Submerged

Life on a Fast Attack Submarine in the Last Days of the Cold War

De: Henry Rausch

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

First Prize Winner in Published NonFiction, WriterCon 2025!

The author graduates from an elite university and enters the submarine service in the mid-1980s when rhetoric between the US and USSR threatens to turn the Cold War hot. He encounters an unforgiving world where submarines hunt each other unseen and unheralded in the ocean depths and in which minor mistakes can result in catastrophe. On four classified missions to the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic, the Barents Sea, and the North Pole, he gradually and painfully learns the trade of a nuclear submarine officer in a world few people know of and even fewer have experienced.
These missions exert a heavy personal toll. At sea, the submarine crew exercises total radio silence and the rescue buoy is welded fast to the hull, ensuring that their families will never know if a catastrophe occurs. During these missions, his young wife suffers a miscarriage and later gives birth via emergency C-section, all while the author is at sea and unaware. While she undergoes these trials alone, the sub conducts missions vital to the security of the United States. Far from home, in the unforgiving depths, they track adversary submarines in dangerous games of cat and mouse where a mistake could result in a collision, flooding, and death. A storm damages the sub on the way to the North Pole, jeopardizing the ability to surface through the ice. They finally do so, after weeks of transiting through underwater ice canyons of pressure ridges capable of rupturing the hull on impact. While under the ice the crew suffers a poison gas leak and has to find a hole to surface quickly or perish.
The main theme of the work is growth. As the author journeyed to the ends of the earth and the depths of the ocean, he also made a personal journey from a sniveling boy-man to an apex predator of the deep. Sub-themes are how men and women cope with adversity, and how when things are at their worst, people are at their best. It is a tribute to the human spirit, especially the men who sailed these ships, and the families who loved and supported them.

Good story - AI narrator didn’t ruin it

I am fascinated by tax subs. If you are too, then you will like this book.

A fun read that let me relive experiences

Disclaimer first - I served on the boat with the author, and remember both him and the stories he writes about. The stories are real, and they're delivered with the sincerity they deserve - either serious or flippant! He describes each with relevant detail and background information, such that I was able to relive my experience as well as he did in the writing. I also learned some new items I wasn't aware of, since I didn't inhabit the wardroom. It was a fun read that didn't last long enough, and had me smiling the whole time. I do have to say that the Audible virtual voice does a bad job with acronyms and abbreviations, something that Amazon needs to fix. Nonetheless, it was a listen I highly recommend whether you have submarine experience, or just want to learn a little about what its like. Its as realistic as you'll find, because it's all real.

Didn’t care about the ai narration

Story was great but the ai narration made it Dull. The characters had no Feeling as if they were robots.

Cold War Underway

Enjoyed the real, non-hollywood take on life on from the deckplates of a fast attack boat

Obvious expertise of the author!

Glad I am also a bubblehead so I could Nuc-out what the digital voice was trying to say.

One of the best submariner career books

The author is knowledgeable and extremely well organized. He provides just enough detail to not insult the intelligence of intelligent readers, giving us access to all the nomenclature of submarine life, while not burying the character and excitement of it. It’s clear the author put an enormous amount of effort into this work.

I am also happy to report that finally, the synthetic narrators have achieved “good enough” capability to not interfere with the listener's enjoyment. I was impressed with the quality of inflection and clear communication of emotional intent. It’s not as good as the best human narrators, but it is better than many.

Disappointed

Narration was terrible & story was worse. The author was obviously not happy in submarines so why didn’t he change? From my understanding of sub sailors I’ve talked to it was easy to get out of subs. Or, he could resign and move on. What a waste of an individuals career and waste of a credit.