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Title: Big Red : Three Months Onboard a Trident Nuclear Submarine by Douglas C. Waller, Cariou Len ISBN: 0-694-52461-1 Publisher: HarperAudio Pub. Date: 06 March, 2001 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.08 (24 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Big Red deseerves an award
Comment: Big Red
Three Months On Board
A Trident Nuclear
Submarine
By Douglas C. Waller
Harper Collins
Doug Waller is probably the best military writer alive today in the non-fiction category.
His earlier book, "Air Warriors: The Inside Story of the Making of a Navy Pilot," was must reading for anyone who has the slightest interest in military aviation.
Now he's come out with a fascinating 330-page insider's report on another aspect of the military spectrum. It's called "Big Red" because "Red" is the USS Nebraska, SSBN-739, a top secret "boomer," a nuclear-powered, long-range, ICBM-carrying undersea warship which patrols silently and secretly for up to three months at a time.
Somehow, Waller persuaded the Navy brass to let him ride along on a three month patrol and write down what he saw and heard. In this book, you'll find out that the nuclear threat portrayed in the popular film "Crimson Tide" couldn't happen, and why. You'll also learn that boomer sailors may be among the hardest working crews ever to take to sea; in the modern Navy, anyway.
For 90 days, they exist on 18 hours days, of which 12 of those are either standing watch, working their specialty, studying, practicing, eating or reading manuals. In between, there are drills, drills and more drills. From battle stations to man overboard to launching missiles to fire in the torpedo section, sub sailors are constantly called upon to perfect their craft.
All this without even a window to look out of.
What possesses a man to seal himself inside of a metal tube for 90 days, twice a year, out of touch and out of reach of family, friends and loved ones, only to face endless seven-day weeks of training, studying, drilling and worse - with no privacy? Isn't it like being in prison with the possibility of drowning?
After you spent time with Big Red, you'll better understand these modern heroes and feel a lot more secure about whose fingers are on the nuclear buttons.
Waller's writing is fast-paced, conversational and fun to read. An amazing book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Good Technical Treatment/Superb Sociological Study
Comment: Douglas Waller has a real talent for immersing you in the world of the present-day American submariner. He deals not just with the technical nuts and bolts of the nuclear powered Trident submarine Nebraska, but he gives you a real feel for the crew, both individually and collectively. I suspect that this is a somewhat sanitized view of life under water; after all he did live with these men for an extended period of time, undoubtedly shared confidences with them, and almost certainly grew to like and admire them. He probably wouldn't produce a "reveal all" expose as a result. Yet having stated that caveat, to the uninitiated at least the book nonetheless rings true. This a valuable contribution to our understanding of why the American military is usually so successful, and offers an insight into how it maintains the United States as the last remaining superpower. In many respects, Waller's writing does for the undersea navy what the likes of Anna Simons ("The Company They Keep: Life Inside the U.S. Army Special Forces") have done for other branches of the military. Not only is this a good, entertaining read, but it is an excellent study into the sociology of a very unique, small, but surely very important social group!
Rating: 5
Summary: Plank Owner
Comment: As a member of the USS Nebraska commissioning crew I was excited to find a book about the boat I once called home. I served on the Nebraska as a sonar technician from April of 1993 through the end of my enlistment in 1996. I was there when she first put to sea and submerged for the first time.
You might think- "Why would someone who served on the boat want to read about it?" I served in the USN at an odd time in history: The USSR had collapsed but the US continues to build and deploy missile-boats. The military was being down sized and long time service members were being moved to retirement. When we went on patrol #1 in 1994 there was little if any contact with foreign navies and none with any hostel ones. I was interested in what life on these seemingly obsolete yet devastatingly powerful boats was like in the late '90s. Mr. Waller did a superb job in conveying life on an SSBN. Though I suspect the Navy arranged more perks than is normal (mid-shipmen runs and steel beaches are considered easy duty and were rare events). But despite that I found the book excellent. Other books about submarines like Rising Tide and Blind Man's Bluff offer more "excitement" in terms of daring missions and Cold War drama and while not to lessen those books, Big Red is real life on a submarine and written by a man who met active duty submariners and lived there life with them. The other books seem to be written by wannabes who though fascinated by submarines never bother to convey the human element of the routine and isolation nor understand why the stories they are reciting are inaccurate because they have never served on a submarine. e.g. Rising Tide has an story of Soviet submariners dying for failure to decompress. Submarines are obviously air tight and since they are sealed at sea level the pressure inside is always close (in does change a bit) to sea level so there is never any need to decompress. If the sailors in the story actually had to pressurize to the stated depth- 5000 ft- in order to escape their downed boat they would likely have died anyway as at that pressure the human body would be badly damages- sorry all you Abyss fans.
One criticism however, submarines are referred to as "boats" not "subs". The author constantly uses the later and it drove me nuts. Other books do the same.
I would also recommend Dark Waters about the NR-1. Offers both the exploits of an incredible boat but also is written by a member of her original crew thereby combining both elements.
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Title: Dark Waters: An Insider's Account of the NR-1, the Cold War's Undercover Nuclear Sub by Lee Vyborny, Don Davis ISBN: 0451207777 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage by Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, Annette Lawrence Drew ISBN: 006103004X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 06 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy by Robert Moore ISBN: 0609610007 Publisher: Crown Publishers Pub. Date: 14 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea by John Pina Craven, John Pina Craven ISBN: 0684872137 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 15 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Submarines (Complete Idiot's Guides (Lifestyle)) by Michael DiMercurio, Michael Benson ISBN: 0028644719 Publisher: Alpha Books Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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