Science, Submarines & Secrets

Science, Submarines & Secrets

Author: Tai Stith

Publisher:

Published: 2022-03

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781735136646

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An unbelievable series of events led to the establishment of the Northwest Electrodevelopment Laboratory, later the U.S. Bureau of Mines Albany Research Center. Though the fledgling lab had difficulty securing staff due to World War II, world-renown metallurgist William J. Kroll was hired early on as a consultant after fleeing Nazi occupation. Kroll, who had pioneered a method for producing commercial titanium, worked with his core group of associates to develop malleable zirconium, just as a need arose for the little-known metal.On the other side of the country, the petulant and abrasive Captain Rickover was working with his Naval Reactors Group to develop the world's first nuclear submarine, the U.S.S. Nautilus, under the cover of extreme secrecy. But as engineers worked night and day to create a suitable form of propulsion, one problem after another cropped up. New metals were needed for the hellish nuclear environment within a reactor-metals that had never been produced in vast quantities. Enter Kroll's titanium, and its sister metal, hafnium. The two entwined metals, once freed from each other, were exactly what Rickover was looking for.Would the little laboratory in rural Albany, Oregon, be able to produce enough zirconium and hafnium for Rickover's ambitious project? Delve into the establishment and early years of the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Albany, Oregon, and the incredible series of events during the period of 1940-1956.


Secrets of the Conqueror

Secrets of the Conqueror

Author: Stuart Prebble

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2012-10-12

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 0571290345

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HMS Conqueror is Britain's most famous submarine. It is the only sub since World War Two to have sunk an enemy ship. Conqueror's sinking of the Argentine cruiser Belgrano made inevitable an all-out war over the future of the Falkland Islands, and sparked off one of the most controversial episodes of twentieth century politics. The controversy was fuelled by a war-diary kept by an officer on board HMS Conqueror, and as a young TV producer in the 1980s Stuart Prebble scooped the world by locating the diary's author and getting his story on the record. But in the course of uncovering his Falklands story, Stuart Prebble also learned a military secret which could have come straight out of a Cold War thriller. It involved the Top Secret activities of the Conqueror in the months before and after the Falklands War. Prebble has waited for thirty years to tell his story. It is a story of incredible courage and derring-do, of men who put their lives on the line and were never allowed to tell what they had done. This story, buried under layers of official secrecy for three decades, is one of Britain's great military success stories and can now finally be told.


X.1

X.1

Author: Roger Branfill-Cook

Publisher: Seaforth Publishing

Published: 2013-01-21

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1848321619

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The ‘X’ stood for experimental, but it might equally have meant extraordinary, exotic or extravagant, as this giant submarine attracted superlatives – the world’s largest, most heavily armed, and deepest diving submersible of the day. X.1 was a controversial project conceived behind the backs of the politicians, and would remain an unwanted stepchild. As British diplomats at the Washington naval conference were trying to outlaw the use of submarines as commerce raiders, the Admiralty was designing and building the world’s most powerful corsair submarine, to destroy single-handed entire convoys of merchant ships. This book explores the historical background to submarine cruisers, the personalities involved in X.1’s design and service, the spy drama surrounding her launch, the treason trial of a leading RN submarine commander, the ship’s chequered career, and her political demise. Despite real technical successes, she would finally fall foul of ‘black propaganda’, aimed at persuading foreign naval powers that the cruiser submarine did not work; even today uninformed opinion repeats the myth of her failure. However, it was completely ignored by other navies, who went on building submarine cruisers of their own, some larger than, but none so sophisticated as, X.1. The book analyses in detail the submarine cruisers built by the US Navy, the French and the Japanese, plus the projected German copy of X.1, the Type XI U-Boat, paying belated tribute to the real importance of the mysterious X.1.


Secrets of a Civil War Submarine

Secrets of a Civil War Submarine

Author: Sally M. Walker

Publisher: Carolrhoda Books

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1575058308

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Presents the history of the Civil War submarine the H.L. Hunley, including the construction, mysterious sinking, recovery, and restoration.


Red November

Red November

Author: W. Craig Reed

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2010-05-04

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 0061992542

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“Red November delivers the real life feel and fears of submariners who risked their lives to keep the peace.” —Steve Berry, author of The Paris Vendetta W. Craig Reed, a former navy diver and fast-attack submariner, provides a riveting portrayal of the secret underwater struggle between the US and the USSR in Red November. A spellbinding true-life adventure in the bestselling tradition of Blind Man’s Bluff, it reveals previously undisclosed details about the most dangerous, daring, and decorated missions of the Cold War, earning raves from New York Times bestselling authors David Morrell, who calls it, “palpably gripping,” and James Rollins, who says, “If Tom Clancy had turned The Hunt for Red October into a nonfiction thriller, Red November might be the result.”


I-400

I-400

Author: Henry Sakaida

Publisher:

Published: 2010-12-13

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780955426810

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The I-400 submarine was one of the most monstrous creations to emerge from World War II and, in its time, it was the largest submarine ever built. At more than 400 feet long, weighing 5,223 tons submerged, carrying a crew of nearly 200 and possessing a range of over 30,000 nautical miles, the I-400 featured state-of-the-art Japanese radar and 'stealth' technology and carried three Aichi M6A Seiran attack floatplanes in a water-tight tube-like hangar built onto the deck forward of and under its massive conning tower. In mid-1944 this secret weapon was tasked with attacking American cities and destroying the Panama Canal. The extraordinary story of this submarine is told using first-hand accounts from three of the original air crew assigned to fly the Seirans and former officers and crew of the I-400 as well as American naval personnel who crewed the vessel on its dramatic final voyage. Hundreds of remarkable photographs show external and internal views of the I-400, its hangar, aircraft, armament and equipment, and form a unique reference source for enthusiasts of World War II aviation and naval history.


In the Waves

In the Waves

Author: Rachel Lance

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-04-06

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1524744174

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One of "The Most Fascinating Books WIRED Read in 2020" "One part science book, one part historical narrative, one part memoir . . . harrowing and inspiring.”—The Wall Street Journal How a determined scientist cracked the case of the first successful—and disastrous—submarine attack On the night of February 17, 1864, the tiny Confederate submarine HL Hunley made its way toward the USS Housatonic just outside Charleston harbor. Within a matter of hours, the Union ship’s stern was blown open in a spray of wood planks. The explosion sank the ship, killing many of its crew. And the submarine, the first ever to be successful in combat, disappeared without a trace. For 131 years the eight-man crew of the HL Hunley lay in their watery graves, undiscovered. When finally raised, the narrow metal vessel revealed a puzzling sight. There was no indication the blast had breached the hull, and all eight men were still seated at their stations—frozen in time after more than a century. Why did it sink? Why did the men die? Archaeologists and conservationists have been studying the boat and the remains for years, and now one woman has the answers. In the Waves is much more than just a military perspective or a technical account. It’s also the story of Rachel Lance’s single-minded obsession spanning three years, the story of the extreme highs and lows in her quest to find all the puzzle pieces of the Hunley. Balancing a gripping historical tale and original research with a personal story of professional and private obstacles, In the Waves is an enthralling look at a unique part of the Civil War and the lengths one scientist will go to uncover its secrets.


Operation Rising Sun

Operation Rising Sun

Author: David W. Jourdan

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2020-06-01

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1640123202

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In 1944 Allied codebreakers learned the Imperial Japanese Navy had dispatched the cargo submarine I-52 to occupied France with tons of military supplies and payment--in gold--for German assistance. I-52 undertook the mission as part of the Yanagi missions, a military program meant to alleviate Japan's desperate need for military material and technical knowledge. After tracking I-52 from Asia to the Atlantic, the Allies destroyed the vessel in a battle that ended the Yanagi missions and left I-52 an unlikely treasure ship on the seafloor. David W. Jourdan adds to the history of I-52 with a spellbinding account of his efforts to find the sunken submarine. One of the first joint American-Russian research expeditions, the search for the wreck combined a team effort, exhaustive detective work, and a dramatic battle with the sea. The effort paid off when the group found I-52's nearly intact hull three miles down. The expedition also earned an unexpected historical dividend when it uncovered one-of-a-kind recordings of American Avenger torpedo bomber attacks on an enemy submarine. Part war tale and part seagoing adventure, Operation Rising Sun tells the story of the two very different missions to find submarine I-52.


Big Red

Big Red

Author: Douglas C. Waller

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2001-03-01

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9780060194840

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Describes a three month-long patrol of the North Atlantic by the USS Nebraska, a submarine armed with nuclear weapons, and the everyday life of its officers and crew.


Submarine

Submarine

Author: Tom Clancy

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2003-05-06

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1101002581

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Only the author of The Hunt for Red October could capture the reality of life aboard a nuclear submarine. Only a writer of Mr. Clancy's magnitude could obtain security clearance for information, diagrams, and photographs never before available to the public. Now, every civilian can enter this top secret world...the weapons, the procedures, the people themselves...the startling facts behind the fiction that made Tom Clancy a #1 bestselling author.