The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945 Paperback – September 1, 2016

This book is an excellent companion to Norman Friedman's forthcoming book on the Royal Navy's post World War II submarine development, in that it concentrates on the operational history of the RN's submarine fleet (while still giving considerable background on the politics and technology behind the fleet's development), while Friedman's book, a companion to an earlier book covering the RN's sub fleet's development from its beginnings through World War II, concentrates primarily on the technology and the development of the requirements for new designs. Paired, the pair do the British submarine fleet proud.

I found this book amazing. It's very well written and keeps you moving. If you are into submarines at all the contact stories are awesome. I can only guess at the ones they couldn't talk about. There are two authors and the portion concerning Polaris is a bit dry and I skipped quite a bit of it as it dealt with politics and budgets. That said there are some interesting insights regarding how the Brits viewed targeting with nukes. Highly recommended, if you enjoyed Blind Mans Bluff you'll love this.

An excellent book on the Sub Service in the UK during the Cold War.A must read for anyone interested in this era.I have to comment that it seems like two different books melded together. The stories of the submarines in action is fast paced and riveting, but the sections discussing the politics of financing and building the sub force can be a bit plodding and tedious.All in all though, a great book.

An amazing book. I was involved in many of the incidents written about here, and the author has them absolutely correct.

Nicely done. Well written and with understanding of the history of the Brit submarine service.

The Silent Deep is a timely and authoritative history of the United Kingdom Royal Navy’s submarine service from inception through the Cold War. Against the current political environment with the outcome of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) being the decision to postpone, or in defence acquisition parlance to “move right” the planned in-service date for the next generation submarine based nuclear deterrent vessels, understanding the path to this point is critical both for legislators, the wider defence community and indeed the general reader.The Submarine service probably is among one of the most secretive elements of the defence and intelligence community and whilst this has been a major plus point in terms of operational security it has probably worked to a degree against their political position, both within the Royal Navy for budget and status and more broadly the political appreciation of the value of their on-going activities.The Silent Deep combines both strong document based research along with extensive access to the current generation of senior figures in the service and those who has served with prominence in the field. Peter Hennessy, well known for his knowledge of the machinery of government brings to the work the broader political and administrative context for the service.Amongst the key lessons which the book drives home in considerable detail is the on-going relevance of the relationship with the United States, in which you are left no doubt that the United Kingdom deterrent although independent strategically is operationally reliant on United States cooperation. Secondly, the detailed historical research into the evolving role of the submarine service in operations in Asia and the Falklands War of 1982, alongside cold war operations against the Soviet Union show the value and flexibility of the real capital ships of a modern first-tier navy.For legislators and their opponents the insights into key decisions surrounding the choice of basing method for the deterrent, numbers and logic are several. Essential reading includes The discussion surrounding the decision to move the nuclear deterrent to sea with Polaris (Chapter 4) and later the successor Trident system (Chapter 8). Publication in full of the December 1, 1977 minute of the Callahan administration, “Cabinet Nuclear Defence Policy” (pages 472-482) remains relevant and will underpin the arguments for debates around the successor to trident. Later reference to Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet Secretary’s notes on the six key decisions for Ministers surrounding the deterrent (page 495) are unchanged from the 1940s;• Do we retain our strategic deterrent ?• What should it be capable of doing ?• Which weapon should we choose ?• How many boats [submarines] ?• Foreign policy factors ?• Timing of announcement ?The Silent Deep is strongest in both its political research and the operational insights into both the Falklands War (where the role of the submarine service adds an entirely new dimension) and intelligence gathering operations in the Cold War - where the role of the service was largely articulated prior by fiction authors such as Tom Clancy, The Silent Deep alongside recent works on the role of submarines in the Cold War such as Red November by W. Craig Reed offer us new insights into the ongoing relevance of this unique military capability.Due to secrecy both books draw a veil over what the service has done since the end of the Cold War a quarter century ago. The Silent Deep aims to be as current as possible and has a final chapter summarizing neatly the public chronology of events since 1990 where the service has been in the public domain, not least the introduction of the Astute class SSN into the Fleet and the early discussions of the successor to Trident.Very occasionally the book over-stresses the impact of the service, most notably in the mid 1960s discussion of the cancelled aircraft carrier program, the CVA-01. Whilst the authors see resource competition for the submarine service as a key factor in its cancellation it could be suggested that the battle with the Royal Air Force over land basing of aircraft versus at sea with the Royal Navy in a desperate budgetary environment was of greater importance.Nonetheless, The Silent Deep is a well-research book of importance to understanding both nuclear naval operations, British political decision making and an essential element of the functional “special” relationship with the United States in nuclear matters.

"The Silent Deep" is an absolute brick, albeit an incredibly ambitious brick. It's extremely long, multi-layered, and almost certainly the definitive book on the subject. As a technical, political, and operational history of the Royal Navy submarine force in the post-war era, I doubt that anyone will top it anytime soon in terms of depth, scope, and comprehensiveness. There's quite a bit here that I've never read elsewhere, especially on the use of diesel submarines in gathering electronic intelligence early in the Cold War, cooperation with the United States on Polaris and nuclear propulsion, operations during the Falklands War, and many of the near-fatal close calls RN submarines have encountered over the years.As someone with a predilection for reading very long, very dry, and very British naval histories, "The Silent Deep" should have ticked all of my boxes. And yet, I found it to be a real slog in places, painfully drawn out in spots and frequently littered with bureaucratic minutiae, lengthy extracts of MoD papers, and political details that'll bore anyone not obsessed with mid-to-late 20th Century British politics. Speaking of politics, don't expect anything in the way of objectivity; it's pretty obvious the authors keep pictures of Margaret Thatcher on their nightstands, and no attempt is made to provide an even-handed overview of the Trident debate.Although it definitely has its high points, by the seventh time the authors described in minute detail a Royal Navy SSN being ordered to pursue a Soviet boat in Mid-Atlantic, or perhaps the fourth time an MoD memorandum was quoted at length, I started wondering whether they'd fired their editors. There's an excellent 600-page book buried in here, but at 864 pages, it's simply too much.

The commencing chapters are exciting and hold attention. Less gripping for the non-technological are the later submarine developments as both 'sides' struggled to stay ahead. However in all the book illuminates an area of warfare not often written about. Well worth reading.

I went through several histories of Cold War era submarines before finding this one. It's the one I was looking for. With the exception of a confusingly written first chapter this is an excellent and highly readable reference. The title refers to the Royal Navy but because there is such a close relationship between that service and the US Navy there is also extensive discussion of their submarine programs and operations, and of course of the Soviet/Russian boats: Highly recommended.

Deep knowledge and context about submarine deployment and operations. Must read.

A very good book. Very thorough, very interesting, gave a great insight into the history of the uk submarine service. I certainly recommend this book to others.

Where to start with this book? It's well written, has excellent range of accompanying photos and the technical specs of Royal Navy submarines and their Russian counterparts since 1945. In a similar way to NAM Rodger in his Command of the Ocean, the two authors have done a great job of weaving together the different strands of the operational aspects of the Submarine Service, the political aspects of the decisions for Polaris and Trident as well as the technical history of the different class of boats. Each of the chapters are divided well with many sub-chapters, which ensures that the book doesn't get monotonous, for example when describing the difficulty in dealing with Admiral Rickover or why a PW2 reactor was chosen over a PW1.The book is well-paced, although occasionally it is noticeable when one author writes one chapter and the other another. That isn't too say that one is a worse writer than the other, just different styles.The section on the Falkland's War, perhaps because of its 'Hot War' nature, was particularly interesting, and managing to convey the human element of the submarine campaign as well as the operational. The Cold War missions were also engaging despite the restrictions of the Official Secrets Act. For this reason operational history after the Cold War felt a bit brief, but the in depth look into the successor of Trident made up for it. The authors certain made the most of the cooperation from the Royal Navy and their seemingly all access pass to all parts of submarine service.It's difficult to find fault with this book, although a few more maps would have helped when describing some of the operations. That aside, whether you are interested in the politics of the nuclear deterrent, the postwar history of the Submarine Service or the development of such technologically advanced pieces of equipment, then this book should answer all (or at least most) of your questions.

Disclosure: I write Canadian submarine history.I inhaled this long book about Britain's submarine service from after WW2 to the present. It is dense, scholarly, and superbly researched. The Silent Deep focuses mostly on development of Britain's nuclear submarine program in exquisite detail giving the reader insights into the struggles between the USN and RN, the politics and the RN, and much more, that are only becoming known now.Fantastic read for serious naval history buffs, the navies of the world, and political junkies.