A complete compendium of the submarine badges of the world, dating from the Imperial Russian Naval Officer's Submarine School Graduation Badge of 1909 to the new South Korean Submariner's Badge issued in 1996. Covers all countries currently operating submarines as well as those no longer existing as political entities.
Like its predecessors in the series, this book is an epic chronicle of previously unpublished topics, including the uniforms and equipment of the submarine force, PT boat squadrons, mine warfare men, gun crews, signalmen, and more. In addition, never-before addressed subjects including the U.S. Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, Public Health Service, Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Samoan Fita-Fita are examined. Clothing, accoutrements, insignia, small arms, knives, life jackets, novelty items and sweetheart jewelry are all covered.
Submariners are a tight knit group of men bound together by training and experience, and with a language all their own. That language is perhaps a little vulgar, but never intentionally demeaning, and a little irreverent but still worldly. This work is an attempt to preserve and explain some of these curious guys who so proudly wear a shiny metal pin that looks like a strange pair of fish on their left breast. This process of accumulating this new language begins in Boot Camp, and is added to with every change of duty station the sailor undergoes. It is heard aboard the boats and, unknowingly, by family members who can't understand terms like head, deck, and overhead, and who think SOS is a distress signal.
With the end of the Cold War, Russia's submarines were no longer needed to deter or fight Western navies and were very expensive to operate and maintain. Older submarines were taken out of service in large numbers, but without firm plans and infrastructure in place to remove and adequately care for their nuclear components, problems soon developed over the disposition of spent fuel assemblies. Problems arose also of course between Russia and the international community as to the best way to respond to the challenge. This book looks at those problems, first discussing Russia's economy, its environment, and the Russian Navy, and then covering in detail the spent fuel of Russian submarines and related nuclear problems. The engagement of the international community on the issue is then addressed. A theoretical analysis is offered on how Russia's fellow nations can help remedy a troubling environmental problem in a difficult country.
The career of the USS Wahoo in sinking Japanese ships in the farthest reaches of the Empire is legendary in submarine circles. Christened three months after Pearl Harbor, Wahoo was commanded by the astonishing Dudley W. “Mush” Morton, whose originality and daring new techniques led to results unprecedented in naval history; among them, successful “down the throat” barrage against an attacking Japanese destroyer, voracious surface-running gun attacks, and the sinking of a four-ship convoy in one day. Wahoo took the war to Japan’s front porch, and Morton became known as the Navy’s most aggressive and successful sea raider. Now, in a new quality paperback edition, her full story is told by the person most qualified to tell it—her executive officer Richard O’Kane, who went on to become the leading submarine captain of the Second World War. Praise for Wahoo “The accounts of the patrols are spine-tingling, both in triumph and tragedy. It is a tale of great courage, brilliant leadership, and daring innovation in a new type of submarine warfare fought largely on the surface in waters closely controlled by the enemy. Well-written, a gripping story for anybody with a love of the sea or adventure in submarine combat.”—Naval War College Review “This is an exceptional story of American men who rose to the occasion time and again under dangerous circumstance.” —Abilene Reporter News “A first-hand—and first-rate—narrative, told by the former executive officer of this legendary WWII submarine, which gives readers an intimate feel for life aboard the ‘boats’ that helped beat the odds in the battles of the Pacific and put Japan on the defensive.”—Sea Power “Like Clear the Bridge!, [Richard] O’Kane’s bestselling account of the Tang’s 33 confirmed sinkings, [Wahoo] is a rousing, authentic war adventure that could well become a classic of its type, crack[ling] with the tensions, boredom, and occasional exhilaration of submarine life under the Pacific, O’Kane is a superb storyteller, and his credentials are impeccable.”—Springfield Sunday Republic