Culled from many never-before-published narratives and oral histories conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Naval Institute, Submarine Stories presents nearly five dozen first-person accounts from men who were involved with gasoline- and diesel-powered submarines during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The story of these boats, their technological evolution and tactical value, is also the story of the men who went to sea in them. The accounts illustrate the human aspects of serving in diesel boats: the training, operations in peacetime and war, liberty exploits, humorous sidelights, and special feelings of bonding and camaraderie that grew among shipmates. Included here are some familiar names. Slade Cutter, who earned four Navy Crosses as a skipper in World War II, describes the process that made him a capable submariner. Dennis Wilkinson, first skipper of the nuclear-powered Nautilus in the 1950s, tells of being in the first missile-firing submarine in the 1940s. Robert McNitt recalls his experiences as executive officer to Medal of Honor skipper Gene Fluckey. Among the other submariners who present their personal memories are Jerry Beckley, contemplating the possibility of firing nuclear missiles during the 1962 Cuban crisis; Hosey Mays, describing what it was like to be a black man in a boat with a nearly all-white crew; Paul Foster, discussing the sinking a German U-boat in World War I; and Wayne Miller, explaining the enormous satisfaction he felt when he earned his silver dolphins.

A fascinating and comprehensive account of how an initially ineffectual underwater boat—originally derided and loathed in equal measure—evolved into the most powerful and terrifying vessel ever invented—with enough destructive power to end all life on Earth. Iain Ballantyne considers the key episodes of submarine warfare and vividly describes the stories of brave individuals who have risked their lives under the sea, often with fatal consequences. His analysis of underwater conflict begins with Archimedes discovering the Principle of Buoyancy. Our clandestine journey then moves through the centuries and focuses on prolific characters with deathly motives, including David Bushnell, who in 1775 in America devised the first combat submarine with the idea of attacking the British. Today, nuclear-powered submarines are among the most complex, costly ships in existence. Armed with nuclear weapons, they have the ability to destroy millions of lives: they are the most powerful warships ever created. At the heart of this thrilling narrative lurks danger and power as we discover warfare’s murkiest secrets.

During the bleak, heartbreaking days of early 1942, when beleaguered Malta was reeling under bombardment and blockade and Rommel was making his last desperate thrust towards Egypt, only one British submarine was operating in the western Mediterranean - the tiny, 600-ton Unbroken. In twelve months in the Med, Unbroken sank over 30,000 tons of enemy shipping, took part in four secret operations, three successful gun actions, and survived a total of over 400 depth charges, as well as innumerable air and surface attacks. This account of the 26-year-old Alastair Mars' command of this outstandingly successful submarine embraces her construction, sea trials and voyage to Gibraltar preparatory to her vital role in the Mediterranean. Once there, she was responsible for the destruction of two Italian cruisers and played a pivotal part in Operation Pedestal, the convoy that saved Malta from surrender. Alastair Mars writes simply and without pretension, and his words evoke the claustrophobic yet heroic world of the submariner.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • “[Dunthorne’s] precocious talent and cheerful fondness for the teenage male are showcased in Submarine. . . . Oliver’s voice is funny and dead-on.”—The New York Times Book Review(Editors’ Choice) At once a self-styled social scientist, a spy in the baffling adult world, and a budding, hormone-driven emotional explorer, Oliver Tate is stealthily nosing his way forward through the murky and uniquely perilous waters of adolescence. His objectives? Uncovering the secrets behind his parents’ teetering marriage, unraveling the mystery that is his alluring and equally quirky classmate Jordana Bevan, and understanding where he fits in among the mystifying beings in his orbit. Struggling to buoy his parents’ wedded bliss, deep-six his own virginity, and sound the depths of heartache, happiness, and the business of being human, what’s a lad to do? Poised precariously on the cusp of innocence and experience, Oliver Tate aims to damn the torpedoes and take the plunge. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Joe Dunthorne's Wild Abandon. Praise for Submarine “[Joe Dunthorne is] probably destined to be compared with Mark Haddon and Roddy Doyle.”—The Miami Herald “This absolutely winning debut novel isn’t so much a coming-of-age tale as it is a reflection on what it means to be a certain age and of an uncertain mind.”—Los Angeles Times “A brilliant first novel by a young man of ferocious comic talent.”—The Times (London) “Preternaturally wise, slightly devious and highly entertaining.”—USA Today

They are the ultimate unseen deterrent in modern warfare. Thousands of tons of steel, missiles, torpedoes, and men lurking silently hundreds of feet underwater, able to lie off any coastline and unleash a devastating hail of destruction with pinpoint accuracy. They are the true masters of the oceans, striking swift and unseen before slipping away, ready to do it all over again at a moment's notice. Submarines and their crews have long held a revered place in the military, with a special place of honor reserved for those men who willingly seal themselves in what could amount to a nuclear-powered coffin for months on end. Although the submarine is a relatively recent development in the field of warfare, many of the men who live and fight in these steel fish have already become legends. Edited by bestselling author Larry Bond,Crash Divecollects the best nonfiction writing about these near-silent killers of the deep and their crews. From the toughGatoclass boats that harassed the Japanese Navy during World War II to the cat-and-mouse games played by U.S. and Soviet submarines during the Cold War,Crash Divewill take you inside the deep and deadly world of the military submarine.

An undersea adventure narrated from the suffocating depths of the ocean floor—as time and oxygen are quickly running out—The Dive is the harrowing and heroic story of the rescue of submarine Pisces III. They were out of their depth, out of breath and out of time. Two men, trapped in a crippled submarine. Outside was pitch darkness and the icy chill of the ocean’s depths—and the crushing weight of 1,700 feet of water. On the surface a flotilla of ships and a rescue operation under the command of an eccentric retired naval commander. For three days, the world watched and held its breath. On August 29th, 1973, a routine dive to the telecommunication cable that snakes along the Atlantic sea bed went badly wrong. Pisces III, with Roger Chapman and Roger Mallinson onboard, had tried to surface when a catastrophic fault suddenly sent the mini-submarine tumbling to the ocean bed—almost half a mile below. Badly damaged, buried nose first in a bed of sand, the submarine and the two men were now trapped far beyond the depth of all previous sub-sea rescues. They had just two days’ worth of oxygen. Rescue was three days away. The Dive reconstructs the minute by minute race against time that took place to first locate Pisces III and then execute the deepest rescue in maritime history. Ricocheting from the smoke filled ‘war room’ at Vickers, the world famous ship-building headquarters, in Barrow-in-Furness, to the surface vessels and then down to depths where three separate dive teams and the mini-submarine struggled in darkness, this thrilling adventure story shows how Britain, America, and Canada pooled their resources into a ‘Brotherhood of the Sea’ dedicated to stopping the ocean depths from claiming two of their own. Yet at the heart of The Dive is the human drama is the relationship between Roger Chapman, the ebullient former naval officer, and Roger Mallinson, the studious engineer, sealed in a sunken sarcophagus, with air quickly running out and help a long way off. For three days they would battle against despair, fading hope, and carbon dioxide poisoning, taking the reader on an emotional ride from the depths of defeat to a glimpse of the sun-dappled surface.