Nimitz Class

That was one of the best books I have read on modern submarine warfare and the story was also very good. The elimination of a US supercarrier by a single nuclear-tipped torpedo was presented in an exciting way, as was the hunting of the renegade submarine that followed. The episode of the British sub passing through the Bosporus Straights was absolutely marvellous and I wish Robinson had devoted some more pages to the hunting of the enemy sub, instead of discovering it by chance.

After seeing this particular title and Patrick Robinson's other titles in the stores last year I decided to purchase them all based on the back cover descriptions. Prior to reading "Nimitz Class," I decided to check the other reviews to see how well the book was received and was somewhat disappointed to see that the majority of the reviews didn't hold this title in a particularly favorable light. With this in mind, I opened the front cover and dove in! Much to my surprise and delight "Nimitz Class" is a well told Naval/Political thriller that is extraordinarily intriguing, the majority of the characters are compelling and the pacing of the novel is dead on accurate. As to whether Patrick Robinson is a new Tom Clancy, I'm not sure about that but he certainly holds his own in "Nimitz Class" and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of his novels.At the very core of most successful writers list of Political/Military novels is a strong set of recurring characters. With "Nimitz Class" Patrick Robinson has set the stage for his characters such as Vice Admiral Arnold Morgan, Director, National Security Agency who is the spitting image of someone in his position, gruff in a good natured sort of way, tough as nails and extraordinarily intelligent. The premise:Deep in the Indian Ocean lies an American CVBG, Carrier Battle Group, a twelve warship group centered on the Nimitz class aircraft carrier, the USS Thomas Jefferson. She is on routine patrol after successfully engaging in war games with another carrier battle group. Suddenly several of the outlying ships take a massive airburst and huge waves, nearly capsizing a couple of the ships. Once everything settles down and the captain of the USS Arkansas regains command and control he attempts to make contact with every ship in the battle group. The main player in the group, the aircraft carrier can neither be reached through communications nor seen on radar. He immediately takes his ship to the carriers last known position only to find a high level of radiation and a couple of the ships that were close to her badly damaged. A US aircraft carrier and the six thousand men and women aboard are gone...In comes the main players of the novel as the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Scott Dunsmore is notified who then takes it up to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joshua Paul and then on the President. A meeting is called to discuss what happened or what might've happened to the carrier. The Director of the National Security Agency, Arnold Morgan and a young Naval Intelligence officer, Lieutenant Commander Bill Baldridge whose brother just happened to have been the Captain of the USS Thomas Jefferson. While the general consensus is that this was somehow an accident aboard the aircraft carrier, Bill Baldridge, a nuclear expert explains otherwise and leads them down the path of discovery...What follows is nothing short of an outstanding Naval/Political thriller that is a true page turner.

Nimitz Class is an excellent book that I found had some irrelevant components in the beginning, but 50 pages in, it is very good, and hard to put down. It truly is a great book to read during a long vacation that you have a lot of time to read.

I don't understand why people are being so hard on this book. It takes place in 2002, I think some things may have changed by then. People don't account for this and just put the book down. It may not be the best book I have read but it is sure as heck not the worst.

Robinson uses the phrase, "the great man" for just about anyone of statue or rank throughout the book. It becomes a "buzz word" for anyone of rank or position who the author apparently holds in awe..."the great man (U.S. president); "the great man" (Bristish admiral}; "the great man" (Israeli general); etc...etc.. otherwise it was/is a very interesting work which held my attention throughout