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As this was one of the most hotly awaited books I thought I would give this a proper review.
When I first saw mention of a Cold War volume in British Submarines In Two World Wars I wondered how a book could be made equal in length or scope with the first volume given the relatively small numbers of post-war submarine designs. The result is a book pretty much on par with my expectations, but be warned that four appendices take up about a third of the book, plus footnotes.
As expected, once you get into the 1970s and hit the 30 year rule plus other classifications the detail tails off and Friedman relies on what open source material there is (plus some Ship Covers have been lost). Basically anything post 1975 is sketchy but SSN0Y and Upholder are actually surprisingly well detailed. But there is a reliance on works like Hennessy & Jinks' The Silent Deep and even the Haynes series. Hennessy is well connected and perhaps opened some doors Friedman can't, I'd say this is a good technical companion to Hennessy & Jinks' but its surprising how much they unearthed in technical and policy matters considering they are not naval historians.
I was disappointed that unlike Friedman's other volumes, there is no coverage of exports beyond a few brief mentions and it looks like no export submarine designs were conceived in this period (coverage of the estimated Upholder export market is provided).
Editing could have been better, too often footnotes repeat what is said in the main text or even repeating other footnotes. Some sentences are repeated within a couple of paragraphs, there are a couple of typos scattered throughout (and even on sonar designations which can make things confusing). Friedman also has a habit of indirectly quoting source documents so sometimes the chronology can be misleading and confusing when estimated build and completion dates alter or when he discusses a sonar for 1958 only to then be told it was cancelled in 1955 for example.
Chapter 1 is an overview of the post-1945 situation, a recap on the organisation and structure of the RN and the various committees concerned with submarines. It touches on economics and defence policy as well as the shift to nuclear propulsion and the effects of SLBMs on the national deterrent.
Chapter 2 covers the situation in 1945, the impact of snorkels and German technology and a long explanation of the Soviet threat during the Cold War and how the RN assessed it. Its a succinct summary but feels a little woolly in technical detail on Soviet classes and surprisingly the political situation for a Cold War historian like Friedman lacks any nuance when discussing Soviet strategy.
Chapter 3 is entirely devoted to sonars, operation and development which is quite detailed and useful. This covers developments like SOSUS and silencing.
Chapter 4 begins to get to the actual submarines, the conversions of the S-class as high-speed targets and the T-class and A-class streamlining programme as a stopgap until the new Fast Battery submarines materialised. There some nice plans from the NMM and by John Lambert in this chapter, reproduced a bit small but details are clearly visible through a magnifying glass. Plus there is a colour gatefold section too.
Chapter 5 is devoted to the Fast Battery Submarine; the Oberons and Porpoises. There is some overlap with HTP technology as the early development strands of the Fast Batteries and HTPs were interlinked, something Friedman doesn't really do justice too. For example the B-class designs crop up across 3 chapters with slightly different specs in each chapter and its hard to piece the progression together without going back and forth.
The cancelled 1953 ASW submarine is also covered but sadly no images are offered, something D K Brown provides in Rebuilding the Royal Navy for example.
Chapter 6 is devoted to HTP, the Explorers and some aborted operational versions. Some nice plans of Explorer are included.
Chapter 7 covers the first generation SSNs, Dreadnought and Valiants including the political and technical efforts to obtain home-grown and US technology. Some very nice plans of Valiant are included and a second gatefold includes the Resolution.
Chapter 8 covers the ballistic missile submarines, plus the purchase of Polaris, Chevaline and Trident.
Here we hit the 1970s limit of open files so source material and descriptions of the Vanguards are brief.
Chapter 9 covers the Swiftsures and Trafalgars plus the aborted Modified Swiftsure and SSN0Y.
Sadly nothing on SSN0Z has been declassified so not much can be said, the same goes for the W Design which followed on from SSN0Z.
Chapter 10 covers the Upholders and Oberon/Porpoise modernisations. Nice plans of Upholder are provided.
Chapter 11 is an operational history, it heavily references Hennesy & Jinks so if you have that book you're well covered, there is nothing new here.
Chapter 12 covers the Astute and the background saga. This narrative heavily relies on a RAND Report into the procurement and the Haynes Manual book by Johnathan Gates - which Friedman says is the best open-source book on the Astutes. I'd say get Gates book and you have everything you ever need about Astute.
Appendix A covers sonars and developments, very interesting on sonar projects etc.
Appendix B covers combat control systems
Appendix C covers weapons (torpedoes and missiles)
Appendix D covers midget submarines
Then follows 70 pages of footnotes then a list of submarines by class and some specifications, all drawn from open sources which Friedman admits vary in quality.
Overall a worthwhile buy but perhaps not definitive but it opens some new doors and the information in the appendices is very interesting in itself. Worth £50? Maybe not and perhaps not as great as the first volume, but it is a good book nevertheless.
When I first saw mention of a Cold War volume in British Submarines In Two World Wars I wondered how a book could be made equal in length or scope with the first volume given the relatively small numbers of post-war submarine designs. The result is a book pretty much on par with my expectations, but be warned that four appendices take up about a third of the book, plus footnotes.
As expected, once you get into the 1970s and hit the 30 year rule plus other classifications the detail tails off and Friedman relies on what open source material there is (plus some Ship Covers have been lost). Basically anything post 1975 is sketchy but SSN0Y and Upholder are actually surprisingly well detailed. But there is a reliance on works like Hennessy & Jinks' The Silent Deep and even the Haynes series. Hennessy is well connected and perhaps opened some doors Friedman can't, I'd say this is a good technical companion to Hennessy & Jinks' but its surprising how much they unearthed in technical and policy matters considering they are not naval historians.
I was disappointed that unlike Friedman's other volumes, there is no coverage of exports beyond a few brief mentions and it looks like no export submarine designs were conceived in this period (coverage of the estimated Upholder export market is provided).
Editing could have been better, too often footnotes repeat what is said in the main text or even repeating other footnotes. Some sentences are repeated within a couple of paragraphs, there are a couple of typos scattered throughout (and even on sonar designations which can make things confusing). Friedman also has a habit of indirectly quoting source documents so sometimes the chronology can be misleading and confusing when estimated build and completion dates alter or when he discusses a sonar for 1958 only to then be told it was cancelled in 1955 for example.
Chapter 1 is an overview of the post-1945 situation, a recap on the organisation and structure of the RN and the various committees concerned with submarines. It touches on economics and defence policy as well as the shift to nuclear propulsion and the effects of SLBMs on the national deterrent.
Chapter 2 covers the situation in 1945, the impact of snorkels and German technology and a long explanation of the Soviet threat during the Cold War and how the RN assessed it. Its a succinct summary but feels a little woolly in technical detail on Soviet classes and surprisingly the political situation for a Cold War historian like Friedman lacks any nuance when discussing Soviet strategy.
Chapter 3 is entirely devoted to sonars, operation and development which is quite detailed and useful. This covers developments like SOSUS and silencing.
Chapter 4 begins to get to the actual submarines, the conversions of the S-class as high-speed targets and the T-class and A-class streamlining programme as a stopgap until the new Fast Battery submarines materialised. There some nice plans from the NMM and by John Lambert in this chapter, reproduced a bit small but details are clearly visible through a magnifying glass. Plus there is a colour gatefold section too.
Chapter 5 is devoted to the Fast Battery Submarine; the Oberons and Porpoises. There is some overlap with HTP technology as the early development strands of the Fast Batteries and HTPs were interlinked, something Friedman doesn't really do justice too. For example the B-class designs crop up across 3 chapters with slightly different specs in each chapter and its hard to piece the progression together without going back and forth.
The cancelled 1953 ASW submarine is also covered but sadly no images are offered, something D K Brown provides in Rebuilding the Royal Navy for example.
Chapter 6 is devoted to HTP, the Explorers and some aborted operational versions. Some nice plans of Explorer are included.
Chapter 7 covers the first generation SSNs, Dreadnought and Valiants including the political and technical efforts to obtain home-grown and US technology. Some very nice plans of Valiant are included and a second gatefold includes the Resolution.
Chapter 8 covers the ballistic missile submarines, plus the purchase of Polaris, Chevaline and Trident.
Here we hit the 1970s limit of open files so source material and descriptions of the Vanguards are brief.
Chapter 9 covers the Swiftsures and Trafalgars plus the aborted Modified Swiftsure and SSN0Y.
Sadly nothing on SSN0Z has been declassified so not much can be said, the same goes for the W Design which followed on from SSN0Z.
Chapter 10 covers the Upholders and Oberon/Porpoise modernisations. Nice plans of Upholder are provided.
Chapter 11 is an operational history, it heavily references Hennesy & Jinks so if you have that book you're well covered, there is nothing new here.
Chapter 12 covers the Astute and the background saga. This narrative heavily relies on a RAND Report into the procurement and the Haynes Manual book by Johnathan Gates - which Friedman says is the best open-source book on the Astutes. I'd say get Gates book and you have everything you ever need about Astute.
Appendix A covers sonars and developments, very interesting on sonar projects etc.
Appendix B covers combat control systems
Appendix C covers weapons (torpedoes and missiles)
Appendix D covers midget submarines
Then follows 70 pages of footnotes then a list of submarines by class and some specifications, all drawn from open sources which Friedman admits vary in quality.
Overall a worthwhile buy but perhaps not definitive but it opens some new doors and the information in the appendices is very interesting in itself. Worth £50? Maybe not and perhaps not as great as the first volume, but it is a good book nevertheless.
