Throughout the annals of history, the best of intentions -- and sometimes the worst -- have set in motion events with a vastly different outcome than originally intended. In this entertaining, fact-filled chronicle, William Forstchen and Bill Fawcett explore the watersheds of history that began as the best of ideas and ended as the worst of fiascoes. A HOLY WAR -- The Medieval Crusades for religious liberation become centuries of slaughter and destruction. SIBLING RIVALRY -- Leif Erikson spares his sister's life and delays the discovery of the New World for five hundred years. BIG GUNS -- Emperor Constantine XI refuses to buy a new supercannon that would let him dominate his enemies, so its creator sells the cannon to the Turks, who then crush Constantinople. With casual wit and subtle insight, It Seemed Like a Good Idea...tucks tongue in cheek and rides out the fiascoes of history. The year is 1985, and two great superpowers -- the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.-- are locked in a lethal, escalating race of arms and technology. When reports are received of a devastating new Soviet weapon -- a prototype attack submarine more advanced than anything in the U.S. undersea arsenal -- a nearly obsolete Grayback Class submarine carrying a platoon of SEALs is suddenly America's greatest hope. Their mission: to penetrate the Soviet sub's home port, the heavily defended Severodvinsk shipyard on the White Sea, and bring back secret data on the new sub. The task is almost impossible but failure would give a powerful enemy dominion over the Earth's waters -- and a first-strike advantage that could prove nothing less than catastrophic to the Free World.The year is 1985, and two great superpowers--the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.--are locked in a lethal, escalating race of arms and technology. When reports are received of a devastating new Soviet weapon--a prototype attack submarine more advanced than anything in the U.S. undersea arsenal--a nearly obsolete Grayback Class submarine carrying a platoon of SEALs is suddenly America's greatest hope. Their mission: to penetrate the Soviet sub's home port, the heavily defended Severodvinsk shipyard on the White Sea, and bring back secret data on the new sub. The task is almost impossible but failure would give a powerful enemy dominion over the Earth's waters--and a first-strike advantage that could prove nothing less than catastrophic to the Free World.

The year is 1987. Military Intelligence has sent reports of an awesome new Soviet sub that no one in the West has ever seen before in the Russian-patrolled seas off the Kamchacka Peninsula. Now Tom Gorden, new commander of the Los Angeles Class submarine Pittsburgh, must transport a hand-picked team of U.S. Navy SEALs into hostile waters and go up against the phantom boat -- even at the risk of a shooting war. But the enemy has its own reasons for luring U.S. forces onto Russian turf. And there is a highly placed spy in the American ranks who may, even now, be leading a boat full of brave men to their doom.

A crew of American naval submariners go up against an unidentified terrorist threat in this military thriller from a U.S. Navy veteran. The U.S.S. Virginia— the first in the most technologically advanced new class of U.S. attack submarines—sets sail, even as the Navy’s high-tech submarine program falls under attack from a Congress ready to cut military spending. But a threat no one anticipated is gliding silently through dangerous waters. A rogue Kilo-class submarine built by a shadowy and powerful ally has become the latest weapon in al Qaeda’s terrorist arsenal. The submarine’s brutal strikes have created a volatile hostage situation in the Pacific . . . and have left hundreds of people dead. This new and stealthy terrorist threat must be eliminated before more innocent lives are lost. But the officers, crew, and Navy SEALs aboard the Virginia will face more than they anticipated in the turbulent waters of the South China Sea—as one untried American sub races toward an explosive confrontation with a cunning, and ruthless enemy.

This volume provides Compton Hall's pictorial history of submarine warfare in World War II.

The story of Tang and her gallant crew ranks with the most amazing of naval history. Whether rescuing Navy fliers off Truk or stalking enemy convoys off Japan, Tang carried the war to the enemy with unparalleled ferocity. Tang’s skipper on all five of her war patrols, Rear Admiral Richard H. O’Kane is acknowledged as the top submarine skipper of World War II. His personal decorations include three Navy Crosses and the Congressional Medal of Honor. He retired as a rear admiral from his command of the Submarine School, rounding out twenty years with the boats. He also wrote the classic Wahoo: The Patrols of America’s Most Famous WWII Submarine. Praise for Clear the Bridge! “There is no doubt that Tang was the best. . . . Most of the rest of us wondered what it was she had that the others didn’t. And here it is, in this extraordinary ‘tell it as it really happened’ book, written by the most daring, most professional submarine skipper of the war.”—Capt. Edward Beach, author of Run Silent, Run Deep “A classic of naval literature. . . . A stirring tribute, not only to [Richard O’Kane’s] gallant crew, but to all World War II submariners.”—Michael D. Hull, Military Magazine “Reading of [Tang’s] career and of the men aboard her is one of the great reading experiences of my life.”—Broox Sledge, The Book World