Nautilus: The Story of Man Under the Sea

A nice story of the development of the submarine. I didn't think there was much of a story here until I read the book. This a nice concise summary of the history of submarines, complete with great illustrations and pictures. The perspective is British throughout, since this is a BBC book. It details the development of the submarine from the Revolutionary War to present times. This book leaves out the exploits of the Hunley, the Confederate submarine which sank a Union frigate. I found this kind of poor writing, since the Confederate submarine was one of the first to prove its ability as a military weapon. Other than that, the author does a good job detailing the development of this military weapon. The author also adds a chapter for the scientific and economic value submarines may hold for the future. If the reader is looking for a book detailing the development of the submarine, this is a great read. It supports a major television documentary on submarines. Good reading.

Although designed to accompany a major BBC television series, this book stands alone as the complete story of the development of the submarine from those early ingenious devices to the latest in nuclear powered technology. All the great names associated with the pioneering work of submarine design are here - including Bushnell, Fulton, Holland and Zédé. Even William Bourne gets a mention and he first described such a craft in a publication called "Inventions & Devices" as early as 1578! Those early submarines are all well covered - complete with their successes and failures. This includes their use in times of war from the American Civil War through the two world wars of the 20th Century and latterly varies from the German U-Boat to the two man torpedoes and X-Craft of WW2. Curious how the German U-Boat of WW2 went on to become the basis for all the world's modern submarines. Eventually the book brings us right up to date with the story of those unmanned submersibles of the type use by Dr Ballard to find the Titanic. In short, just about all you ever wanted to know really. NM

I've never seen the television show which accompanies the book, but that really didn't affect my appreciation of the material. The book itself is worth buying. It starts out with a brief overview of the Soviet development of the nuclear submarine after World War 2 and their race with the US design teams. The next chapter discusses ancient designs and then John Holland's first submarine, which was funded by an Irish "Anti-England" group in the US. The book covers WW1 and WW2 submarine battles, famous ships with quotes from men who served on them, the US and Soviet cold war submarine warfare strategies, clandestine activities and design techniques. It also covers the deep sea unmanned submersibles such as "Alvin" and the recovery of the hydrogen bomb off of the coast of Spain in the 1960's and the discovery of such wrecks as the "Titanic" and the "Lusitania".Overall, its a very thorough overview of the history of submarines and a good introduction to the world of submarine warfare. Plenty of charts and pictures to assist in understanding the text. There is only one instance of profanity and that's a result of a direct textual representation of the crew's dialogue while searching for the H-bomb - navigating shifting currents, poor visibility, cramped quarters, and long hours can test even a scientist at times. I would highly recommend this book for everyone.