. Many of the plates showing divers in the book will be instantly recognised as the author also acknowledges Mr Stephen Cribb of Southsea (near Portsmouth in England) for allowing his photographs to be used. [PT] |
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SUBSUNK - The Story of Submarine
Escape. Captain W.O. Shelford.
First published in Great Britain 1960, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, London. Hardcover, dustjacket, 256 pages, mono plates throughout, drawings. Includes 'the first escape ever'; Thetis, Squalus; rescue bells, escape apparatus. A very interesting book. The first half of the book describes successful escapes from sunken submarines from early periods, one as early as the 1850's. The second half is the author's personal experiences of pioneering many methods of submarine escape from 1941 when he was appointed to command the Royal Navy's Submarine Escape Training Unit. All types of submarine escape apparatus known up to that date are also described with detailed drawings. [ps] [cd] |
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SUNK - The Story of
the Japanese Submarine Fleet 1942-1945.
Mochitsura Hashimoto. (Formely Submarine Commandng Officer Imperial Japanese Navy). Translated by Commander E.H.M.Colegrave, RN. Cassell and Company Ltd. London, 1954. Hardcover, dustjacket, 219 pages, index, summary of campaigns, fold-out map, a few charts. Regarded as one of the finest books on the Pacific war, irrespective of the nationality of the author, but refreshing to read a book that sees the conflict from the Japanese point of view. After all, Japan build not only the largest submarines of her day, but also the smallest - aand some were drones. Toward the end of the war the Japanese ha to use what subs they had left to ferry badly-needed supplies to bases such as Rabaul. "From official records and survivors' stories he has pieced together the stories of many submarines in many parts of the theatre of war and the operations he describes range from thePacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean,from the American coast to the North Sea. And from these descriptions of the Japanese in action emerges an oddly contrasted picture of fanaticism and panic, of death welcomed with pride, of suicide rather than capture. and of fear and hysteria in the privacy of the deep. The book ends with appendices giving summaries of the Japanese submarine campaign; details of Japanese submarines built before and during the war, details of ships sunk by submarines and a record of Japan's own submarine losses." [ps] |
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THE RESCUER
The extraordinary life of the Navy's "Swede" Momsen and his role in an epic submarine disaster. Peter Maas. Harper And Row New York 1967. Hardcover, dustjacket, 239 pages. Collins, London 1968. Hardcover, dustjacket. Image shown - not sure which printing. The author's first full-length book. With eight pages of illustrations. Appendices. Author's note. Bibliography. Index. From the Dust Jacket: "This is the story of a man and a ship. He was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy but the ship was not his command. Yet on May 23, 1939, it seemed as if all this man's vision, doggedness and life's work had been shaped directly toward that place and that moment when the submarine Squalus fell 243 feet to the bottom of the sea, trapping fifty-nine men within her." [ps] See below "The Terrible Hours". |
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THE STICK AND THE STARS
Commander William King. Hutchinson & Co., London. 1958. Hardcover, dustjacket, 192 pages, no index, no photographs nor illustrations, maps on endpapers. From the fly: "The outbreak of war found Commander William King, D.S.O. (and bar), D.S.C., a twenty-eight- year-old lieutenant, newly qualified as commanding officer of a British submarine. The spring and summer of 1940 saw him with H.M.S. Snapper in constant action in the North Sea, where eighty per cent of his submarine flotilla were lost. During the nightmare of the Norwegian cam paign, when the midnight sun allowed no respite from enemy aircraft, he won a D.S.O. and a D.S.C. for sinkings. When the war ended he was the only submarine captain who had been almost continuously in operational command throughout all the six years of hostilities - a record surely unequalled in the submarine branch of any navy. This very human narrative has a happy ending. After six years of almost incessant under.water action the author found some difficulty in adjusting himself to either peace or land. But in the end he attained his object. Having crossed the Atlantic four times under canvas and won the 1951 Paul Hammond Cup for the 'best individual performance in sailing craft of any type,' he settled in the west of Ireland, where a farm, three hunters and two children keep him fully occupied. The Stick and Stars, coming as it does after the full flood of war books has spent its force, will rank among the best of them." [ps] |
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THE WONDERS OF THE SUBMARINE
AND OTHER UNDER-WATER INVENTIONS.
T.W.Corbin. Seeley, Service and Co. Limited, London. 1918. A delightful book with several excellent mono photographs, covering the early development of standard rig diving, diving bells, caisson work and the submarine, submairne weapons, disasters and escape from a submarine. It is of historic interest because of its age, and its content. Hardcover, no dust jacket, 164 pages. |
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U-BOAT FAR FROM HOME
The Epic Voyage of U 862 to Australia and New Zealand. David Stevens. Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia, 1997. Softcover, 282 pages, mono photographs and charts, index, bibliography, notes What a remarkable story - what a remarkable book. There wouldn't be a real or armchair submariner in Australia who has not read this book!! From the fly: "In late 1944, with its U-boats defeated in the Atlantic, the German Navy sought new areas in which to deploy - distant waters where defences might be weaker and successes easier to achieve. Australia was one such location. U-Boat Far From Home reveals for the first time the full extent of the German plan for an underwater offensive against the southern continent. Of all the U-boats allocated to the mission, U 862 was the only one that managed to survive. (The book) takes the reader into the confined and dangerous world of a submarine at war. David Stevens examines the stresses and motivations of a young crew who for months at a time maintained a twilight existence, and whose fate ultimately depended on the ability of just one man, their captain, Heinrich Timm." The author is wll qualified to research and write this exceptional book; in 1994, after retireing from the Royal Australian Navy, he was appointed Director of Naval Historical Studies within the Department of Defence (Navy). It is rumoured that an un-named submarine lies on the seabed not far from my home in South Gippsland, eastern Victoria - somewhere off Wilsons Promontory. It is not the U 872 of course, but if one does exist, could it be one of the ill-fated German U-boats. [ps] |
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UNDER PRESSURE: THE FINAL
VOYAGE OF SUBMARINE S-FIVE
A J Hill. The Free Press (a division of Simon and Schuster), New York, 2002. Hardcover, dustjacket, 239 pages, index, appendiciescentre-section of eight pages of mono photographs. The "S-Five, " the newest of the U.S. Navy's fleet of submarines, was launched on its maiden voyage in August 1920 from Boston, heading for Baltimore. Two days into the trip, a faulty valve leads to the sinking of the "S-Five." This is the incredible true story of heroism, as the sub's captain and crew race against time. 8 pp. photo insert. Index. Notes. Comment via Alibri, 2008: This true story of a WW1 submarine accident is so incredibly exciting, you'd think it was fiction. The chief of the boat fails to close an induction valve as they do a routine test dive on its' first cruise, and sends the sub to the bottom in relatively shallow water. The ingenious Captain manages to shift the water within the sub and stand it upright on it's nose and then, by calculating that the tail should be above water, they set out to cut a hole (without proper tools) through the steel before they are overwhelmed by chlorine gas. The race against time, the battle against despair, the bravery of all those involved, including the ship that eventually sees the small white rag the men are waving out of the small hole they made, makes for an excellent adventure with a happy ending. This incident resulted in subsequent subs being equipped with a "Christmas tree" of green lights to verify that all valves and hatches are indeed closed, before they dive the boat. [ps] |
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UNDERSEA FRONTIERS
Exploring by Deep-Diving Submarines.
Gardner Soule. Rand McNally & Co. USA. 1968. Hardcover, dustjacket, 256 pages, many mono photographs, bibliography, index. From the fly: Today a small group of men are exploring landscapes stranger than the surface of the moon and encountering creatures more startling than the monsters of science fiction. They are the aquanauts whose achievements are revolutionizing the science of oceanography. Those achievements, told in the words of the explorers, are now reported for the first time in this book. Experimental deep-diving submarines, operating at depths even beyond the latest atomic subs, are visiting a world unknown before our decade. They move amid bizarre and often completely new animals, past towering undersea mountains, through valleys dwarfing the Grand Canyon, among invaluable mineral deposits waiting to be scooped from the oceans' floors. The breathtaking awe of discovery, the eye-witness accounts of the first men to have visited earth's final frontier, are here on every page. The illustrations, many of them never before published, -lend credeoce to their stranger-than-fiction story. [ps] |
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UNDERWATER TORPEDO BOATS, THEIR MERITS AND
MENACE, THE DIVING SUB VS. THE EVEN KEEL SUBMERSIBLE
Lake Torpedo Boat Co, Bridgeport, c. 1905. Lake was the father of the modern submarine. |
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WAR FISH
George Grider and Lydel Sims. Published 1958 by Cassell & Co, London. I havn't read it yet, and without a blurb it is not possible to give a reasonable summary. Appears to cover submarine operations in th western Pacifc area in World War 2, after the loss of th British ships Repulse and Prince of Wales. American submarines Wahoo and Hawkbill are mentioned. Hardcover, dustjacket, 214 pages, no photographs. |
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WILL NOT WE FEAR - The Story of H
M Submarine “Seal”
C.E.T. Warren and James Benson. Forward by: Lieutenant Commander Rupert Lonsdale. Published by: George G. Harrap, London, UK in 1961 Hard back green covers with dustjacket; 228 pages. Dimensions: 21.5 cms tall by 14.5 cms wide. While laying mines in the Kattegat Sea in WW2 in 1940, the submarine Seal became entangled in the cable of a floating mine which exploded and damaged the hull which flooded several compartments., burying her stern in the mud. The book covers the sinking, escape and capture of crew as prisoners of war and the eventual court martial in 1946. Divided into 18 chapters, the book 15 monochrome photographs and 3 line drawings. [pt]
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