Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside A Nuclear Warship - Softcover

Clancy, Tom; Gresham, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425138739 ISBN 13: 9780425138731

Publisher: Berkley Books, 1993

Synopsis

The best-selling novelist exposes the inner workings of the nuclear submarine, the core of America's nuclear arsenal, using previously unrevealed diagrams and photographs along with formerly top-secret information. 500,000 first printing. $200,000 ad/promo.

About this title

About the Author

Tom Clancy was the author of eighteen #1 New York Times-bestselling novels. His first effort, The Hunt for Red October, sold briskly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted onto the bestseller list after President Ronald Reagan pronounced it ���the perfect yarn.��� Clancy was the undisputed master at blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate plotting, and razor-sharp suspense. He died in October 2013.

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Reviews

Up periscope! with America's favorite armchair technowarrior, who here, with the cooperation of the Navy, takes readers deeper than they've ever gone inside a nuclear submarine. Clancy's fascination with underseas combat dates back at least as far as his debut novel, the sub-set The Hunt for Red October, and you can sense his pride and excitement as--after a brief but well-informed survey of the history of submarines and of a submariner's training- -he takes us aboard the USS Miami, an Improved Los Angeles-class boat berthed at the US Submarine Base in Groton, Connecticut. Those who share Clancy's almost erotic admiration for technology won't be disappointed by the tour: ``It is easy to tell that the Miami is equipped with the Mk 32 VLS system, since it is sitting level in the water,'' he tells us at once, adding that the ``33-foot- diameter hull is...approximately 3 inches thick and composed of HNY-80 high tensile steel.'' But fans of human-interest also will find that's engaging here, as the author notes, for example, that life aboard the Miami is akin to ``a combination of living in an oversized motor home and summer camp,'' with no privacy but much esprit de corps, where sleep deprivation is a major problem but dining is ``a pleasure,'' except for the preponderance of three- bean salad and the horrid-tasting orange ``bug juice''--which however, makes ``an excellent scouring powder for cleaning floors and heads.'' Clancy follows up his tour of the Miami with a briefer one of a British sub; a rundown of various submarine missions; and glances at other countries' submarines (Sweden, it turns out, has a formidable sub force). All in all: a fast-paced silent running that will please many of the author's fans--enough, perhaps, to allow a surfacing on the bestseller lists. (Photographs and drawings throughout) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Best-selling author Clancy's first nonfiction book is a thorough, highly detailed examination of the technology employed by U.S. nuclear attack submarines. After months of lobbying, Clancy was granted security clearance by the navy to board and photograph the nuclear powered USS Miami. Every inch of this state-of-the-art vessel is covered, from the hull, control room, and engine room nuclear reactors to the communications/electronic warfare space and torpedo bays. Clancy shows readers how all the components are made and how they work. Also included is the fascinating history and evolution of submarines and an inside look at life on board, from captain to crew. Much of the information here has only recently been declassified, and Clancy's insightful views on the future of this type of warship in the post-Cold War era are interesting as well. Recommended.
- Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence, R.I.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0425138739
• ISBN 13: 9780425138731
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352