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To Kill the Potemkin
The "Barricuda," an American nuclear submarine, tracks the damaged Russian sub "Potemkin," a top-secret vessel whose state-of-the-art engineering enables it to dive beyond the reach of sonar, in a fatal cat-and-mouse game
255 pages, Hardcover
First published August 26, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 14, 2013
Best submarine story ever written.
April 2, 2023
Intensa novela, donde surgen inquietantes situaciones bajo el mar. El contexto es más que trascendente: La Guerra Fría.
March 12, 2015
Another book I remember reading back in high school I picked up on a whim to re-read. I remember it coming out some time after Hunt for Red October and a friend highly recommended it to me. It was a crazy book, and I remember it got me started on reading various submarine warfare novels, especially those by Richard P. Henrick. This one was rather different than Clancy's novel. Whereas Hunt for Red October takes place 'now', To Kill the Potemkin takes place back in the late 60s during the Vietnam War. I remember it really threw me the first time I had read it; not sure why, as many of Alistair MacLean's books are historical in nature [but generally take place in WWII if not in the 'present']. I had assumed it was a 'modern-era' thriller, so I was surprised at the era in which it takes place. Era might be the wrong word; maybe 'decade' would be better.
The story is about a modern American attack submarine that travels across the Atlantic Ocean, testing a new sonar detection system while enroute to the Mediterranean Sea. New recruits were added to the crew prior to the transit, so we get to see how one of the new sonar recruits interacts with the 'old hands' on the submarine. After arriving in the Med, the USS Barracuda encounters what is believed to be a Victor-class Russian submarine, which causes no end of consternation because until this point the Mediterranean Sea had been considered an American/NATO lake with zero Soviet present. After reporting the encounter, the crew of the Barracuda learn they are to be involved in a war game whereby they are to sneak into the carrier Kittyhawke's battle group to show how vulnerable carrier's are to attack. Intending to follow an American submarine into the battle group's perimeter, the Barracuda discovers what they thought was an American submarine is actually a Russian sub masking its sounds so that it sounds like one of the American submarines patrolling the battle group's perimeter. While following the Russian submarine into the battle group's perimeter, the Barracuda and the other submarine collide when the Russian submarine stops and begins to descend in reverse. The Barracuda's sonar team can hear the Russian submarine plunging to what was considered 'crush depth' and believe they hear the submarine imploding due to the water pressure while the Barracuda is on its way to the surface. Five out of six American submarines still involved in the war game surface; the six one reports it is still seventy-some miles out and is safe as well. That is when the Admirals involved in the war game realize a Russian submarine nearly made them all look like fools with its penetrating the defensive screen like it did. The Barracuda puts in for repairs in Spain where Admiral Netts gives the Barracuda's Captain orders to find the new Russian sub and learn as much about it as they can. Meanwhile , the Russian Alpha-class submarine Potemkin has been severely damaged by the collision. Some of the crew has died; some will die if help is not received. They contact their HQ and are told to make for the Gibraltar Straits where a diversion will be supplied to allow the Alpha submarine to escape undetected [they hope]. Meanwhile, the Barracuda is waiting outside the Straits for the Alpha to appear. The Potemkin blows by them at an unheard of speed of 50 knots, and the Barracuda eventually looses the Russians after chasing them for eleven-plus hours. In order to save the crew and the submarine, the Russian Admiral Gorshkov diverts a missile boat from its patrol off the Florida coast to meet the Potemkin and render all necessary assistance possible. The Barracuda finds the Cuban missile boat and follows it to the Potemkin, taking pictures of both vessels. The Potemkin then attacks the Barracuda to maintain its secret, and the Barracuda retaliates with a nuclear torpedo. Both submarines are destroyed. The book ends with Netts and Gorshkov agreeing the battle never took place in order to preserve the peace.
The premise of the book is that numerous submarines were lost in the late 1960s, and the author hypothesizes that perhaps there was an underwater battle being waged between the various navies of the world. But in order to maintain the peace and prevent WWIII from occurring, no nation acknowledged the undersea battles took place. It is an interesting premise, and a book was recently written about the USS Scorpion and how the Scorpion was lost due to the Russians retaliating for the loss of some of their submarines.
The book had a good flow to it; it moved at a brisk pace and I did not grow bored reading it. It also had good character development in the book; the author did a great job fleshing out the various characters [major and minor], I felt. It was fun to reread the book after all these years; it still held my attention. It was not overly technical in nature, so that was nice. I am not sure if the author assumed the readers were familiar with military and technical jargon, but I did not feel lost reading the book. Overall, I rather enjoyed rereading it.
On a side note, the premise of the war game situation really reminded me of 'Nimitz Class', which was a story about a Russian submarine that penetrates the protective screen of a carrier battle group and sinks a Nimitz-class carrier. If memory serves me correctly, the Russian submarine had put itself in the path of the battle group and waited until the escort vessels passed overhead before launching its nuclear torpedoes. I think the Russian sub was a Kilo-class, making it hard for the American escort vessels to detect it. Regardless, the similarities between the plot points was very similar to each other.
The story is about a modern American attack submarine that travels across the Atlantic Ocean, testing a new sonar detection system while enroute to the Mediterranean Sea. New recruits were added to the crew prior to the transit, so we get to see how one of the new sonar recruits interacts with the 'old hands' on the submarine. After arriving in the Med, the USS Barracuda encounters what is believed to be a Victor-class Russian submarine, which causes no end of consternation because until this point the Mediterranean Sea had been considered an American/NATO lake with zero Soviet present. After reporting the encounter, the crew of the Barracuda learn they are to be involved in a war game whereby they are to sneak into the carrier Kittyhawke's battle group to show how vulnerable carrier's are to attack. Intending to follow an American submarine into the battle group's perimeter, the Barracuda discovers what they thought was an American submarine is actually a Russian sub masking its sounds so that it sounds like one of the American submarines patrolling the battle group's perimeter. While following the Russian submarine into the battle group's perimeter, the Barracuda and the other submarine collide when the Russian submarine stops and begins to descend in reverse. The Barracuda's sonar team can hear the Russian submarine plunging to what was considered 'crush depth' and believe they hear the submarine imploding due to the water pressure while the Barracuda is on its way to the surface. Five out of six American submarines still involved in the war game surface; the six one reports it is still seventy-some miles out and is safe as well. That is when the Admirals involved in the war game realize a Russian submarine nearly made them all look like fools with its penetrating the defensive screen like it did. The Barracuda puts in for repairs in Spain where Admiral Netts gives the Barracuda's Captain orders to find the new Russian sub and learn as much about it as they can. Meanwhile , the Russian Alpha-class submarine Potemkin has been severely damaged by the collision. Some of the crew has died; some will die if help is not received. They contact their HQ and are told to make for the Gibraltar Straits where a diversion will be supplied to allow the Alpha submarine to escape undetected [they hope]. Meanwhile, the Barracuda is waiting outside the Straits for the Alpha to appear. The Potemkin blows by them at an unheard of speed of 50 knots, and the Barracuda eventually looses the Russians after chasing them for eleven-plus hours. In order to save the crew and the submarine, the Russian Admiral Gorshkov diverts a missile boat from its patrol off the Florida coast to meet the Potemkin and render all necessary assistance possible. The Barracuda finds the Cuban missile boat and follows it to the Potemkin, taking pictures of both vessels. The Potemkin then attacks the Barracuda to maintain its secret, and the Barracuda retaliates with a nuclear torpedo. Both submarines are destroyed. The book ends with Netts and Gorshkov agreeing the battle never took place in order to preserve the peace.
The premise of the book is that numerous submarines were lost in the late 1960s, and the author hypothesizes that perhaps there was an underwater battle being waged between the various navies of the world. But in order to maintain the peace and prevent WWIII from occurring, no nation acknowledged the undersea battles took place. It is an interesting premise, and a book was recently written about the USS Scorpion and how the Scorpion was lost due to the Russians retaliating for the loss of some of their submarines.
The book had a good flow to it; it moved at a brisk pace and I did not grow bored reading it. It also had good character development in the book; the author did a great job fleshing out the various characters [major and minor], I felt. It was fun to reread the book after all these years; it still held my attention. It was not overly technical in nature, so that was nice. I am not sure if the author assumed the readers were familiar with military and technical jargon, but I did not feel lost reading the book. Overall, I rather enjoyed rereading it.
On a side note, the premise of the war game situation really reminded me of 'Nimitz Class', which was a story about a Russian submarine that penetrates the protective screen of a carrier battle group and sinks a Nimitz-class carrier. If memory serves me correctly, the Russian submarine had put itself in the path of the battle group and waited until the escort vessels passed overhead before launching its nuclear torpedoes. I think the Russian sub was a Kilo-class, making it hard for the American escort vessels to detect it. Regardless, the similarities between the plot points was very similar to each other.
December 9, 2019
Quite a disturbing book, at least to me.
It's a generally well done novel of life and preparation for war and, as at least some of the sailors see it, prevention of war under the sea.
Though probably the author never intended this message, here is something I see: The entire human race is always in danger as long as nation-states exist and especially if there are super-powers.
And doubly especially if those super-powers have nuclear weapons.
This book was written while the Evil Empire of the Soviet Union was still a threat to life and liberty of mankind, and fortunately that particular threat is gone.
Now, though, we still have Red China, which either already has or is building an aircraft carrier, the further to threaten and endanger us, and the Russian Federated State, which has some "leaders" not demonstrating a lot of trustworthiness.
This was a remarkable first novel and I will look for more by Mark Joseph. He shows great knowledge of submarine life and of how to explain it to us landlubbers.
It's a generally well done novel of life and preparation for war and, as at least some of the sailors see it, prevention of war under the sea.
Though probably the author never intended this message, here is something I see: The entire human race is always in danger as long as nation-states exist and especially if there are super-powers.
And doubly especially if those super-powers have nuclear weapons.
This book was written while the Evil Empire of the Soviet Union was still a threat to life and liberty of mankind, and fortunately that particular threat is gone.
Now, though, we still have Red China, which either already has or is building an aircraft carrier, the further to threaten and endanger us, and the Russian Federated State, which has some "leaders" not demonstrating a lot of trustworthiness.
This was a remarkable first novel and I will look for more by Mark Joseph. He shows great knowledge of submarine life and of how to explain it to us landlubbers.
March 1, 2022
Two hunter-killer submarines play cat and mouse in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. The Soviet submarine is a new type with superior capability. The American is tasked with following it and finding out about it. It’s a similar situation to Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October. The hero is Sorenson, a sonar operator, not a CIA desk jockey and the Russian captain isn’t a defecting Sean Connery.
It’s exciting and unpredictable, the technology is well-researched and convincing. The characters, though varied, didn’t engage me. A reasonable read, though.
It’s exciting and unpredictable, the technology is well-researched and convincing. The characters, though varied, didn’t engage me. A reasonable read, though.
August 27, 2017
Couldn't put it down
February 13, 2019
a solid read. even though the book was written many years ago, the story line still held my interest. Did they really allow all that tobacco smoking in submarines????
Read
March 18, 2022A very good read very believable in this day and age
April 21, 2023
Loved every page, the ending still haunts me....
January 9, 2025
Very similar to Hunt for Red October, I believe it came out at the same time, but much darker and grittier.
Great read (at least to me when I was 13!)--Yes I am old!
Great read (at least to me when I was 13!)--Yes I am old!
March 22, 2025
Great sub story.
April 12, 2009
Set during the height of the Cold and Vietnam Wars when nuclear tensions were at their peak, it tells the very realistic and frightening story of a collision between the Barracuda, an American nuclear attack submarine, and a super secret Russian nuclear sub that has very new and sophisticated capabilities.
The Barracuda has been assigned the task of hunting an American aircraft carrier during war game exercises. The Russian sub has been shadowing the task force pretending to be another American sub by masking her own noises by simulating those of a known sub. The Russian sub driver, after realizing he has been "outed" by the Barracuda wants to leave the area before more can be learned about his sub's secret capabilities. The political officer disagrees and takes over command He reverses the prop grazing the Barracuda, which had been following in the Russian sub's baffles. The Barracuda is forced to surface but not before its sonar operator hears sounds of the Russian sub descending way past nominal test depth and breaking up. At least that's what they think.
The Barracuda has been assigned the task of hunting an American aircraft carrier during war game exercises. The Russian sub has been shadowing the task force pretending to be another American sub by masking her own noises by simulating those of a known sub. The Russian sub driver, after realizing he has been "outed" by the Barracuda wants to leave the area before more can be learned about his sub's secret capabilities. The political officer disagrees and takes over command He reverses the prop grazing the Barracuda, which had been following in the Russian sub's baffles. The Barracuda is forced to surface but not before its sonar operator hears sounds of the Russian sub descending way past nominal test depth and breaking up. At least that's what they think.
November 9, 2016
Moving with impressive detail and believable characters who ring true, this is one of those adventure/thrillers just feels real--Joseph brings his readers into a surveillance sub, and pits them against the fears, uncertainties, and triumphs felt from moment to moment, in both war games and war reality. Early on, it had me hooked to the point where I didn't want to walk away to finish it later, and yet it managed to surprise me quite a bit, right through to the end.
July 23, 2011
This was a great cold war story of submarines. Would highly recommend it.
February 17, 2013
I read this when I was in the Navy stationed in D. C. This is still the best book I've ever read.
September 17, 2018
Entertaining read.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews