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!

Aircraft of the Cold War: 1945-1991 by Thomas Newdick

Aircraft of the Cold War: 1945-1991 by Thomas Newdick lands on the shelves of my shop.

London: Amber Books, 2010, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Colour Drawings; Tables; Illustrated endpapers and blanks;

From the cover: Illustrated with detailed artworks of combat aircraft and their markings, The Essential Aircraft Identification Guide: Aircraft of the Cold War is a comprehensive study of the planes in service with NATO and the Warsaw Pact and their respective units from the end of World War II until the reunification of Germany. Arranged chronologically within each theatre, the book gives a complete organisational breakdown of the units of both sides, including the units and aircraft used in the proxy wars fought in Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East and elsewhere, as well as the front line in Germany. Each section includes a compact history of the role and impact of aircraft on the course of the Cold War, as well as orders of battle and lists of commanders and aces.

The Essential Aircraft Identification Guide: Aircraft of the Cold War features a wide range of aircraft types, including the numerous variants of well-known models, such as the MiG-15, the McDonnell Douglas F-15 and the Harrier, through to lesser-known aircraft such as the Lockheed P-80 and the Yak-28. Each aircraft profile is accompanied by exhaustive specifications, as well as details of individual and unit markings.

Packed with 250 colour profiles of every major type of combat aircraft from the era, The Essential Aircraft Identification Guide: Aircraft of the Cold War is an essential reference guide for modellers, military historians and aircraft enthusiasts.

In the Essential Aircraft Identification Guide series.

Very Good in Good+ Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper with a small nick to the head of the spine. Text complete, clean and tight.

Matching Pictorial boards. 192 pages. Index. 9¾” x 7¾”.

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

Home of the Fleet: A Century of Portsmouth Royal Dockyard in Photographs by Stephen Courtney & Brian Patterson

Home of the Fleet: A Century of Portsmouth Royal Dockyard in Photographs by Stephen Courtney & Brian Patterson lands on the shelves of my shop.

Stroud: Sutton Publishing in association with the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth, 2005, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Black and White Photographs;

From the cover: RICHLY ILLUSTRATED with photographs from the Royal Naval Museum and Historic Dockyard Collections and exclusive, newly commissioned photographs, Home of the Fleet will appeal to anyone who is interested in Britains naval heritage. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth had already experienced sixty years of dramatic change as Britains fleet moved from the sail-powered wooden warships that had triumphed at Trafalgar to armoured and steam-powered modern battleships. In 1905 the Dockyard was chosen to build the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought, featuring engines capable of driving the ship through the water at 22 knots, wireless telegraphy and guns able to throw an 850-lb shell more than 10,000 yd.

The First World War shifted the Dockyards primary focus from the construction of new warships to the repair and maintenance of existing vessels and saw some 1,800 women employed alongside men in every aspect of operations. After years of cutbacks, the rearmament of the 1930s and then the outbreak of the Second World War brought renewed challenges to the Dockyard and the wider Portsmouth community, as bombing raids killed 930 people and injured 2,837 more.

The war years gave way to the uncertainties and massive changes engendered by the onset of the Cold War. Hard times followed in the 1970s as defence cuts resulted in redundancies. The Falklands War of 1982 prompted a major review of Britains naval priorities, however, and turned the Dockyard into a hive of activity once again. In accordance with Government policy of putting dockyards and bases under commercial management control, the Dockyard was taken over by Fleet Support Limited in 1998. As the new millennium approached it was announced that shipbuilding would return to Portsmouth with the construction of the new Type 45 destroyer. Portsmouth is now ready to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper.

Black boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. [X] 172 pages. Index. Bibliography. 10¾” x 7¾”.

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

Vivarium Life: A Manual On Amphibians, Reptiles and Cold-Water Fish by Alfred Leutscher

Vivarium Life: A Manual On Amphibians, Reptiles and Cold-Water Fish by Alfred Leutscher lands on the shelves of my shop.

London: Cleaver-Hume Press Ltd., 1961, Hardback in dust wrapper.

2nd, enlarged, edition, 1st printing, [First Published: 1952] Illustrated by way of: Black & White Drawings [126];

From the cover: There are notable improvements in this enlarged Second Edition of Mr Leutschers handbook, which describes all the animals amphibians, reptiles and some cold-water fishes likely to be kept in a vivarium, and also certain appropriate aquatic plants.

He has redrawn a large proportion of the illustrations, and in response to requests has included a section on setting up a vivarium, with drawings.

In addition to names, distribution, characteristics, food, breeding habits, etc. he includes suggestions on the type of living quarters, thus greatly increasing the practical value of this standard guide.

The author is extremely well-known as a guide-lecturer, and is a former Secretary of the British Herpetological Society.

Good+ in Good+ Dust Wrapper. Unlaminated dust wrapper a little edgeworn and faded. Price Clipped. Edges of the text block lightly spotted. Pages very gently age-tanned.

Green boards with Yellow titling to the Spine. 252 pages. 8¾” x 5½”.

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