Rising Tide: The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines That Fought the Cold War by Gary E. Weir & Walter J. Boyne

Rising Tide: The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines That Fought the Cold War by Gary E. Weir & Walter J. Boyne lands on the shelves of my shop.

New York: Basic Books, 2003, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Black and White Photographs;

From the cover: Of all the Secrets the Soviet Union kept, none were more closely guarded than those involving their submarines. Throughout the Cold War, Soviet submariners patrolled the worlds oceans, playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with their American counterparts in a silent struggle hundreds of feet below the surface. For the first time, Rising Tide tells the Soviet side of these secretive operations. Drawing on newly available archives, as well as interviews with a dozen former Soviet commanders access never before granted to Western researchers this gripping narrative shows that confrontations between nuclear-armed subs were far more dangerous than we ever thought.

With sixteen pages of never-before-seen photos, Rising Tide recounts successful Soviet operations, including top-secret exercises off the American coast, and espionage coups, such as the spy-ship that monitored American missile tests off the Florida coast and collected the debris in full view of the US Navy. All too common were the near-misses, heroic rescues, and deadly catastrophes that plagued Soviet submarines over the years, including the horrific nuclear accident on board the ill-fated K-19, later nicknamed the Hiroshima; the internal fire that sank the K-8 in 1970 with twenty-two sailors on board, and the dramatic escape of crewmembers from the Komsomolets in 1989, as narrated by a survivor.

Russian submariners fought two battles in the Cold War: one against their American opponents, and another against the cruel Soviet leadership that knowingly put their lives at risk and caused so many needless deaths. Rising Tide also provides dramatic first-hand evidence that the final decision to launch a nuclear weapon resided solely in the hands of Soviet sub commanders. From the Cuban Missile Crisis to the tragic sinking of the Kursk in 2000, Rising Tide offers an extraordinary insiders history of the Soviet submarine service, and sheds new light on the darkest secrets of the Cold War.

Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper.

Black boards with Silver titling to the Spine. [XIII] 354 pages. Index. Bibliography. 9½” x 6¼”.

Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!