- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd; first edition (5 July 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0719556902
- ISBN-13: 978-0719556906
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 913,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
We Come Unseen
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Product Description
Review
'A welcome acknowledgement of one of the Cold War's little-known aspects' -- Alan Judd, Sunday Telegraph
Guardian
'An exhilarating history'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a submariner, this book is a welcome insight into the previously secret world of submarines and the cold war. It appears that due to on-going national security, this lacks the details and background of some other good submarine books such as 'Blind Man's Bluff', but this does not in any way detract from this well researched and factually accurate piece. It provides a gritty appreciation into the demands and huge responsibility that belies being a submariner, and achieving the ultimate responsibility of Command.
Written cleverly to follow the lives of several young officers through their careers this book also provides a succinct, but detailed overview of major events and historical moments in the cold war.
This is well worth a read for anyone interested in submarine history or the cold war as this provides a unique perspective of the British contribution to these times. Don't hold your breath for Tom Clancy-style underwater epic tales though!
Written cleverly to follow the lives of several young officers through their careers this book also provides a succinct, but detailed overview of major events and historical moments in the cold war.
This is well worth a read for anyone interested in submarine history or the cold war as this provides a unique perspective of the British contribution to these times. Don't hold your breath for Tom Clancy-style underwater epic tales though!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
A Different View of Cold War Submarine Operations
21 Dec 2004
Format:Paperback
"We Come Unseen" has been referred to as the British version of "Blind Man's Bluff," but it is really a different sort of book. "We Come Unseen" exposes less previously classified material than its American counterpart and provides far less detail about the British submarine service's classified Cold War reconnaissance missions. Rather it provides an overview of the Royal Navy's submarine operations from the 1960s to the early 1990s by tracing the careers of six Royal Navy officers as they rise from Midshipman to submarine captains and, in some cases, on to Flag rank.
In following their careers we learn about training philosophy and living conditions in the Royal Navy and some of their submarine operations in the Atlantic related the countering the Soviet navy; the development and deployment of Britain's SSBN nuclear deterrent; and operations in Malaysia and elsewhere as the British withdrew from East of Suez.
The most extensive operational descriptions are about the 1982 Falklands War. According to the author the Argentine Navy prematurely launched its attack on the Falklands, to their disadvantage and the U.K.'s advantage, when a Royal Navy SSN made an unscheduled departure from Gibraltar. The Argentinians interpreted that event as a sortie to confront them in the South Atlantic, but it actually involved responding to a Soviet action in the North Atlantic. The stalking and sinking of the (former U.S. Navy) heavy cruiser General Belgrano by HMS Conqueror is covered in detail as are other important contributions by RN SSNs such as surveillance of Argentine airfields to provide early warning of impending air strikes on the British fleet. There is a tantalizingly brief description of an RN SSK's (diesel-powered submarine) epic 100+ day roundtrip patrol from the UK to Argentina related to commando insertion operations. The highlight of RN ASW operations is the destruction - in a surface action - of the Argentinian submarine Santa Fe (former USS Catfish).
There are 14 pages of black and white photos; an appendix listing of all RN submarines commissioned since 1958 (but no decommissioning dates); a list of all RN "Flag Officer Submarines" from 1946-2001; a three-page bibliography and an 11-page (really small print!) index.
"We Come Unseen" is highly recommended to anyone interested in Cold War and other late-Twentieth Century submarine and naval history, the Royal Navy or Cold War politics and military strategy. Unfortunately for the curious, author Jim Ring doesn't divulge as much classified information as Sonntag and Drew did in "Blind Man's Bluff" (an SSBN captain asserted to me two years ago that a lot of the classified information in the later was initially divulged to the authors by a member of Congress...).
In following their careers we learn about training philosophy and living conditions in the Royal Navy and some of their submarine operations in the Atlantic related the countering the Soviet navy; the development and deployment of Britain's SSBN nuclear deterrent; and operations in Malaysia and elsewhere as the British withdrew from East of Suez.
The most extensive operational descriptions are about the 1982 Falklands War. According to the author the Argentine Navy prematurely launched its attack on the Falklands, to their disadvantage and the U.K.'s advantage, when a Royal Navy SSN made an unscheduled departure from Gibraltar. The Argentinians interpreted that event as a sortie to confront them in the South Atlantic, but it actually involved responding to a Soviet action in the North Atlantic. The stalking and sinking of the (former U.S. Navy) heavy cruiser General Belgrano by HMS Conqueror is covered in detail as are other important contributions by RN SSNs such as surveillance of Argentine airfields to provide early warning of impending air strikes on the British fleet. There is a tantalizingly brief description of an RN SSK's (diesel-powered submarine) epic 100+ day roundtrip patrol from the UK to Argentina related to commando insertion operations. The highlight of RN ASW operations is the destruction - in a surface action - of the Argentinian submarine Santa Fe (former USS Catfish).
There are 14 pages of black and white photos; an appendix listing of all RN submarines commissioned since 1958 (but no decommissioning dates); a list of all RN "Flag Officer Submarines" from 1946-2001; a three-page bibliography and an 11-page (really small print!) index.
"We Come Unseen" is highly recommended to anyone interested in Cold War and other late-Twentieth Century submarine and naval history, the Royal Navy or Cold War politics and military strategy. Unfortunately for the curious, author Jim Ring doesn't divulge as much classified information as Sonntag and Drew did in "Blind Man's Bluff" (an SSBN captain asserted to me two years ago that a lot of the classified information in the later was initially divulged to the authors by a member of Congress...).
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