الغواصات الحربية

by Antony Preston, مركز التعريب والبرمجة (Translator)

Submarine Warfare is an authoritative history of these crafts, from their humble, leaky beginnings to their high-tech modern successors. With remarkable photographs and fascinating technical illustrations and cross sections, the crafts, crews, weapons, missions, and men behind these intriguing vessels are explored and celebrated in riveting detail.

Genres: Military Fiction

96 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Antony PReston was an English Naval Historian and editor.

Reviews

[Waleed]

من الصعب التطرق إلى موضوعات تتعلق بالغواصات دون المرور ولو بشكل جزئي (إن لم يكن كلياً!) على التاريخ والظروف الاجتماعية والسياسة التي كانت تحف العالم أجمع أثناء تطور هذا السلاح المسيطر على البحار إن صح التعبير

كتاب يعطي شيئا من كل شيء عن الغواصات منذ الحرب العالمة الأولى إلى نهاية القرن المنصرم

[Paul Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

by Antony Preston, published in 1998.

When I think of submarines I either think of a Tom Clancy novel or the U-Boats of World War 2. This book, “Submarine Warfare: An Illustrated History” by Antony Preston covers the entire history of the submarine and does a pretty good job of it.

If you have a limited knowledge of submarines, as I did, then this book is a great read to fill you in on when they were first conceived, built, and ultimately used in warfare. “Submarine Warfare: An Illustrated History” is split into 7 chapters starting from the earliest submarines, through the two world wars, the cold war and lastly the modern subs and even a separate chapter on the history of countermeasures.

And you may be amazed to learn that the first submarines were built before 1900 - okay, they were just as much a threat to their crews as the enemy ships they were intended to sink, but still that is one long time ago.

The only real issue I had with this book stems mostly from my own ignorance of submarine warfare and those familiar with every make, model, armament and countermeasure for them will have not suffered as I did. My issue then was with the many, and I mean many, acronyms for sonars, radars, types of subs, countermeasures, etc.

This occurred mostly in the later parts of the book when more modern subs were discussed, but it still left me not really knowing the true capabilities of any one particular sub described. Again, the limitation is my own and no fault of the author who does indeed know his stuff.

And one other point of interest is just how effective submarines were during World War 1. You may be curious to know that the Germans sank well over 200 ships (yes the Lusitania was one of them) in this war - a number I had no idea was this large. The key in this first war was the fact that subs could pretty much roam free as long as they were underwater. No countermeasures of any significance had been developed to stop them. That would all change in World War 2.

And change it did in number and efficiency of submarines as well as countermeasures to locate and sink them. The real warfare of subs had matured by World War 2 and their significance to world navies was realized. And yes, the Germans made the finest submarines and still do to this day though other countries have managed to catch up, mostly by salvaging German submarines after World War 2 and figuring out how the Germans made them.

Perhaps the most fascinating sections, for me, were the Cold War submarine developments and on into modern times. Wanting to spend more time submerged the US and England as well as Russia (though they lagged a few years behind) went for nuclear powered reactors. And they were “mostly” successful though they had their problems, especially the Russians.

Disturbing to me is the fact that many earlier Russian designs may have been scuttled, radioactive reactors cooking, to the bottom of the ocean. If you can believe what you read many of their defective reactor cored were laterally taken out of the subs and dumped in the deep parts of the ocean. Is that Greenpeace I hear screaming in the background.

But all is fair in war, is it not, even if the war is a cold one.

Another fascinating note is just how many submarines are sold to other countries from Russia, US and Britain. Very, very interesting indeed. I’m not a big one on world politics but this kind of activity goes on pretty much continuously.

Most disturbing of all is the modern submarines capabilities to carry nuclear weapons which have an accuracy of several hundred feet and a range of over four thousand miles. Yes, you read right. No land mass is safe while these monsters roam the seas. The Russian “Typhoon” class is so huge (one and a half football fields long and about half as wide) carrying enough firepower (in one sub) to pretty much take out an entire continent. This sub was designed to be able to sit on the ocean floor after a nuclear exchange for up to a year, then rise and launch her weapons.

Can you imagine that? I sure can’t, and I find it fascinating that our species does. Incredible.

So, if you want to brush up on your submarine history this is a pretty good book to start with. Just make sure you nail down the fifty or so acronyms first or be confused like me.

Overall a good, fascinating read of one of today’s most lethal deterrents.