Cold War submarines : the design and construction of U.S. and Soviet submarines / Norman Polmar and Kenneth J. Moore.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Polmar, Norman.

Contributor:

Moore, Kenneth J., 1942-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Submarines (Ships)--United States--History.

Submarines (Ships).

Submarines (Ships)--Soviet Union.

History.

Soviet Union.

Cold War.

United States.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 407 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Brassey's, [2004]

Summary:

Submarines had a vital, if often unheralded, role in the superpower navies during the Cold War. Their crews carried out intelligence-collection operations, sought out and stood ready to destroy opposing submarines, and, from the early 1960s, threatened missile attacks on their adversary's homeland, providing in many respects the most survivable nuclear deterrent of the Cold War. For both East and West, the modern submarine originated in German U-boat designs obtained at the end of World War II. Although enjoying a similar technology base, by the 1990s the superpowers had created submarine fleets of radically different designs and capabilities. Written in collaboration with the former Soviet submarine design bureaus, Norman Polmar and K. J. Moore authoritatively demonstrate in this landmark study how differing submarine missions, antisubmarine priorities, levels of technical competence, and approaches to submarine design organizations and management caused the divergence.

Contents:

Perspective xi

1 Genesis 1

2 Advanced Diesel Submarines 11

3 Closed-Cycle Submarines 33

4 U.S. Nuclear-Propelled Submarines 49

5 Soviet Nuclear-Propelled Submarines 71

6 Cruise Missile Submarines 85

7 Ballistic Missile Submarines 103

8 "Polaris

From Out of the Deep..." 115

9 The Quest for Speed 127

10 Second-Generation Nuclear Submarines 147

11 The Ultimate Weapon I 167

12 The Ultimate Weapon II 183

13 "Diesel Boats Forever" 201

14 Unbuilt Giants 221

15 Aircraft-Carrying Submarines 245

16 Midget, Small, and Flying Submarines 255

17 Third-Generation Nuclear Submarines 267

18 Submarine Weapons 293

19 Fourth-Generation Nuclear Submarines 307

20 Soviet Versus U.S. Submarines 323

A U.S. Submarine Construction, 1945-1991 335

B Soviet Submarine Construction, 1945-1991 337

C U.S. Submarine Reactor Plants 339

D Soviet Submarine Design Bureaus 341

E Soviet Ballistic Missile Systems 345.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 385-394) and index.

ISBN:

1574885944

OCLC:

52430922