The part played in the Cold War by the Royal Navy's submarines still
retains a great degree of mystery and, in the traditions of the 'Silent
Service, ' remains largely shrouded in secrecy. Cold War Command brings
us as close as is possible to the realities of commanding nuclear
hunter-killer submarines, routinely tasked to hunt out and covertly
follow Soviet submarines in order to destroy them should there be any
outbreak of hostilities.
Dan Conley takes the reader through his early career in diesel
submarines, prior to his transition to the complex and very demanding
three-dimensional world of operating nuclear submarines; he describes
the Royal Navy's shortcomings in ship and weapons procurement and
delivers many insights into the procurement failures which led to the
effective bankrupting of the Defense budget in the first decade of the
21st century. In command of the hunter killer submarines Courageous and
Valient in the 1980s, he achieved exceptional success against Soviet
submarines at the height of the Cold War. He was also involved in the
initial deployment of the Trident nuclear weapon system, and divulges
hitherto un-revealed facets of nuclear weapons strategy and policy
during this period.
This gripping read takes you onboard a nuclear submarine and into the
depths of the ocean, and relays the excitement and apprehensions
experienced by British submariners confronted by a massive Soviet Navy.
