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Undersea Warriors: The Untold History of the Royal Navy's Secret Service
Hunter-killer: a submarine designed to pursue and attack enemy submarines and surface ships using torpedoes.
This will follow the careers of four daring British submarine captains who risked their lives to keep the rest of us safe, their exploits consigned to the shadows until now. Their experiences encompass the span of the Cold War, from voyages in WW2-era submarines under Arctic ice to nuclear-powered espionage missions in Soviet-dominated seas.
There are dangerous encounters with Russian spy ships in British waters and finally, as the communist facade begins to crack, they hold the line against the Kremlin's oceanic might, playing a leading role in bringing down the Berlin Wall. It is the first time they have spoken out about their covert lives in the submarine service.
This is the dramatic untold story of Britain's most-secret service.
This will follow the careers of four daring British submarine captains who risked their lives to keep the rest of us safe, their exploits consigned to the shadows until now. Their experiences encompass the span of the Cold War, from voyages in WW2-era submarines under Arctic ice to nuclear-powered espionage missions in Soviet-dominated seas.
There are dangerous encounters with Russian spy ships in British waters and finally, as the communist facade begins to crack, they hold the line against the Kremlin's oceanic might, playing a leading role in bringing down the Berlin Wall. It is the first time they have spoken out about their covert lives in the submarine service.
This is the dramatic untold story of Britain's most-secret service.
496 pages, Hardcover
Published September 3, 2019
About the author
Iain Ballantyne
28 books39 followers'Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom - 80th anniversary edition' is Iain's latest book and an updated and expanded new version of the 2016 original, this time published both as an e-book and a shop paperback. His previous book was 'Arnhem: Ten Days in The Cauldron' (Sept 2019), also for Agora Books.
Although he has written several naval history books, including those on the Second World War and the Cold War, Iain Ballantyne has, during the course of his career as a journalist, editor, and author, also covered the activities of land forces.
Those assignments took him to Kuwait, Oman, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, and Hong Kong, sometimes during times of conflict. Iain has visited WW2 battlefields in company with those who fought there as young men, while also spending hours in conversation with Arnhem veterans.
As a teenager, Iain embarked on an expedition to follow the course of the Rhine, including a pilgrimage to Oosterbeek and Arnhem. He retraced the route of the British Airborne soldiers in 1944 as they tried to take the famous ‘bridge too far’.
Iain Ballantyne’s assignments as a writer on naval affairs have taken him from the Arctic to mine infested waters off war-torn Kuwait, aboard a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier off Libya, into the South China Sea and below the Irish Sea in a hunter-killer submarine.
Iain has contributed to coverage of naval and military issues in national and regional newspapers, and provided analysis and commentaries for radio and television, as well as prestigious publications by NATO and the Royal Navy.
His most recent naval history book was 'The Deadly Trade: The Complete History of Submarine Warfare from Archimedes to the Present' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2018). It was published in the USA in December 2018, as 'The Deadly Deep' (Pegasus Books).
Iain's other books include ‘Hunter Killers’ (Orion, 2013), which was published in the USA in September 2019 as 'Undersea Warriors' (Pegasus Books).
Iain won a Mountbatten Certificate of Merit for his action-packed depiction of the pursuit and destruction of Hitler's flagship as recounted in ‘Killing the Bismarck’ (Pen & Sword, 2010).
In 2017 he was awarded a Fellowship by the UK’s Maritime Foundation. One of its top annual awards, it recognised Iain’s immense contribution to the maritime cause since 1990, as a journalist, author of naval history books and Editor of 'WARSHIPS International Fleet Review' magazine from 1998 to the present.
Although he has written several naval history books, including those on the Second World War and the Cold War, Iain Ballantyne has, during the course of his career as a journalist, editor, and author, also covered the activities of land forces.
Those assignments took him to Kuwait, Oman, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, and Hong Kong, sometimes during times of conflict. Iain has visited WW2 battlefields in company with those who fought there as young men, while also spending hours in conversation with Arnhem veterans.
As a teenager, Iain embarked on an expedition to follow the course of the Rhine, including a pilgrimage to Oosterbeek and Arnhem. He retraced the route of the British Airborne soldiers in 1944 as they tried to take the famous ‘bridge too far’.
Iain Ballantyne’s assignments as a writer on naval affairs have taken him from the Arctic to mine infested waters off war-torn Kuwait, aboard a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier off Libya, into the South China Sea and below the Irish Sea in a hunter-killer submarine.
Iain has contributed to coverage of naval and military issues in national and regional newspapers, and provided analysis and commentaries for radio and television, as well as prestigious publications by NATO and the Royal Navy.
His most recent naval history book was 'The Deadly Trade: The Complete History of Submarine Warfare from Archimedes to the Present' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2018). It was published in the USA in December 2018, as 'The Deadly Deep' (Pegasus Books).
Iain's other books include ‘Hunter Killers’ (Orion, 2013), which was published in the USA in September 2019 as 'Undersea Warriors' (Pegasus Books).
Iain won a Mountbatten Certificate of Merit for his action-packed depiction of the pursuit and destruction of Hitler's flagship as recounted in ‘Killing the Bismarck’ (Pen & Sword, 2010).
In 2017 he was awarded a Fellowship by the UK’s Maritime Foundation. One of its top annual awards, it recognised Iain’s immense contribution to the maritime cause since 1990, as a journalist, author of naval history books and Editor of 'WARSHIPS International Fleet Review' magazine from 1998 to the present.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 19, 2020
Say the words "Cold War" and "espionage," and what do they make you think? Do you imagine the likes of James Bond, Harry Palmer, and George Smiley? Or perhaps Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October? While agents and moles had their roles to play, much of the Cold War's espionage took place beneath the surface, quite literally, by submariners on all sides. While books such as the best-seller Blind Man's Bluff have raised the lid on the American side of the story, the exploits of Britain's Royal Navy have rarely seen the light of day. Until now, at least, with Iain Ballantyne's Undersea Warriors (published in the UK as Hunter Killers), lifting the lid on decades of secrecy to tell some of their stories.
Covering the width and breadth of the Royal Navy's submarines from the end of the Second World War until the present day, Ballantyne has a large canvas upon which to paint that history. In doing so, he wisely focuses on the careers of several submariners who, across the decades of this undeclared conflict, rose through the ranks and became commanders in their own right. It is through the eyes and ears of these men, such as Tim Hale and Doug Littlejohns, that readers travel beneath the waves and through the changing fortunes of the Cold War. They take the readers from diesel submarines to the first British nuclear boats, through the training course so rigorous it's appropriately known as the "Perisher," and, of course, into playing cat and mouse with their Soviet counterparts. For all of the technology and weapons of the Cold War on display, Ballantyne never loses sight of these men who gave the best years of their lives (and in at least one case, a marriage) to the Silent Service.
And what stories they have to tell. From the 1950s with HMS Taciturn’s ventures around the Soviet northern fleet to HMS Sceptre pursuing the Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev in the Mediterranean to run-ins with Soviet spy trawlers in the 1970s and 1980s, what these submariners did were worthy of featuring in the spy novels and techno-thrillers of the period. Indeed, is it surprising that Tom Clancy and his The Hunt for Red October make appearances in the later portions of the book, highlighting how much reality and fiction mingled in the Cold War? Ballantyne also explores how those experiences in Soviet waters came into play during the Falklands War of 1982, leading to the first, and so far only, time a warship in history sunk by a nuclear submarine. He also delves into a number of the great spy scandals of the Cold War and their impact upon the submarine community at large, from the Portland Ring to the John Walker's family of spies, putting them into context through the eyes of the men whose boats and commands were affected. The results are insightful and even thrilling to read, and their legacy well into the 21st-century.
To sum the book up in just a few words, Ballantyne's book is nothing short of a British Blind Man's Bluff. It reveals the incredible stories of British submarines and submariners in the Cold War, their missions and experiences largely unknown thanks to the necessary secrecy of the era. Their stories, which now, with time, can become known before their silent war can completely vanish into history, like a submarine into the ocean's depths.
Covering the width and breadth of the Royal Navy's submarines from the end of the Second World War until the present day, Ballantyne has a large canvas upon which to paint that history. In doing so, he wisely focuses on the careers of several submariners who, across the decades of this undeclared conflict, rose through the ranks and became commanders in their own right. It is through the eyes and ears of these men, such as Tim Hale and Doug Littlejohns, that readers travel beneath the waves and through the changing fortunes of the Cold War. They take the readers from diesel submarines to the first British nuclear boats, through the training course so rigorous it's appropriately known as the "Perisher," and, of course, into playing cat and mouse with their Soviet counterparts. For all of the technology and weapons of the Cold War on display, Ballantyne never loses sight of these men who gave the best years of their lives (and in at least one case, a marriage) to the Silent Service.
And what stories they have to tell. From the 1950s with HMS Taciturn’s ventures around the Soviet northern fleet to HMS Sceptre pursuing the Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev in the Mediterranean to run-ins with Soviet spy trawlers in the 1970s and 1980s, what these submariners did were worthy of featuring in the spy novels and techno-thrillers of the period. Indeed, is it surprising that Tom Clancy and his The Hunt for Red October make appearances in the later portions of the book, highlighting how much reality and fiction mingled in the Cold War? Ballantyne also explores how those experiences in Soviet waters came into play during the Falklands War of 1982, leading to the first, and so far only, time a warship in history sunk by a nuclear submarine. He also delves into a number of the great spy scandals of the Cold War and their impact upon the submarine community at large, from the Portland Ring to the John Walker's family of spies, putting them into context through the eyes of the men whose boats and commands were affected. The results are insightful and even thrilling to read, and their legacy well into the 21st-century.
To sum the book up in just a few words, Ballantyne's book is nothing short of a British Blind Man's Bluff. It reveals the incredible stories of British submarines and submariners in the Cold War, their missions and experiences largely unknown thanks to the necessary secrecy of the era. Their stories, which now, with time, can become known before their silent war can completely vanish into history, like a submarine into the ocean's depths.
December 24, 2019
Very interesting! Its interesting about the dynamics of the cat and mouse game played by submarine forces.
February 28, 2023
I've read a lot of submarine books because they fascinate me. I blame Star Trek.
This is the first one I've read on the Royal Navies submarine operations though. I enjoyed seeing the historical development of the undersea branch of the RN as contrasted against the American effort. It was fascinating to learn that the RN was worried that the USA would not share its nuclear naval engineering with the RN, only to find out that Rickover was a huge anglophile.
Some of the submarine terms I'm familiar with are different in the RN. They don't snorkel, they snort. That one was the hardest. I was thrown out of the narrative each time a submarine snorted. I imagined a whale clearing it's blow hole each time. All of the other different terms were easier to deal with. I'll probably never get used to snorting.
I recommend this for people who are interested in submarines and want a broader view than only reading about the USN branch. I did find parts of it slow and difficult to read, mostly the lengthy personal histories of random submariners who were then woven in and out of the historical mission details.
This is the first one I've read on the Royal Navies submarine operations though. I enjoyed seeing the historical development of the undersea branch of the RN as contrasted against the American effort. It was fascinating to learn that the RN was worried that the USA would not share its nuclear naval engineering with the RN, only to find out that Rickover was a huge anglophile.
Some of the submarine terms I'm familiar with are different in the RN. They don't snorkel, they snort. That one was the hardest. I was thrown out of the narrative each time a submarine snorted. I imagined a whale clearing it's blow hole each time. All of the other different terms were easier to deal with. I'll probably never get used to snorting.
I recommend this for people who are interested in submarines and want a broader view than only reading about the USN branch. I did find parts of it slow and difficult to read, mostly the lengthy personal histories of random submariners who were then woven in and out of the historical mission details.
December 21, 2019
A comprehensive history of the Royal Navy's Submarine Service with emphasis on the cold war missions in the Barents Sea and North Atlantic. The careers and observations of several accomplished members of the silent service are used to carry the narrative forward. There is considerable discussion of cooperation between the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy regarding tactics, weapons systems, sonar advances, personnel exchanges and other matters of mutual interest. The dreadful impact of the Walker spy ring's sellout to the USSR is discussed at some length. The secrets disclosed allowed the Soviets to make a 15-year leap in construction and stealth technology and tactics. There was a hell of a lot more going on beneath the sea in the cold war years than the public could ever have imagined. A complementary read is Blind Man's Bluff.... by Christopher Drew and Sherry Sontag
May 19, 2025
Engrossing and fascinating to read. Not too technical either which is an added bonus. I love the title of the book. This book is full of entertaining and moving stories, especially of the British submariners. I highly recommend!
February 20, 2022
If I'd know it wasn't all SSNs I'd have found it harder to put off in the first place
October 23, 2023
First book I've read on specifically British submarine activities in the Cold War.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews