Hunter Killers: The Dramatic Untold Story of the Royal Navy’s Most Secret Service
£4.70
HUNTER KILLER: a submarine designed to pursue and attack enemy submarines and surface ships using torpedoes.
HUNTER KILLERS will follow the careers of four daring British submarine captains who risked their lives to keep the rest of us safe, their exploits consigned to the shadows until now. Their experiences encompass the span of the Cold War, from voyages in WW2-era submarines under Arctic ice to nuclear-powered espionage missions in Soviet-dominated seas.
There are dangerous encounters with Russian spy ships in UK waters and finally, as the communist facade begins to crack, they hold the line against the Kremlin’s oceanic might, playing a leading role in bringing down the Berlin Wall. It is the first time they have spoken out about their covert lives in the submarine service.
This is the dramatic untold story of Britain’s most-secret service.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Orion, UK ed. edition (12 Sept. 2013) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 6586 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 497 pages |
by militaryman-WMAHM
This author obviously knows quite a lot about the subject, but on also purchasing another of his books on submatine warfare I will not buy another book written by him. The reason for this is because the photos he used in one book are repeated in his other one, along with similar stories. I felt that it seemed like he couldn’t be bothered to write a totally different story about the subject, and just rehashed the previous book under a different title, which I ordered in the belief that it might be as interesting as the first, only on my initially looking through it I thought that I had seen the photos before, and on checking the other book that he’d written I found the same photos in the same layout. On finding this out I wished I’d not bothered wasting my money on buying the recommended other book by him.
by Amazon Customer
Bought this for my Dad who was a submariner. To see pictures of his own Captain and reading what he was actually doing in the 70’s took him right back to his youth.
by Rackman
Iain Ballantyne has succeeded in surpassing the equivalent American tome Blind Man’s Bluff in bringing the secretive world of the Royal Navy’s Submarine Service out of the shadows.
Encompassing the RN’s activities after the war up to the present day, he uses historical and journalistic references combined with personal stories of former sub commanders to bring the murky world of the Cold War to life. Treading the fine line of secrecy and disclosure, he attempts to draw the reader into the action while never losing sight of the cultural and political imperatives of the Cold War nations.
He succeeds brilliantly – this is a readable and memorable account that I can’t recommend too highly to anyone with an interest in naval operations, especially submarines.
by alan Trafford
As a mid 50’s to early 60’s submariner I was pleased to see the contribution we made in the cold war revealed for perhaps the first time. There were some trivial innacuracies for example David Bingham was on the Super T Totem not Tiptoe, I was on it at the time, and my recollection was his sentence was thirty years, perhaps he only served twenty one. Also the Super T’s which were converted WW2 boats had the reputation of being the quietest submarines in the world well into the late fifties. That probably deserved a mention as it illustrates how clever the UK were in meeting the challenge when almost broke and in fact doing a similar job with clapped out WW2 destroyers turning them into probably the best anti submarine Frigates of the same period.
by Mr. Howard H. Samuel
Thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially as I had been a diesel boat submariner and knew a number of those mentioned and was involved in the sneaky looks at the Russians. I was in Otter with Doug Littlejohns (who features largely in the book) and took part in the navigational ‘ploy’ where a roadworks light was used to help us. A lot of detail, much of which I’m surprised they are allowed to print, but a lot of things happened that I wasn’t aware of. Possibly of more interest to ex-submariners who can identify with the goings-on, but a good read for anyone.
by David McIntyre
A well written book about the Cold War activities of the Royal Navy that also touches on the Falklands Conflict and the activities of our allies and foes not missing out the over many Western traitors (is he hinting of something more sinister about the death of Bingham) I think the author has put as much on paper as he can and it is a lot but you have to keep in mind that much of what went on is still secret those involved not telling what they feel they should not unlike the more complete submarine histories of the two world wars this can give a inevitable disjointedness to this and any other book covering this subject that said if you are interested in this era it is not to be missed,i am no expert so the only error I found in reading this book was the Captain of the Soviet Submarine that grounded on the Swedish coast the famous Whiskey on the rocks episode was not sent to Siberia he was I think demoted but kept his Naval career about his XO and the political officer I have been unable to find out anything further.
by “midgetracer”
A truly enthralling read. I learnt a great deal about a subject I thought I knew a lot about. A must read for anymore with interest in this area.
by Elinvar
I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it, but there are a few niggles. The writing is sometimes not as clear as it could be, and several sentences had to be re-read to understand the intended meaning. There are one or two errors, eg. The SRC at Devonport Dockyard is wrongly called the Submarine Refit Centre (it should be Submarine Refit Complex). There are also some omissions. The loss of USS Scorpion is covered, but not that of USS Thresher, and the Warspite fire is not mentioned. Some important books are omitted from the bibliography, including John Bentley’s The Thresher Disaster, Stephen Johnson’s Silent Steel (about the loss of USS Scorpion), and Viking Olver Eriksen’s Sunken Nuclear Submarines.