Naval Disaster

When she first went to sea in April of 1961, the US nuclear submarine Thresher was the most advanced submarine at sea, built specifically to hunt and kill Soviet submarines. In The Death of the USS Thresher, renowned naval and intelligence consultant Norman Polmar recounts the dramatic circumstances surrounding her implosion, which killed all 129 men onboard in history's first loss of a nuclear submarine.

The mission was secret. The sinking was swift. The nightmare was just beginning. After delivering components for the atomic bomb in the closing days of World War II, the crew of the USS Indianapolis sails for home. But their triumph is short-lived. A volley of Japanese torpedoes tears their ship apart, plunging nearly nine hundred men into the vast, unforgiving darkness of the Pacific Ocean. Adrift with no rescue in sight, the survivors face a new enemy: the endless sea itself. Under the burning sun, dehydration and madness begin to claim them one by one. But when the water is broken by ...

Could China really pull off the biggest amphibious invasion in history? Will crossing the Tawian straits prove catastrophic? The answer lies buried in the sands of history’s most catastrophic beach landings—and it spells disaster for Beijing. In Red Tide, military strategist and historian Dr. Eric Engle exposes the brutal realities facing China’s ambitions across the Taiwan Straits. Drawing on the newest declassified intelligence, war games, and the hard lessons of Gallipoli, Dieppe, Tarawa, and the Falklands, this gripping war-plan reveals why Taiwan’s geography, modern missile ...

During the early morning of 14th April 1953, HMS Conway, a large 19th century wooden battleship used for the training and education of cadets - hoping to become officers in the Merchant and Royal Navy - was driven ashore and wrecked by exceptionally strong tides, and broke her back in the Menai Straits, Anglesey, North Wales. This is s true story written to commemorate the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the loss of this fine ship.

Sailing across the Pacific, the battle-scarred heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis had just delivered a secret cargo that would trigger the end of World War II. Heading westward, she was sunk by a Japanese submarine. In 12 minutes, some 300 men went down with her. More than 900 other spent four horrific days and five nights in the ocean with no water to drink, savaged by a pitiless sun and swarms of sharks. Incredibly, no one knew they were there until a navy patrol plane accidentally discovered them. In the end, only 316 crewmen survived. How could this have happened - and why?

In December 1944, while supporting General MacArthur's invasion of the Philippines, Admiral William "Bull" Halsey neglected the Law of Storms, placing the mighty US Third Fleet in harm's way. Drawing on extensive interviews with nearly every living survivor and rescuer, as well as many families of lost sailors, transcripts and other records from naval courts of inquiry, ships' logs, personal letters, and diaries, Bruce Henderson finds some of the story's truest heroes exhibiting selflessness, courage, and even defiance.

So Others May Live: Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers: Saving Lives, Defying Death is the award-winning untold story of the US Coast Guard's quiet but resolute rescue swimmers. From deep ocean caves on the Oregon coast to the panicked and chaotic streets of post-Katrina New Orleans, here are their stunningly heroic stories.

The master of naval thrillers returns with his most shocking “what if?” scenario yet: a terrorist hatches a bold plan to blow up a volcano—and devastate America In the Canary Islands, in the southwest corner of the island of La Palma lies the massive crater of the volcano Cumbre Vieja...

The British Navy's disastrous attempt to pass through the Dardanelles to Constantinople was a turning point in the history of World War I. Acclaimed naval military expert Dan van der Vat argues that the disaster at the Dardanelles prolonged the war by two years, led to the Russian Revolution, forced Britain to the brink of starvation, and contributed to the destabilization of the Middle East.

A decade after the Cold War, a violent explosion sent the Russian submarine Kursk to the bottom of the Barents Sea. The Russians claimed an outdated torpedo caused the incident and refused help from the West while 23 survivors died before they could be rescued. When Russian naval officers revealed evidence of a collision with a US spy sub, Vladimir Putin squelched the allegations and fired the officers. In Spies of the Deep, W. Craig Reed shatters the lies told by both Russian and US officials and exposes several shocking truths.

2,600 people. 360 kilometers. January in the Arctic. Tropical gear. The march has begun. Admiral Chen's fleet is dying—reactor failing, hull breached, ice closing in. His only option: order every man, woman, and sailor to walk across the frozen sea to Cambridge Bay. In January. With gear designed for the South China Sea. Lieutenant Zhao Jianfeng walks alone at the vanguard, a robot companion his only partner, finding safe routes across sea ice that could swallow the column whole. Behind him, 2,600 lives depend on every choice he makes. Brigadier-General Fontaine watches the column ...

It takes a special type of person to serve in a nation’s navy, especially on long voyages that separate men and women from their loved ones, and no service is both loved and hated as that aboard submarines, for very few people ever serve on them on a whim. For one thing, the psychological impact of being trapped for long periods underwater in tight, cramped quarters is more than many people can stand.

His mission was top secret: deliver mysterious components of some superweapon that would end this awful war to the island of Tinian, then return to the fleet to prepare for the invasion of Japan. Little did Captain Charles McVay III know that he would survive his ship's sinking, shark attacks, starvation, and five days adrift in the Pacific Ocean before being rescued. Discover this untold story of Captain McVay and his amazing men of courage: the crew of the USS Indianapolis.

On the Black Sea flagship RFS Moskva, two worlds are at war. In the pristine, orderly corridors of the upper decks, Midshipman Ivan Volkov lives by the book. A fervent believer in procedure and discipline, he sees the warship as a flawless symbol of Russian might, an invincible fortress he is sworn to protect. His faith is the ship's true armor. But deep in the ship’s belly, a different reality festers. CPO Misha Petrov, known as "The Mole," navigates a labyrinth of decay and corruption. He keeps the ship alive not with procedure, but with stolen parts, jury-rigged machinery, and a ...

A riveting account of the greatest small-boat rescue in American history.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * “GRIPPING…THIS YARN HAS IT ALL.” —USA TODAY * “A WONDERFUL BOOK.” —The Christian Science Monitor * “ENTHRALLING.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * “A MUST-READ.” —Booklist (starred review) A human drama unlike any other—the riveting and...

Jared Diamond's COLLAPSE inspired this alternate history that takes place during the American Civil War, and tells the story of eight people who come together after the battle between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. Using the money they earned by tricking the U. S. Government into buying more Monitor-class ships, they attempt to escape the war and retreat to "paradise," Easter Island. However, this paradise has been transformed by the natives into a human ecological disaster and monument to pagan fertility rights and even cannibalism. Through the inventiveness and labors of the main ...

Captain Loxley's Little Dog is a touching, very sad true story, related to one of the maritime tragedies of World War 1. It is reimagined through the dog's eyes. It tells of the devotion of Bruce, an Airedale/Irish terrier cross who remained faithful to his master, Noel Loxley, the Captain of the ill-fated HMS Formidable, to the last. The faithful dog refused to leave for the safety of a lifeboat when his master's ship was struck by a German torpedo on New Year's Day, 1915 off the Devon/Dorset coast. Lassie was the remarkably intelligent pub dog from Lyme in Dorset who saved the life of one...