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Admiral Arnold Morgan #1
Nimitz Class
It's as big as the Empire State Building, a massive floating fortress at the throbbing heart of a U.S. Navy Carrier Battle Group. It's a Nimitz-class nuclear carrier, the most powerful weapons system on the planet. Nothing can touch it.So when the first stunned messages say only that the Thomas Jefferson has disappeared, the Navy reacts with disbelief. But the truth becomes inescapable: a Nimitz-class carrier has been claimed by nuclear catastrophe-no other explanation is possible.
But as Navy maverick Bill Baldridge begins to investigate the disaster that claimed his idolized brother's life, another chilling alternative begins to emerge: a rogue submarine. Suddenly it's up to Bill Baldridge to track down this shadowy nuclear terrorist, who still has another nuclear-tipped torpedo in his arsenal.
But as Navy maverick Bill Baldridge begins to investigate the disaster that claimed his idolized brother's life, another chilling alternative begins to emerge: a rogue submarine. Suddenly it's up to Bill Baldridge to track down this shadowy nuclear terrorist, who still has another nuclear-tipped torpedo in his arsenal.
"An absolutely marvelous thriller, one of the best things of its kind I have read in years. I don't need to urge people to read it, because they will do so by the millions."
-- Jack Higgins
Audio
First published January 16, 1997
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About the author
Patrick Robinson
102 books344 followersPatrick Robinson was a journalist for many years before becoming a full-time writer of books. His non-fiction books were bestsellers around the world and he was the co-author of Sandy Woodward's Falklands War memoir, One Hundred Days.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
February 23, 2009
Nimitz Class has a decent plot, a lot of interesting technical information about submarines, carrier fleets, and Naval operations. ON the surface this book had the potential of being a Tom Clancy class Naval thriller. However, the author dropped the ball by rushing his story telling.
One would think that a terrorist/spy/mole could be found simply by going to a naval base in Scotland and examining the records of all who had passed through their special submarine school. The author rushes the tale of a related seal mission into a short chapter.
Instead of storyline and characterization we have a rushed summation of a hunt for truth after a ship evaporates (nuclearly speaking) outside of the Gulf of Hormuz. The characters sit around and discuss the need to obtain information, only to have the information practically handed to them on a silver platter. Jack Ryan never had it this easy when he was an analyst for the CIA.
Was this book worth reading? Yes, but just barely. The author has written a number of books relating to naval operations and seems to know his technical stuff, but in this case he was unable to bring about enough tension to the story. Final resolution is rushed and leaves the reader wondering why he didn't provide better details.
As much as Clancy has lost his touch... sorry.. I'll stick to Clancy over this author just about any day.
One would think that a terrorist/spy/mole could be found simply by going to a naval base in Scotland and examining the records of all who had passed through their special submarine school. The author rushes the tale of a related seal mission into a short chapter.
Instead of storyline and characterization we have a rushed summation of a hunt for truth after a ship evaporates (nuclearly speaking) outside of the Gulf of Hormuz. The characters sit around and discuss the need to obtain information, only to have the information practically handed to them on a silver platter. Jack Ryan never had it this easy when he was an analyst for the CIA.
Was this book worth reading? Yes, but just barely. The author has written a number of books relating to naval operations and seems to know his technical stuff, but in this case he was unable to bring about enough tension to the story. Final resolution is rushed and leaves the reader wondering why he didn't provide better details.
As much as Clancy has lost his touch... sorry.. I'll stick to Clancy over this author just about any day.
December 3, 2017
First in a series of novels focusing on submarine warfare.
When an aircraft carrier is sunk in the Mediterranean, the navy starts investigating the reason why, and starts the search for a submarine.
Very good, with a lot of tension, in the way the best submarine books and movies have.
When an aircraft carrier is sunk in the Mediterranean, the navy starts investigating the reason why, and starts the search for a submarine.
Very good, with a lot of tension, in the way the best submarine books and movies have.
January 18, 2014
Plenty of plot--but no characters at all. Hard to care about anyone. Motives of villain slightly more understandable then hero's. At most, a novelist with potential.
May 30, 2012
An interesting and technically accurate read that, while it held my attention, came across as rather flat and one-dimensional. Not the edge of my seat, nail biting, cat-mouse suspenseful Naval drama I was hoping for. This was not the US Navy in action. Instead we have a LCDR, and a couple US and British Admirals who are able to figure everything out effortlessly and come up with everything with a brief time out for the Seals to retaliate against the wrong country. Not much drama here.
May 1, 2018
The series has potential but this one was pretty snooze-worthy.
June 8, 2020
On the surface, Nimitz Class is an exciting story of submarine warfare and the race to find the rogue submarine commander who brazenly blew up a seemingly invincible US aircraft carrier. But even at this surface level, it comes across as a bit fatuous for an international crime drama. Everyone's theories about what happened, who did it, and how, always turn out to be exactly right, and nobody ever spends time and effort wading through massive volumes of irrelevant data trying to find the clue they need, or wastes time and effort following a lead that turns out to be a dead end. Not that wading through irrelevant data necessarily makes great reading, but acknowledging that someone had to do it to get the investigators the clues they need might help its verisimilitude. For a story that focuses on a series of events where things went terribly wrong (at least for the victims), a heck of a lot in the aftermath goes just right – a little TOO right – for the protagonists. Granted, in the second half there's an interlude where , and that's a pretty gigantic dead end, but it's less of a true step in the investigation than an angry shot at the handiest suspect.
The story also suffers slightly in the pacing – after a long build-up that makes it seem like the crux of the plot, the goes by in a relative flash. The same is true of the final underwater showdown between the heroes and the villains. But it's still a pretty fun ride despite these little gripes.
Then, there's a whole other level of subtext that's absolutely crammed with emotional and ideological baggage, to the point that it's like an overstuffed closet, and you fear if you open the door too quickly, it might spring out and bury you. I suspect a lot of this is author Patrick Robinson's own personal baggage, and I wonder how much of it he even realized he was putting on display in writing this book.
First and most obvious to me, there's the sexual politics. The book was first published in 1997, and it's written in a fictional 2002. In 1994, the Navy first opened up combat positions at sea to women, and that same year, the first six female sailors were assigned to the USS Dwight Eisenhower. In 2018, women are still a minority of the crew of an average US combat ship, but they are present in noticeable numbers. Here, we spend the first 15-20% of the book being introduced to life aboard the fictional aircraft carrier USS Thomas Jefferson, and I kept wondering, “Where are the women?” It quickly became clear that in Patrick Robinson's world, women aren't just absent from Navy combat vessels – they're totally absent from the U.S. military services at all, and largely absent from storytelling in general. (It became especially clear during the President's speech about the 6,000 sailors killed in the attack, where he didn't use the phrase "men and women" once - they were just "men.") Every significant character in the story is male – considering much of the story takes place among the Navy's top brass, you would expect a heavily male cast, but not a single female officer or junior staffer anywhere??
There are a few civilian women here and there around the edges of the story, but they're never actors in their own right – they're perfect military wives, mothers, and daughters who are always gracious, refined, and ladylike (we catch one hanging around the house in pearls and a sheath dress, for chrissake), and know their place is to succor and support their men, and to look pretty while doing it. They comfort the grief-stricken, quietly set out meals, and just as quietly disappear when their services are not needed. In Robinson's world, women don't DO things – rather, they ARE things. Things to be wrapped in velvet and protected when they're not busy easing and accessorizing men's lives. They presumably make up a good percentage of the faceless people just off-stage who bring hot coffee on command, take orders for the sandwiches that are always mysteriously appearing, and make all the travel arrangements so the actual characters never have to think about these little realities themselves.
What blew me away the most about his idealization of the role of military women was when the grieving widow of Captain Jack Baldridge decided on the spur of the moment to move herself and her two young daughters out of San Diego, not to be with her own parents in a familiar setting, but to rush into the arms of her mother-in-law in rural Kansas and live with her dead husband's family long-term. WTF??? While there are scenarios that could explain that sort of loyalty to your in-laws, Robinson seems to assume that of course that's what a grieving military widow would do.
The sexual politics surrounding the roles of men is just as mind-boggling, if not more so. The story absolutely drips with the mythos of the red-blooded, macho middle-American country boy. Not one of the major characters comes from a town of more than 5,000, and they're all sons of the modern American equivalent of the rural landed gentry – sons of family farming and ranching dynasties that go back generations and don't seem to be hurting too much for money. Our protagonist, Bill Baldridge, appears to be a real Renaissance man in particular – he grew up on a Kansas ranch, became a brilliant Navy Lieutenant Commander with a background in nuclear physics, has an equally facile appreciation for fine French wines, Scotch whiskey, Italian opera, and Chinese tea, and then flies back to the family ranch in Kansas and literally puts on chaps and a Stetson, hops astride a horse, and helps round up a few cattle to relax. It's like every caricature of machismo rolled up into one unbelievable hero. And of course . About the only thing we DON'T see him do is best the villain in a fist fight on the top deck of a submarine in the seconds before it dives.
These are the kind of men who like to think of themselves as the living bulwark standing between their women and children and the forces of chaos and evil. But look at the timeline again. Published in 1997, set in a fictional 2002. What major event happened in between those dates that changed our view of American security in the world forever? That's right: 9/11. All the billion-dollar Navy ships in the ocean couldn't stop a small group of angry fundamentalists armed with box cutters from entering the country, hijacking a few planes, and carrying out the deadliest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, in which nearly 3,000 civilians were killed. Viewed through the lens of time, Robinson's story is saturated with the exact sort of faith in American military superiority, and the ability of the macho American male to protect all that he loves, that was shattered by 9/11. And which appears pretty ridiculous in hindsight.
And his scenario might seem eerily prescient: a Middle East enemy stages an audacious and deadly attack on an American asset, and all the might of the U.S. military is useless if we can't figure out who did it. In the wake of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing attempt and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, the idea that terrorists, probably Muslim, would attack Americans somewhere in the world was at a steady boil in the public consciousness. But very few people dreamed they would do it in the way they actually did in 2001 – a method far simpler, and requiring far less financial investment and technical know-how than Robinson's scenario, and only requiring a handful of men who were willing to die. And the kinds of men who dominate this story and a thousand other stories like it, the supposed tough guys who do the hard things so that western civilization can flourish and their women and children can stay safe, couldn't do a damn thing about it. Is it any wonder public faith in the military-industrial complex has flagged a bit in recent years? If suicidal men with boxcutters could walk into our country and carry out the worst terrorist attack in history, what good are multi-million dollar warships and the men who run them, really? After 9/11, those kinds of men spent years floundering around in Iraq and Afghanistan and didn't really make the world much safer OR improve the standing of the USA in world opinion. One could be forgiven for thinking perhaps that kind of warfare, and those kinds of men, are now an embarrassing anachronism struggling to find relevance in a new world.
On top of all that, it's so openly right-wing I almost wouldn't have been surprised to hear him use the word “libtards.” The Navy men who make up the cast are all glad to have a competent and military-friendly Republican president in the White House and not some “Democratic asshole.” This was before W and of course well before Trump, so I guess Robinson hadn't yet imagined the sheer levels of incompetence to which a Republican president could sink. Indeed, none of us could have imagined in those halcyon days the appalling level of presidential incompetence we all live with daily in 2018. There was a passage late in the book where the fictional president entered a briefing meeting and quickly made it clear he had thoroughly reviewed the reports, and I just laughed... with my teeth gritted.
It's also rich with the right-wing horror of the awful things that would happen if Democrats ever got control - why, they would take our money that we need to keep on building expensive warships and submarines and, and... *gasp* give it to poor people! And even worse, some of those poor people might not be totally honest and might not meet our standards of "deserving!" And that's the most important reason the men in the briefing rooms reject the idea of openly declaring war on a middle Eastern country and bombing the shit out of them - not out of any direct concern for the millions of civilians living in said country who had nothing to do with this attack (because only bleeding-heart libtards would care about faraway brown people who don't speak English), but because it would be a PR disaster and the resulting political fallout might harm their budgets.
Audio Notes: I picked up this book solely because the audio narrator, George Guidall, came highly recommended, and I wanted to see what was so great about him. He's good, no doubt, but I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. I think he was saved by the fact that virtually every character in the book was male.
The story also suffers slightly in the pacing – after a long build-up that makes it seem like the crux of the plot, the goes by in a relative flash. The same is true of the final underwater showdown between the heroes and the villains. But it's still a pretty fun ride despite these little gripes.
Then, there's a whole other level of subtext that's absolutely crammed with emotional and ideological baggage, to the point that it's like an overstuffed closet, and you fear if you open the door too quickly, it might spring out and bury you. I suspect a lot of this is author Patrick Robinson's own personal baggage, and I wonder how much of it he even realized he was putting on display in writing this book.
First and most obvious to me, there's the sexual politics. The book was first published in 1997, and it's written in a fictional 2002. In 1994, the Navy first opened up combat positions at sea to women, and that same year, the first six female sailors were assigned to the USS Dwight Eisenhower. In 2018, women are still a minority of the crew of an average US combat ship, but they are present in noticeable numbers. Here, we spend the first 15-20% of the book being introduced to life aboard the fictional aircraft carrier USS Thomas Jefferson, and I kept wondering, “Where are the women?” It quickly became clear that in Patrick Robinson's world, women aren't just absent from Navy combat vessels – they're totally absent from the U.S. military services at all, and largely absent from storytelling in general. (It became especially clear during the President's speech about the 6,000 sailors killed in the attack, where he didn't use the phrase "men and women" once - they were just "men.") Every significant character in the story is male – considering much of the story takes place among the Navy's top brass, you would expect a heavily male cast, but not a single female officer or junior staffer anywhere??
There are a few civilian women here and there around the edges of the story, but they're never actors in their own right – they're perfect military wives, mothers, and daughters who are always gracious, refined, and ladylike (we catch one hanging around the house in pearls and a sheath dress, for chrissake), and know their place is to succor and support their men, and to look pretty while doing it. They comfort the grief-stricken, quietly set out meals, and just as quietly disappear when their services are not needed. In Robinson's world, women don't DO things – rather, they ARE things. Things to be wrapped in velvet and protected when they're not busy easing and accessorizing men's lives. They presumably make up a good percentage of the faceless people just off-stage who bring hot coffee on command, take orders for the sandwiches that are always mysteriously appearing, and make all the travel arrangements so the actual characters never have to think about these little realities themselves.
What blew me away the most about his idealization of the role of military women was when the grieving widow of Captain Jack Baldridge decided on the spur of the moment to move herself and her two young daughters out of San Diego, not to be with her own parents in a familiar setting, but to rush into the arms of her mother-in-law in rural Kansas and live with her dead husband's family long-term. WTF??? While there are scenarios that could explain that sort of loyalty to your in-laws, Robinson seems to assume that of course that's what a grieving military widow would do.
The sexual politics surrounding the roles of men is just as mind-boggling, if not more so. The story absolutely drips with the mythos of the red-blooded, macho middle-American country boy. Not one of the major characters comes from a town of more than 5,000, and they're all sons of the modern American equivalent of the rural landed gentry – sons of family farming and ranching dynasties that go back generations and don't seem to be hurting too much for money. Our protagonist, Bill Baldridge, appears to be a real Renaissance man in particular – he grew up on a Kansas ranch, became a brilliant Navy Lieutenant Commander with a background in nuclear physics, has an equally facile appreciation for fine French wines, Scotch whiskey, Italian opera, and Chinese tea, and then flies back to the family ranch in Kansas and literally puts on chaps and a Stetson, hops astride a horse, and helps round up a few cattle to relax. It's like every caricature of machismo rolled up into one unbelievable hero. And of course . About the only thing we DON'T see him do is best the villain in a fist fight on the top deck of a submarine in the seconds before it dives.
These are the kind of men who like to think of themselves as the living bulwark standing between their women and children and the forces of chaos and evil. But look at the timeline again. Published in 1997, set in a fictional 2002. What major event happened in between those dates that changed our view of American security in the world forever? That's right: 9/11. All the billion-dollar Navy ships in the ocean couldn't stop a small group of angry fundamentalists armed with box cutters from entering the country, hijacking a few planes, and carrying out the deadliest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, in which nearly 3,000 civilians were killed. Viewed through the lens of time, Robinson's story is saturated with the exact sort of faith in American military superiority, and the ability of the macho American male to protect all that he loves, that was shattered by 9/11. And which appears pretty ridiculous in hindsight.
And his scenario might seem eerily prescient: a Middle East enemy stages an audacious and deadly attack on an American asset, and all the might of the U.S. military is useless if we can't figure out who did it. In the wake of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing attempt and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, the idea that terrorists, probably Muslim, would attack Americans somewhere in the world was at a steady boil in the public consciousness. But very few people dreamed they would do it in the way they actually did in 2001 – a method far simpler, and requiring far less financial investment and technical know-how than Robinson's scenario, and only requiring a handful of men who were willing to die. And the kinds of men who dominate this story and a thousand other stories like it, the supposed tough guys who do the hard things so that western civilization can flourish and their women and children can stay safe, couldn't do a damn thing about it. Is it any wonder public faith in the military-industrial complex has flagged a bit in recent years? If suicidal men with boxcutters could walk into our country and carry out the worst terrorist attack in history, what good are multi-million dollar warships and the men who run them, really? After 9/11, those kinds of men spent years floundering around in Iraq and Afghanistan and didn't really make the world much safer OR improve the standing of the USA in world opinion. One could be forgiven for thinking perhaps that kind of warfare, and those kinds of men, are now an embarrassing anachronism struggling to find relevance in a new world.
On top of all that, it's so openly right-wing I almost wouldn't have been surprised to hear him use the word “libtards.” The Navy men who make up the cast are all glad to have a competent and military-friendly Republican president in the White House and not some “Democratic asshole.” This was before W and of course well before Trump, so I guess Robinson hadn't yet imagined the sheer levels of incompetence to which a Republican president could sink. Indeed, none of us could have imagined in those halcyon days the appalling level of presidential incompetence we all live with daily in 2018. There was a passage late in the book where the fictional president entered a briefing meeting and quickly made it clear he had thoroughly reviewed the reports, and I just laughed... with my teeth gritted.
It's also rich with the right-wing horror of the awful things that would happen if Democrats ever got control - why, they would take our money that we need to keep on building expensive warships and submarines and, and... *gasp* give it to poor people! And even worse, some of those poor people might not be totally honest and might not meet our standards of "deserving!" And that's the most important reason the men in the briefing rooms reject the idea of openly declaring war on a middle Eastern country and bombing the shit out of them - not out of any direct concern for the millions of civilians living in said country who had nothing to do with this attack (because only bleeding-heart libtards would care about faraway brown people who don't speak English), but because it would be a PR disaster and the resulting political fallout might harm their budgets.
Audio Notes: I picked up this book solely because the audio narrator, George Guidall, came highly recommended, and I wanted to see what was so great about him. He's good, no doubt, but I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. I think he was saved by the fact that virtually every character in the book was male.
May 23, 2016
"The shooter, his eyes glued on the cockpit, saluted, bending his knees and touching two fingers of his left hand onto the deck. Skip Martin gestured: "Forward." A crewman, kneeling in the catwalk narrowly to the left of the big fighter jet, hit the button on catapult three, and ducked as the outrageous mechanism hurled the Hornet on its way, screaming down the deck, its engines burning flat out, leaving an atomic blast of air in its wake. Everyone watched, even veterans almost holding their breaths, as the aircraft rocketed off the carrier and out over the water, climbing away to port." -page 22.
Nimitz Class is one of a kind, ranked closest to some of my highest ranked thrillers yet. Two sides- the offender and the defender, desperately trying to outlast the other. Propaganda, tragedies, mysteries, . . . and someone right under you, carefully calculating your every step. This could easily be one of the best novels I’ve read.
Patrick Robinson writes this novel in the genre, realistic fiction, published in 1997. It takes place in the Indian Ocean, Asia, and the U.S. The main characters include Bill Baldridge, Admiral Morgen, and the offender (yet to be discovered). The conflict happens when a torpedo collides with the Jefferson( a ship), holding hundreds of important military figures. That begins the search for the person responsible for this awful tragedy. The point of view is told from the offenders, and the defenders. It is told in third person omniscient. The plot consists of huge twists, breath-taking events, and a shocking ending. The theme is: people who commit a crime, will be given their punishment. The whole story is set in a quizzical, erudite tone.
I believe Nimitz Class should be seen to others as a beautiful piece of literature for its power to constantly keep the reader to question the next set of events. It makes the reader grasp every detail and every word, and imagine everything. Constantly replaying over and over again in your mind until you are able to get back to it, and finish the book to the end. The book is also somewhat didactic, speaking of marine radars, the military, submarines, and other useful knowledge that can give you an advantage over others.
Others may see it as complicating and confusing to ones who do not understand the complex words and events that take place. However, if might force you to research and engage in topical subjects you once never knew about. This book can expand your vocabulary and knowledge drastically.
Nimitz Class is one of a kind, ranked closest to some of my highest ranked thrillers yet. Two sides- the offender and the defender, desperately trying to outlast the other. Propaganda, tragedies, mysteries, . . . and someone right under you, carefully calculating your every step. This could easily be one of the best novels I’ve read.
Patrick Robinson writes this novel in the genre, realistic fiction, published in 1997. It takes place in the Indian Ocean, Asia, and the U.S. The main characters include Bill Baldridge, Admiral Morgen, and the offender (yet to be discovered). The conflict happens when a torpedo collides with the Jefferson( a ship), holding hundreds of important military figures. That begins the search for the person responsible for this awful tragedy. The point of view is told from the offenders, and the defenders. It is told in third person omniscient. The plot consists of huge twists, breath-taking events, and a shocking ending. The theme is: people who commit a crime, will be given their punishment. The whole story is set in a quizzical, erudite tone.
I believe Nimitz Class should be seen to others as a beautiful piece of literature for its power to constantly keep the reader to question the next set of events. It makes the reader grasp every detail and every word, and imagine everything. Constantly replaying over and over again in your mind until you are able to get back to it, and finish the book to the end. The book is also somewhat didactic, speaking of marine radars, the military, submarines, and other useful knowledge that can give you an advantage over others.
Others may see it as complicating and confusing to ones who do not understand the complex words and events that take place. However, if might force you to research and engage in topical subjects you once never knew about. This book can expand your vocabulary and knowledge drastically.
May 3, 2016
Nimitz Class - This book is a mixed bag. The author is at his best when describing the Navy and naval actions. The book is awkward when he is trying to, what I believe to be, humanizing the characters. There is a lot of material in the book that could have been edited out without damaging the main plot. It might even have built suspense.
The first 5th is a somewhat tedious intro to numerous characters and carrier battle group procedures and lingo. Many of these characters do not survive the first 5th. Many realistic details. The Bosporus mission seems far fetched. The president requires this mission before he will authorize a surveillance operation even though it will delay the surveillance by weeks at a minimum. Everything clicks right for the Americans.
The author enjoys and is proficient at describing his characters and settings. All of the characters are highly proficient at all of their duties. They are the best and brightest. No one makes mistakes. It includes romance and personal relationships, although they seem a little artificial as if author is trying to humanize characters. Dialogue is a little stilted. I found the character descriptions distracting from the story.
Comments salted throughout opposed to any human welfare programs in the US. Strong Republican sentiments are expressed ("We are lucky to have this [Reaganesque]president."). Contempt for the media and Democrats freely expressed. Not very PC in their attitudes towards third world countries. If they are an American ally, then praise cannot be too high. Everyone will do anything for the beloved Americans. If they are a perceived enemy, then they are often described in derogatory terms.
An interesting comment near the end of the book is that the US should rethink its use of Carrier Battle Groups. This is after the book has been touting the superiority of the impregnable Carrier Battle Groups. (Its a tough job, but someone has to be the world's policeman and guard it from the darkness.) Reminds me of the adage the military is always fighting the last war.
It is also interesting that the Americans have almost no intelligence successes, but must rely on their military might to succeed.
The first 5th is a somewhat tedious intro to numerous characters and carrier battle group procedures and lingo. Many of these characters do not survive the first 5th. Many realistic details. The Bosporus mission seems far fetched. The president requires this mission before he will authorize a surveillance operation even though it will delay the surveillance by weeks at a minimum. Everything clicks right for the Americans.
The author enjoys and is proficient at describing his characters and settings. All of the characters are highly proficient at all of their duties. They are the best and brightest. No one makes mistakes. It includes romance and personal relationships, although they seem a little artificial as if author is trying to humanize characters. Dialogue is a little stilted. I found the character descriptions distracting from the story.
Comments salted throughout opposed to any human welfare programs in the US. Strong Republican sentiments are expressed ("We are lucky to have this [Reaganesque]president."). Contempt for the media and Democrats freely expressed. Not very PC in their attitudes towards third world countries. If they are an American ally, then praise cannot be too high. Everyone will do anything for the beloved Americans. If they are a perceived enemy, then they are often described in derogatory terms.
An interesting comment near the end of the book is that the US should rethink its use of Carrier Battle Groups. This is after the book has been touting the superiority of the impregnable Carrier Battle Groups. (Its a tough job, but someone has to be the world's policeman and guard it from the darkness.) Reminds me of the adage the military is always fighting the last war.
It is also interesting that the Americans have almost no intelligence successes, but must rely on their military might to succeed.
June 4, 2020
What to say... racist, insensitive, unfactual, and downright disgusting. Call me liberal, but glorifying war and covert destruction of another nation's property just because you dont like them is shameful.
Iranians are not Arabs.
You cannot destroy Iran's submarines without cause or justification.
You cannot discuss war with Iraq and mock the media's criticism of bombed schools and hospitals.
A despicable book. It gets 2 stars because unfortunately I found myself unable to put it down. My dad reads this author and now I see where he reinforces his prejudices.
Iranians are not Arabs.
You cannot destroy Iran's submarines without cause or justification.
You cannot discuss war with Iraq and mock the media's criticism of bombed schools and hospitals.
A despicable book. It gets 2 stars because unfortunately I found myself unable to put it down. My dad reads this author and now I see where he reinforces his prejudices.
August 3, 2019
This book written in 2002 as an ahead of its time U.S. Naval adventure novel unfortunately rings all too true at present with our country’s relations with Iran and Russia at an all-time low. The loss of a U.S. Carrier with no survivors is the crux of the book with the investigation and follow up actions evolving into a mystery thriller which I enjoyed and would recommend
October 7, 2011
Patrick Robinson’s debut is a passable technothriller about a Nimitz class carrier getting destroyed. While it has many Clancy-like traits, it fails when it moves out of the military and into the political and administrative arenas. Cool submarine stuff though.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1217
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1217
June 3, 2019
More of a political manifesto wrapped around a tepid plot
April 10, 2021
I have to say that I have had this book for some years but never really got round to reading it until I change in my bookshelves brought it to the "surface" once more.
I have to say that this is the first Patrick Robinson I have read and it was an interesting experience. First of all you have the technical details - this I do not doubt is incredibly well researched and faithful as much as possible to reality (that said I have nothing to compare against so its a huge assumption on my part). Then you have the fact that this book is most definitely written for an age - the references to historic events (all be it within a fictional set of characters) does set not only when this book was intended to be set but also when it was written.
And then you have the story itself - I will not go in to details for fear of spoilers but I have to say that the story was fast paced but often veered off in to other stories. Ironically I didn't know it at the time but this certainly felt like it was set up a forthcoming series (spoiler - it is) and you do not doubt for a second that there will be a lot more of many of the characters to be seen again.
So if you are fan of Tom Clancy and all those "modern" (although dated) political intrigue military thriller this certainly should be considered part of the reading list
I have to say that this is the first Patrick Robinson I have read and it was an interesting experience. First of all you have the technical details - this I do not doubt is incredibly well researched and faithful as much as possible to reality (that said I have nothing to compare against so its a huge assumption on my part). Then you have the fact that this book is most definitely written for an age - the references to historic events (all be it within a fictional set of characters) does set not only when this book was intended to be set but also when it was written.
And then you have the story itself - I will not go in to details for fear of spoilers but I have to say that the story was fast paced but often veered off in to other stories. Ironically I didn't know it at the time but this certainly felt like it was set up a forthcoming series (spoiler - it is) and you do not doubt for a second that there will be a lot more of many of the characters to be seen again.
So if you are fan of Tom Clancy and all those "modern" (although dated) political intrigue military thriller this certainly should be considered part of the reading list
February 21, 2017
* I actually set aside my trek thru Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series to entertain this volume after it had been teasing me from the shelf for almost a year.
* If you like espionage thrillers but are a little worn out by the lengthy Clancy types (my opinion only) then you will thoroughly enjoy Robinson.
* Admiral Sandy Woodward puts it best: "And in its' pages [the book] also raises the question of how, in a turbulent and dangerous world, we make our resolution plain, without excessive cost in both material and, more particularly, people ... I would suggest that serving Naval officers read it, perhaps especially Navy cadets, who may have ambitions to join the Submarine Services on either side of the Atlantic."
* Vince flynn will remain on-hold as I now pursue Robinson's next work Kilo Class
* If you like espionage thrillers but are a little worn out by the lengthy Clancy types (my opinion only) then you will thoroughly enjoy Robinson.
* Admiral Sandy Woodward puts it best: "And in its' pages [the book] also raises the question of how, in a turbulent and dangerous world, we make our resolution plain, without excessive cost in both material and, more particularly, people ... I would suggest that serving Naval officers read it, perhaps especially Navy cadets, who may have ambitions to join the Submarine Services on either side of the Atlantic."
* Vince flynn will remain on-hold as I now pursue Robinson's next work Kilo Class
July 20, 2018
I enjoyed the brevity of this novel (3 hours) about submarine warfare -- I agree with others who wanted more character and plot development and even wondered if I had unintentionally read the abridged version (still can't tell - library download doesn't tell me the version). The disaster described is unimaginably awful, but there is little learned about those who died. However, for a short summer listen, I enjoyed it. (Some foul language alert -- not recommended for family listening). Jay Sanders is a great reader and I'll look for other books he has narrated.
April 23, 2024
I had read this book 20+ years ago, and I remembered enjoying it thoroughly. This time around, I felt that the story was a bit of a mosaic piece, rather than driven by a strong protagonist. The story was good, the mystery was intriguing, and the ending was satisfying. While I enjoyed the novel, though, I don't believe I'd move on to next one.
August 29, 2019
Great military thriller set in the modern world with much intrigue and hidden agents. A rogue submarine does the impossible and sinks a US carrier.
April 30, 2018
Nimitz Class by Patrick Robinson is what-if scenario that touches somewhat close to some of my dearest subjects: the US Navy and the Nimitz class nuclear aircraft carrier. My brother and I have both, in our turn, served on Nimitz class carriers during the cold war and even during some mildly warmer conflicts. When both of us enlisted, our main adversary, and a deadly one at that, was known to be the Soviet Union. We often said our wartime mission against the Soviet Union would be to launch aircraft-- only-- because we wouldn't be around for the recovery. As it turned out, the cold war ended a great deal more satisfactorily than that, for which I am grateful. But other dangers abound, and thus the mission of the US Navy continues.
This novel is a fictionalized account of one such danger: a single, well-placed diesel-electric submarine armed with a nuclear torpedo. This book is fairly old now, but I like the approach that Robinson takes with it. He clearly writes as a fan of the carriers, and of the United States' role in keeping the peace by securing the free flow of trade and the ascendance of rogue states. I liked this military thriller, with just a few squawks.
Sometimes the dialogue seems either forced or fake, as in: "So. Into the valley of death rode the six thousand," or "Tell me you're kidding me. You could not be serious. You are sitting there telling me that we somehow have to deal with the biggest single peacetime crisis in American history? You sure that as Joint Chiefs we're not having some kind of a Joint Dream."
Also, no one in the US Navy, to my knowledge, ever uses "air force" to describe an embarked air wing.
One more thing, and it's mainly a problem because air traffic control was my job in the service, but the Landing Signal Officer isn't the only person, or even necessarily the main person, talking down aircraft during landings. Air traffic controllers do most of the talking during nighttime (Case III) flight ops. The phraseology was really pretty off the mark. These, however, are not major problems; I just felt that they needed mentioning.
Overall, Robinson's book was well worth digging off the shelf of my folks' home. It was probably given to my late dad (retired Navy) as a gift from one of his sea-going sons. I feel certain the old salt probably liked it too.
This novel is a fictionalized account of one such danger: a single, well-placed diesel-electric submarine armed with a nuclear torpedo. This book is fairly old now, but I like the approach that Robinson takes with it. He clearly writes as a fan of the carriers, and of the United States' role in keeping the peace by securing the free flow of trade and the ascendance of rogue states. I liked this military thriller, with just a few squawks.
Sometimes the dialogue seems either forced or fake, as in: "So. Into the valley of death rode the six thousand," or "Tell me you're kidding me. You could not be serious. You are sitting there telling me that we somehow have to deal with the biggest single peacetime crisis in American history? You sure that as Joint Chiefs we're not having some kind of a Joint Dream."
Also, no one in the US Navy, to my knowledge, ever uses "air force" to describe an embarked air wing.
One more thing, and it's mainly a problem because air traffic control was my job in the service, but the Landing Signal Officer isn't the only person, or even necessarily the main person, talking down aircraft during landings. Air traffic controllers do most of the talking during nighttime (Case III) flight ops. The phraseology was really pretty off the mark. These, however, are not major problems; I just felt that they needed mentioning.
Overall, Robinson's book was well worth digging off the shelf of my folks' home. It was probably given to my late dad (retired Navy) as a gift from one of his sea-going sons. I feel certain the old salt probably liked it too.
November 6, 2019
If you're in the mood for a novel about modern warfare and submarines, this one is pretty good. A brilliant sub commander from another country, trained at the esteemed British academy for submariners sinks the USS Jefferson aircraft carrier with a nuclear torpedo. At first, it looks like a nuclear mistake on the carrier. But the clever men in armed forces identify and then try to track down the man who was at the helm when he gave the order to fire--because he has one more nuclear torpedo. The novel is not as good as the best Clancy but it's in the same vein. Could the characters have been humanized more? Yes. Could the plot have been tightened? Yes. Still, I am intrigued enough to read the sequel.
May 18, 2017
I'd seen these around for a while and took a punt when having a break from reading other genres and fancied something different than a comfort read in Ryanverse.
The comparison with Clancy is apt and no doubt Sandy Woodward chipped a few doses of realism in with a plausible techno thriller, good characters and an interesting thread through the initial series. The first three stand out (in comparison to Clancy who I found a little up and down but slightly more enjoyable at times). Whilst being bricks they are an enjoyable read with a good pace, plot-line and prose. I'd highly recommend the first two books in particular to anyone looking fir a good thriller.
The comparison with Clancy is apt and no doubt Sandy Woodward chipped a few doses of realism in with a plausible techno thriller, good characters and an interesting thread through the initial series. The first three stand out (in comparison to Clancy who I found a little up and down but slightly more enjoyable at times). Whilst being bricks they are an enjoyable read with a good pace, plot-line and prose. I'd highly recommend the first two books in particular to anyone looking fir a good thriller.
September 14, 2017
What I listened to was only about 3 hours and did seem too sudden in transitions, so it makes sense that it was this abridged version. Overdrive and my library catalog did not make that clear.
The dark horse anti-hero of the story is a submariner who manages to vaporize a US nuclear aircraft carrier and sneak away. The US is left playing catch up and payback. The sponsors of the action are not targeted, though a different possible nation is attacked, all to satisfy a blustering, trigger happy US President.
The dark horse anti-hero of the story is a submariner who manages to vaporize a US nuclear aircraft carrier and sneak away. The US is left playing catch up and payback. The sponsors of the action are not targeted, though a different possible nation is attacked, all to satisfy a blustering, trigger happy US President.
February 2, 2018
Patrick Robinson’s debut is a good technothriller about a Nimitz class carrier getting destroyed and the resultant search for the guilty. lt It was as exciting as a Clancy novel, but without the tedious explanations of minutiae. I enjoyed this book. Interesting plot. The version that I listened to was only about three hours long and it was exciting all the way. While I thought it was a solo book, I found out that there are 9 more in the series...here we go!
May 12, 2019
Military suspense top class
Very realistic, excellent plot, and very detailed giving auto of authenticity to the story. Makes one wish to find and read more of Patrick Robinson’s books!
Very realistic, excellent plot, and very detailed giving auto of authenticity to the story. Makes one wish to find and read more of Patrick Robinson’s books!
May 18, 2019
I think this is more like a 3.5. I did the audio version and it started very slow. I am a sucker for naval war stories and I am glad I stuck to it. It was a little cheesy and uber patriotic in spots but all in all a good military story. I will continue with the series.
November 10, 2016
A horrifying look into the mind of a Republican.
May 15, 2017
I enjoyed this book. Interesting plot. The interspersing of the two different sides early on was interesting.
I inadvertently read Kilo Class first, so this helped fill in a few holes.
I inadvertently read Kilo Class first, so this helped fill in a few holes.
August 19, 2017
Quite an interesting start with many details. The hunt for the attackers is also interesting but the end is not equal to all of these. It still kept me interested in the sequels.
August 20, 2017
Good fictional story about a Nimitz Class aircraft carrier that vanishes in a nuclear blast. Gives detail about the inner workings of that warship.
December 11, 2017
You can't go wrong with any of his sub books. While the meta narrative over all books eventually stretches probability. Each of these on their own is a great narrative focused on sub warfare.
December 10, 2017
Great story.
Excellent. Full of surprises with excellent technical information. Fine political thinking as well. Where is the revenge
I looked for?
Excellent. Full of surprises with excellent technical information. Fine political thinking as well. Where is the revenge
I looked for?
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