Fictional Warships - Novels

[Graham1973]

Kenneth Cameron (Pen name: George Bartram), Under the Freeze, 1984

United Kingdom (WWII)

HMS Loyal
'Light Cruiser', class not specified
Carries two Seaplanes, this would fit the Town or later classes of light cruiser in British service.
No other details provided, beyond the fact that it was "...slower but had bigger guns..." than the German warship it was chasing.
Note: Name clashes with an L Class Destroyer in service 1940 - 1944.

Unnamed
4 Destroyers
No other details provided

Unnamed
2 Icebreakers
No other details provided

Germany (WWII)

Prinz Von Homberg
'Cruiser', class not specified
No other details provided.

Unnamed
2 Icebreakers
No other details provided

Argentina (1980s)

Admiral Jorge Canossa (ex-Svetlanosk)
Whiskey Class Submarine (ex-Soviet)
Commissioned 1963
Converted for maritime research 1977/78
Recommissioned in Argentine service 1978
Details as per the real ships regarding propulsion, modifications are described as follows in the novel:

"Divers' ports, a tunnel attachment to mate with another craft or a sea lab, a deck mounted submersible. Cargo space. Lots of cargo space. Very unusual for a submarine."

Plot summary: The year is 1983. The Soviets have completed their investigation into the submarine that ran aground in Sweden in 1981 and have discovered that it was carrying stolen plutonium to an unknown client. With evidence that more has been stolen, but fearful of a leak in their own government, the KGB reaches out to the Americans for help.

Note: Dating this one is pretty easy, Yuri Andropov (1914 -1984, Leader of Russia 1982 - 1984) actually appears in the novel which means it has to take place before his death in February of 1984, references to the Falklands War (April - June 1982) in the past tense means it takes place after those events, therefore it is most likely the story is set in 1983.

This author also published a series of novels under the name Gordon Kent which he co-wrote with his son. Novels by this pseudonym covered in this thread are, 'Night Trap' (1999), ' Peacemaker', (2000) 'Top Hook' (2002), 'Hostile Contact' (2003) 'Force Protection' (2004) & 'Damage Control,' (2006).

 

[Graham1973]

Liam Makeka, Starboard Helm, 2018

United States (Coast Guard)

USCGC Bristow (WHEC-???)
Hamilton Class Cutter (Thirteenth Member of Class)
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Named for Benjamin H. Bristow (Secretary of the Treasury 1874 - 1876)

Plot summary: A US Coast Guard officer comes to an important moment in his life.

Note: Dating this one is not easy, the author gives specific dates but they do not point to a single year, however he does feature fictionalized versions of a helicopter crash at Ambrose Light (31 August, 1993) and the TWA Flight 800 crash (17 July, 1996) and possibly the 1991 'Perfect Storm', which suggests that the events are taking place in the 1990s.

 

[Graham1973]

Bill Lounsbery (Pen name: Roger Hogan), A Time to Heal, 2014

United Kingdom

HMS Minerva (F45)
Leander Class Frigate
Real ship, details as in service.

United States

USS Cabezon (SSN-???)
Sturgeon Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Name clashes with a Balao Class Submarine in service 1944 - 1953, but not struck from the Naval Register until 1970.

Russia

Sword of the Motherland/Mech Rodiny
Foxtrot (Pr. 641) Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Only the English language name is given by the author, Russian name was created using Google Translate.

K-162
Papa (Pr. 661) Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: Author identifies this ship as the Alfa (Pr. 705) class prototype but explicitly refers to the Papa Class Submarines nickname of 'Golden Fish', a reference to the high cost of the submarine. It was renumbered K-222 in 1978.

Plot summary: The story is set between 1973 and 1974. A US Naval Officer is assigned to a US test facility in the Bahamas to recover from psychological injuries sustained in Vietnam. While there he becomes involved in various intrigues, culminating in a Russian attempt to salvage a Mk 48 torpedo lost during testing.

Note: The novel can be pretty firmly dated, with The Bahama's becoming independent within the Commonwealth (1973) and Richard Nixon's resignation (1974) providing the anchors. This is not the best of novels. For various reasons the story does not 'gel', partly because the author explains things in detail that should have been left in summary and not even a gratuitous reference to the Bermuda Triangle saves it. The only other book I've covered on the list dealing with that phenomenon, and which handles it far better than this novel is 'Sargasso' (1977) by Edwin Corley.

 

[Graham1973]

Some more 'self-published on Amazon' fiction...

James W. Nelson, Boat Sailors, 2011

United States

USS Charr (AGSS-328)
Balao Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service
Note: Designated as an Auxilliary Submarine from 1966 until decommissioned in 1969.

USS Hagfish (APSS-313)
Balao Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships
Note: This is a fictional version of USS Perch (APSS-313) a submarine that was used for covert operations during the Vietnam War.

Japan (WWII)

Isuzu
Nagara Class Cruiser
Real ship, details as in service

Plot summary: The novel is set between 1964 - 1966 and covers the career of a navy recruit who becomes part of the crew of a submarine that is used for various covert operations during the opening phases of the Vietnam war.

Note: The author states that he based the book on actual operations carried out by the USS Perch (APSS-313), making use of recollections from the ships crew (The authors military service in the 60s didn't bring him to Vietnam.), aside from one incident which is based on a 1972 atrocity carried out by North Vietnamese soldiers.

 

[Graham1973]

Another piece of 'self-published on Amazon' fiction...

Frederick Aldrich, Two Peasants and a President, 2012

China (People's Republic)

Yulin
Type 053H3 Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships
Note: I do not currently have a good source for Chinese warship names, all I can confirm is that there is no Type 053H3 Class Frigate of that name.

Yuxi
Type 053H3 Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships
Note: I do not currently have a good source for Chinese warship names, all I can confirm is that there is no Type 053H3 Class Frigate of that name.

Lanzhou
Type 052C Destroyer
Real ship, details as in service

Unnamed
Type 093 (Song) Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships

Vietnam

Dinh Tien Hoang
Frigate (Russian designed.)
Stealth design.
76.2mm gun
Kh-35e Missiles
533mm torpedoes
Osa-M Air Defence Missile system
No other details provided other than there is a second ship in the class and that the missiles are later updated to KH-35 Uran's (SS-N-25 'Switchblade'), as the Russians want to test them against Chinese weapons systems.

Unnamed
2 Kilo Class (Pr. 636) Submarines
Details as per the real ships.

United States

Seventh Fleet
(All ships are real.)

Philippines

BRP Rajah Humabon (PF-11) (ex-USS Atherton (DE-169))
Datu Kalantiaw Class Frigate (Cannon Class Destroyer Escort)
Real ship, details as in Philippines service.

Plot summary: As relations between the US and China deteriorate, two tourists escape from a Chinese hospital claiming that a group within the country is kidnapping tourists so that their organs can be sold on the black market. With the ineffective US President backed into a corner war seems inevitable.

Note: There is no dating information. This was not the most comfortable or particularly pleasant book to read. It has the feel of the kind of fantasy that must have been in the minds of a fair number of the people who voted for Donald Trump. Not that the rabble rousing Republican politician who drives the plot bares much resemblance to Trump. As for the Democrat running the country, well he does not appear to have been based on Obama or either of the Clintons, but rather seems to be the kind of politician "Boss" Tweed of 19th Century Tammany Hall fame would have backed, running the country with a mixture of graft and sleaze financed by selling the countries assets to China until of course the Chinese start calling in the markers. As might be guessed from the preceding this is basically a classic 'Yellow Peril (China)' story of the kind that has become increasingly popular of late, other examples of this theme I have covered are 'Sunstrike' (1979), 'Sky Masters' (1991), 'Flood Tide' (1997), 'Icefire' (1998), 'China Sea' (2000) and 'White Plague' (2015).

 

[Graham1973]

Christopher Wood, James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977

United Kingdom

HMS Ranger
Resolution Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships
Laid down: 1967
Commissioned:1971
Note: Construction period fits that of the actual members of the class. Construction start date is about two years after the last members of the class completed.

Russia

Potemkin
Delta I (Pr.667B) Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.

United States

USS Wayne (SSN-593)
Sturgeon Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships
Note: Pennant clash with USS Thresher (SSN-593), which sank in 1962. This pennant number is also used for the Skipjack Class Submarine USS Barracuda (SSN-593) in the novel 'To Kill The Potemkin' by Mark Joseph.

Plot summary: The year is 1977, someone has been stealing submarines, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union put their best agents on the case....
Note: This is the novelization of the 1977 Roger Moore James Bond movie.

 

[Graham1973]

D. F. Capps, Tsunami Storm, 2015

United States

USS Massachusetts (SSN-224)
Seawolf Class Submarine (Fourth member of class)
Details as per the real ships
Note: Name clashes with a Virginia Class Submarine, USS Massachusetts (SSN-798), which is currently under construction as of the date of this post.

China (Peoples Republic)

Unnamed (ex - K-123)
Alfa Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service
Note: Officially sent for scrapping, unofficially transferred to China. Details provided identify the ship pretty conclusively. Author simply refers to the submarine as 'Chinese Submarine' throughout despite several scenes set aboard her.

Unnamed
Two Frigates
No other details

Plot summary: In the immediate aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake the Chinese government starts blocking US relief aid and pursuing an economic hard-line. Why is a mystery until evidence emerges of the unthinkable...

Note: This was an unpleasant read. The author is a Conspiracy Believer and appears to be using fiction to spread his beliefs to a wider audience, he mixes in weather/earthquake controlling machines, the deliberate triggering of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami with nuclear weapons, Federal Reserve conspiracies and a host of other fringe ideas to form a rather nasty picture, at least the person(s) behind the mayhem get what they deserve.

 

[Graham1973]

A rare comic book...

Björn Karlstrom, Biggles and the Sargasso Triangle, 1977

United States

USS Trident (USS-??)
Midway Class Aircraft Carrier
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Author does not specify the class, but the illustration makes it quite clear that it was based on a Midway Class Aircraft Carrier.

Plot summary: Plot summary: It's the end of 1970s. The rate of shipping and aircraft losses in the Caribbean has shot up, investigations reveals the cause, a man with a plan and an EMP cannon...

Note: This is a licensed comic book making use of the characters created by W.E. Johns in a decidedly James Bondish plot. The villain describes his invention as a laser, but the effects do not resemble those of a laser, but rather those of a directional EMP burst. Perhaps something was lost in the translation from Swedish to English. Dating was fairly easy as the artist depicts UH-60 Blackhawks which first flew in 1974 and were selected for US service in late 1976. The Bermuda Triangle was a big thing at the end of the 1970's spawning films, songs and novels. Other novels I've covered which make use of it are 'Sargasso' (1977) and 'A Time to Heal' (2012).

 

[Graham1973]

Jon Burmeister, The Glory Hunters, 1979

Japan

Hikari
'Destroyer', class not specified
No other details provided

MTB-32
'Torpedo Boat', class not specified.
No details provided as to dimensions or weapons fit.

United States

SS Marion B. Lovemore
Spyship(?) (Converted small freighter)
900 tons
Crew: 25 (19 Naval Volunteers/6 US Marines)
Armament: Various small arms, sufficient to equip the entire crew. (M1 Garand, Thompson M1928, Browning Automatic Rifle, Browning Light Machine Gun, Mk 2 Grenades (Wikipedia) and 2 x 2-inch mortars. Note: The two mortars are operated by the Marines, weapons are stored in one of the holds.)
Orignal engines have been replaced with "...high-power modern engines...", now capable of speeds equivalent of that of a destroyer (30 knots +)
Radio equipment fitted "...equals the best in the world..."
Deck has been modified in several places to allow the mortars to be securely mounted for firing.
Refit cost "...half a million dollars..." (In 1930s money.)
Registered in Panama, nominally owned by 'Guitarez y Valdez' a Panamanian front company for the United States Navy.
Note: I'm not entirely sure how to classify this ship, essentially it's a spy ship but that's not exactly how it's being used in the novel.

United Kingdom

HMS Variant
'Cruiser', class not specified.
No other details provided.

Plot summary: The year is 1937, the hero hires on as a supercargo on an American tramp freighter as his predecessor is suffering a terminal illness. It rapidly becomes apparent that this is not a normal tramp freighter. But just what is going on and what is the ultimate goal?

Note: The author based his plot on some old conspiracy theories about just what did happen to Amelia Earhart, which makes for an interesting story, but it also contains some sloppy research. The author has the characters repeatedly refer to Japanese Marines, there were no such thing. The correct term was Special Naval Landing Force, these were at the time, sailors given infantry training (Essentially the same as British 'Bluejackets'.) rather than elite soldiers.

 

[Graham1973]

A return to comic books.

Joe Gill, Tanker Trap (appeared in Submarine Attack, #11), 1958

United States

Ethyl City
Q-Ship
Modified Oil Tanker
Armament 3 x 5 inch Guns (Mounted aft around the Bridge/accommodation area, two are concealed.)
Modifications include, armoring the engine room and filling all available free space with buoyant material (Described as pine logs).
Note: Armament is estimated based on what is shown in the comic and a discussion with Hood.

Unnamed (DD-47x)
Destroyer, class not specified
Note: A pennant is visible on the bow, but is partly unreadable.

Germany

Unnamed
Multiple U-Boats

Plot summary: It is February of 1942, and an unorthodox plan has been come up with to tackle the U-boat menace.

Note: This was the result of a long and somewhat frustrating search through a collection of public domain comic books, but it was worth it. The only other time I've encountered anything like modifying an oil tanker in this way was the 1992 novel, 'The Talisman Deception', in that novel the author refers to an alleged wartime proposal to do just that. So far I've not been able to confirm this, but this tale pushes the idea back to a time closer to the war.

 

[Graham1973]

Jamie Campbell (Pseud.), The Mean Season: A 5,150 ton short story of the sea, 2016

United Kingdom

HMS Cheltenham
C/Carlisle Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships.
Not modified as an AA Cruiser.
Has been fitted with Radar (Type 79C (Fictional)) by December of 1939.
Speed: 27 knots (Current Max, design speed is 29 knots.)
Note: No specifics are given on the radars performance. It's simply stated that it's a prototype not suitable for mass production.

Germany

Rostock
Cruiser, class not specified
Main Battery: 9 x 5.9 inch guns (Triple turrets A, X & Y)
Secondary battery/AA armament not specified.
Torpedoes: 9 x 20inch (500mm) Torpedo Tubes
Displacement: 6400 tons
Speed: 31.5 knots (Max)
Note: This is a fictional Wiemar-era design constructed between the Emden and the Konigsberg/Leipzig Class. The author states compromises have been made to the armor and range to fit in the weapons.

Unnamed
Two Destroyers, class not specified
Note: Author refers to these as 'Z-Boats'. The details given could fit either the Type 1934/34A or Type 1936 class.

Plot summary: It is December of 1939. An aging RN Cruiser has been dispatched on a critical test of a new system.

Note: The author finishes the short story with a long note in which they give the details of the fictional ships they created, which is rather nice. They also do not appear to have been aware of the Konigsberg Class as a separate entity from the Leipzig Class, even though they link to the Wikipedia page on the Leipzig Class in their end notes.

 

[Graham1973]

Jamie Campbell (Pseud.), The Terrible Aspect: A 1,370 ton short story of the sea, 2016

United Kingdom

HMS Leicester
York Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships

HMS Exemplar
E Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships

Plot summary: It is April/May of 1940, a British destroyer is sent to Norway as the campaign there winds down to pick up some Norwegian scientists before the Quislings or the Germans get their hands on them.

Note: As with the previous story, the author includes an afterward discussing their inspirations and providing additional details on the fictional warships appearing in it. This is also the sequel to 'The Mean Season' which I covered in the previous post and to date the last published story in the series. The authors biography on Amazon states that the authors name is a pseudonym.

 

[Graham1973]

An unexpected find...

Alex Lukeman, White Jade, 2011

United States

USS George Washington Carver (SSBN-???)
Ohio Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships
Note: Explicitly identified by the author as an Ohio Class Submarine. Name clashes with USS George Washington Carver (SSBN-656) a Benjamin Franklin Class Submarine in service 1966 - 1993. Another Ohio Class Submarine of this name appears in the technothriller 'Cold Sea Rising' (1985) by Richard Moran. The submarine in that novel had been modified to enhance underwater stealth. There is nothing in the current novel to indicate that the submarine is anything other than a 'stock' member of the Ohio Class.

USS Ronald Regan (CVN-76)
Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Tennessee (SSBN-734)
Ohio Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service.

China (People's Republic)

Unnamed
Two Type 094 Class Submarines
Details as per the real ships.

Plot summary: A murder in California alerts the United States Government to the existence of a cabal in the Peoples Liberation Army with plans that could have catastrophic global consequences if they are enacted.

Notes: This is your basic Clive Cussler style adventure technothriller, making use of fringe archaeological ideas about the Minoans to drive the plotline, though in this case the bad guys are not searching for a supernatural source of globe dominating power, but one entirely within the bounds of reality. There is no specific dating information provided so the 'Day after Tomorrow' rule applies (e.g. a few years into the future relative to the publication date.).

 

[Graham1973]

Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison, Piranha, 2014

Non-State

'Cabrillo Corporation'

Oregon (II)
Armed Merchant Ship (Converted 1960s cargo liner)
Length: 560ft (171m)
Beam: 75ft (23m)
11,585 tons
Propulsion: MHD Engines
Speed: 50 knots(+)
Armament: 120mm Cannon (Exact number not specified) 3 x 20mm Gatling cannon 4 x Exocet Missiles (Concealed in forward hold) 2 x Land Attack Missiles (Russian, type not specified.) 2 x 21 inch Torpedo Tubes (Bow), Machine Guns. Note: All weapons are concealed.
2 x Minisubs
1 x Helicopter
Note: Conversion was done at a Russian shipyard, but paid for by US Govt 'Black Budget' money. The below-water hull has been heavily modified to allow safe transit at high speeds. Mercenary ship, owned by the 'Cabrillo Corporation'. Registered in Iran (Carries flags for every maritime nation.) Performs intelligence gathering on behalf of the United States Government and other related work on behalf of friendly nations. This is the replacement for the ship of the same name that appeared in 'Flood Tide' (1997)

Venezuela

Reina Azul
Armed Merchant Ship (Converted cargo ship.)
Length: 200 ft
Speed: 15 knots (Max)
Armament: 4 x 3M-54 'Klub-K' missiles mounted in a modified shipping container.
Note: Fire control limitations prevent the ship from firing more than one missile at a time.

Plot summary: The crew of the Oregon suddenly find that someone has penetrated their security.

 

[Graham1973]

Back to the 'self-published on Amazon' technothrillers...

R.E. McDermott, Deadly Straits, 2011

United States

USS Hermitage (LSD-56)
Harpers Ferry Class Dock Landing Ship(?)
Details as per the real ships
Carries at least one SH-60 Seahawk.
Note: Pennant number is that of an unnamed cancelled member of the Harpers Ferry Class, class has been assumed from the pennant number only.

Plot summary: A ship broker finds himself enmeshed in an elaborate international plot.

Note: This is part of a series of three novels featuring the same characters. The author provides dates, with the story running between 10 May and 15th September of an unspecified year, but does not provide information allowing the story to be pinned to a specific post-2001 year. Therefore the 'Day after Tomorrow' rule applies.

 

[Graham1973]

Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison, Typhoon Fury, 2017

United States (WWII)

USS Pearsall (DD-542)
Fletcher Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.
Explicitly identified as this class in the novel. Ship was in service early enough to be sent to the Philippines prior to the surrender of Corregidor (9th April, 1942) on a special mission (E.g. She commissioned before USS Fletcher (DD-445) which was commissioned on the 30th of June, 1942.). Pennant number is that of an unnamed cancelled member of the Fletcher class.

Japan (WWI)

I-38
Submarine, class not specified
Note: Pennant is that of a Type B1 Class submarine sunk in 1944, however the submarine in the novel is sunk in early 1942, so it cannot be that ship.

Non-State

'Cabrillo Corporation'

Oregon (II)
Armed Merchant Ship (Converted 1960s cargo liner)
Length: 560ft (171m)
Beam: 75ft (23m)
11,585 tons
Propulsion: MHD Engines
Speed: 50 knots(+)
Armament: 120mm Cannon (Exact number not specified) 3 x 20mm Gatling cannon 4 x Exocet Missiles (Concealed in forward hold) 2 x Land Attack Missiles (Russian, type not specified.) 2 x 21 inch Torpedo Tubes (Bow), Machine Guns. Note: All weapons are concealed.
2 x Minisubs
1 x Helicopter
Note: Conversion was done at a Russian shipyard, but paid for by US Govt 'Black Budget' money. The below-water hull has been heavily modified to allow safe transit at high speeds. Mercenary ship, owned by the 'Cabrillo Corporation'. Registered in Iran (Carries flags for every maritime nation.) Performs intelligence gathering on behalf of the United States Government and other related work on behalf of friendly nations. This is the replacement for the ship of the same name that appeared in 'Flood Tide' (1997)

'New Peoples Army'
Philippines Communist Insurgent Group

Magellan Sun
Armed Merchant Ship
Length: 370ft (112.8 m)
Armament: 3 x 4 inch guns concealed in modified shipping containers
Nominally owned by Tai Fong Shipping (A Hong Kong registered shell company.), the ship is registered in the Marshall Islands.

And one non-state fictional naval weapon.

Kuyog (English: 'Swarm')
Drone torpedoes based on modified jetskis.
Uses laser designation system to acquire target, then an optical system to continue tracking the target until it reaches a distance of 1 meter at which point it detonates.
Warhead: 100 pounds (45.4 kg) of Semtex
Created and operated by the 'New Peoples Army'.

Plot summary: The crew of the Oregon are offered a non-standard contract to assist in the recovery of a large cache of stolen artworks being used by drug smugglers as 'currency'. Following a harrowing mission against the Chinese Ministry of State Security, it seems like the perfect way to relax...

 

[Graham1973]

Alison Bruce, Ghost Writer, 2017

Canada

HMCS Nottawasaga (FFH-???)
Halifax Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships

United States (1960's)

Arctic Station Alpha
Nuclear powered SeaLab (First stage of a planned USN underwater Arctic base.)
Crew: 8
Armament: Small arms for the crew, unspecified number of 21 inch TT (Only one torpedo room.)
Described as being "...the size of the Goodyear blimp."

United States (2017)

USS Scranton (SSN-756)
Los Angeles class
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: Described as a 'tactical sub' in the novel.

Plot: The year is 2017, an expedition to locate and retrieve an undersea habitat abandoned since the 1960s when contact was unexpectedly lost, find themselves with a mystery on their hands.

Note: This is not an action novel, but rather a Romantic Thriller with paranormal overtones.

 

[Graham1973]

Back to the short form fiction,

Hilbert Schenck, Hurricane Claude, published in Edward L. Furman (ed.), The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (April, 1983)

United States

USCGC Intrepid (WMEC-???)
Reliance Class Cutter?
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Class assignment based on name only which fits the naming scheme for the Reliance Class. No other details than name provided by the author. Name clashes with that of the Essex Class Aircraft Carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11) which was in service from 1943 until 1974 and then converted to a museum ship in 1982.

USCGC Dauntless (WMEC-624)
Reliance Class Cutter
Real ship, details as in service
Note: USCGC Dauntless (WMEC-624) has made a few appearances in fiction. In 1979 she portrayed the ill-fated USCGC New Hope in the film version of Peter Benchley's 'The Island' (1979), she also appears in the 2016 novel 'Goliath' by Shawn Corridan & Gary Waid as one of two Coast Guard ships sent to rescue the crew of a stranded Russian Supertanker off the Alaskan coast and finally her pennant number is used for an unnamed Coast Guard cutter in the technothriller 'Avenging Storm' (1992) by Duncan Long, which I have covered earlier in this list.

Plot summary: A private group thinks they have worked out a way to disrupt hurricanes safely, but as the first real test looms, have they taken everything into consideration.

Note: Hilbert Schenk (1926-2013), was a minor sci-fi writer whose short fiction shows an interest in the sea.

 

[Graham1973]

Another in the irregular 'non-state' series, this time from something 'self-published on Amazon'.

Evan Graver, Dark Water, 2017

Non-State

'Brown Berets' (Hispanic separatist group.)

La Carranza Garza (ex-SEACOR Mariner)
Oil Platform Supply Vessel
Length: 150ft (45.7m)
2 Diesel Engines (1,1157 Horsepower Each.)
Speed: 12 knots (Max), 10 knots (Cruise)
Armament: AK-47s for all crew & 8 Strela-3 Surface-to-Air Missiles
Cargo also includes a wide range of firearms.
Interior has been modified to include hidden rooms for people smuggling.

Plot summary: An investigation into the theft of several yachts off the US coast and their subsequent use for smuggling arms into the country leads to the discovery of a dangerous conspiracy.

Note: This is another of those novels that seems to be intended for supporters of Donald Trump, the bad guys are Mexican drug cartels, people who want to take back the lands Mexico lost in the 1840s and ISIS working together on the principle that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'.

 

[Graham1973]

Some 'Gung-Ho' nonsense from the mid '80s...

W. X. Davies (Pseud.) with the 'Strategic Operations Group', Countdown WWIII: Operation Black Sea, 1984

United States

USS McCulloch (DLG-?/CG-??)
Belknap Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships.

Greece

Larisa (ex-USS ?)
Knox Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships.
Ex-US warship transferred to Greece.

Plus other 'Unnamed' warships.

Turkey

Erdemit
'Battleship'
No other details provided

Sardis
'Battleship'
No other details provided

Plus other 'Unnamed' warships.

Russia

Yarosloavl
Kara (Pr. 1134b) Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships


Plot summary: The year is 1986 (The novel takes place between November 3 & 24 of that year.). Tensions in the Balkans between Turkey and Greece explode into war, the United States sends in it's Global Crisis Task Force (GCTF), experts trained to do whatever it takes to keep the situation from spiraling out of control, but with the Soviets pulling the strings, will this be enough to stave off disaster.

Note: This is one of a series of action novels attributed to the same writing team released through newsstands in the mid '80s, 'W. X. Davies' is, to quote the introduction, "...the pseudonym of a well-known author. He took on this new series both to entertain and to argue for a more sophisticated espionage capability for the US." His collaborators are simply described as an "...informal advisory council whose military, intelligence and security experience provides much of the background for the series." As to the truth that lies behind these claims, who knows, I'm not that impressed with either writing or plotting, nor with the cover art.

 

[Graham1973]

Clive Hawkswood, Bismarck's Plague, 2018

United Kingdom

HMS Bowman
Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided

Germany

U-31
Type U 31 Class U-Boat
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: In the real world, this ship went missing while on patrol in January of 1915 and the wreck was not discovered until 2016. World War I legend held that the submarine had drifted ashore in England, the entire crew dead in June of 1915 and it was speculated the crew had been killed by chlorine gas from damaged batteries, the 2016 discovery finally proved this wild story false.

Plot summary: The year is 1915, a British destroyer finds a German U-boat drifting on the surface of the North Sea, what the boarding party finds aboard leads to a desperate mission into Germany to prevent the unleashing of a nightmare disease.

Note: This is actually the third of a series of WWI action novels, but it is the only one to date with a naval component.

 

[Graham1973]

A legendary technothriller

Craig Thomas, Firefox, 1977

United States

USS Pequod (SSN-???)
Sturgeon Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Forward crew compartment/torpedo room converted into fuel tanks containing aviation fuel.
Note: In the 1982 film, the submarine was represented using stock footage from the film 'Ice Station Zebra' (1968) for underwater sequences and a newly built conning tower mock-up for the surfaced scenes, the submarines pennant number is never visible.

Russia

Riga
Moskva (Pr. 1123) Class Helicopter Carrier
Details as per the real ships
Note: In the 1982 film, this ship was depicted with footage of a Belknap Class Cruiser, albeit one carrying Mi-24 'Hind' helicopters. In the novel the ship is correctly assigned Ka-25 'Hormone' helicopters.

Otlitnyi
Guided Missile Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided.

Slavny
Guided Missile Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided.

Unnamed
Two Foxtrot (Pr. 641) Class Submarines
Details as per the real ships.
Both submarines have been modified to carry an unidentified sub launched IR-Guided subsurface-to-air missile (Eg the weapon can be launched while submerged.). The exact number carried is not specified.

Unnamed
Three Victor Class Submarines (Subtype not specified)
Details as per the real ships.

Plot summary: Evidence reaches the West that the Soviets have designed a truly world beating fighter, the MIG-31 'Firefox', so a plan is put together to steal the prototype.

Note: This novel when it came out in 1977 proved astonishingly successful and it was filmed five years later with Clint Eastwood playing the pilot tasked with getting the stolen plane out. If you carefully read the novel, it's clear that Thomas envisaged something that looked much more like the MIG-25 'Foxbat' than the elegant (& iconic) creation Hollywood dreampt up for the film. The link below is to a cover gallery showing the various covers used for the novel over the years.

http://craigthomascompanion.co.uk/2firefox.html

 

[Graham1973]

A 'self-published on Amazon' technothriller.

Nigel Seed, V4 Vengeance, 2018

United States

Various Unnamed warships

United Kingdom

HMS Huntingdon
Frigate, class not specified
Main battery 1 x 4.5 inch gun
No other details provided.

HMS Newbury
Frigate, class not specified
No other details provided

Germany (WWII)

V4-1 (ex- U-3998)
Type XXII Class U-boat (Fictional)
Armament: 6 x 21 inch TT (4 fwd/2 aft), only the forward tubes can be reloaded after firing, exact number of reloads not specified.
1 fwd mounted V-1 Launcher (10 missiles carried in a partly dismantled state, each is armed with a warhead containing an unspecified binary nerve gas (Possibly Sarin.))
No gun armament fitted.
Propulsion details are the same as for late war U-Boats.
No other details provided

V4-2 (ex- U-3999)
Type XXII Class U-boat (Fictional)
Same details as V4-1

V4-3 (ex U-4000)
Type XXII Class U-boat (Fictional)
Same details as V4-1

Note: Author does not make it clear if this is a derivative of the Type XXI U-Boat (Which had an all forward torpedo armament.) or conversions of an earlier type. The three submarines are abandoned at the end of the war and two of them (V4-1/2) are salvaged by the Russian Mafiya and crewed by Middle Eastern mercenaries (Not ISIS.) sent against New York. The non-standard pennant numbers refer to them being the fourth Vergeltungswaffen (Vengeance Weapon) system, in this case V-1 Cruise Missiles fitted with chemical warheads launched from a submarine.

Non-Ship

Kiel U-Boat Base

Concealed underground pens and dockyard built to the north of Kiel, well separated from the known installations.

Plot summary: A trio of retired Royal Engineers are hired to find a rumored WWII era U-Boat base lost since the end of the war and find themselves caught up in a plot that has some similarities to the film 'Die Hard' (1988). No clues are given to precisely date the story so the 'Day after Tomorrow' rule applies.

 

[Graham1973]

Another would be Clive Cussler, 'self-published on Amazon'.

Telford Lee, The Wolves of Atlantis, 2017

United States (WWII)

USS Bogue (CVE-9)
Bogue Class Aircraft Carrier
Real ship, details as in service

United States ('Present Day')

USS James
Salvage/Support Ship, class not specified
Crew: 39
Unarmed
No other details provided

Battle Group Z-29

USS Peregrine
Falcon Class
See Below for details.

USS Gyre
Falcon Class
See Below for details.

USS Aplomado
Falcon Class
See Below for details.

USS Merlin
Falcon Class
See Below for details.

Falcon Class 'Warship'
'nearly' 400 crew
'enhanced' Harpoons
AEGIS equipped
At least two 5 inch guns
No other weapons mentioned
Carries two Shrike Class Minisubs
No other details other than one non-USN character referring to ships of this class as "battle cruisers".

Shrike Class Minisub (Submerged Biological Combat Craft (SBCC))
Described as "Similar in looks to a fighter jet, but with very stubby wings."
2 man crew
Anechoic coating
Propulsion system designed to make noises identical to marine life.
Armament: 4 x Mark X Torpedos
Note: Class members are not named.

And one fictional weapons system

Mark X Torpedo
Weight: 1000lb (453.6kg)
Propulsion system designed to make noises identical to marine life.
No other details provided.

Germany (Third Reich, WWII and beyond)

U-172
Type IXC Class U-Boat
Real ship, details as in service
Note: In the real world this submarine was sunk on the 22nd of November, 1943 by planes from the carrier USS Bogue (CVE-9). In the novel it escapes this attack and returns to Germany with news of great importance to the future of the Reich.

U-504
U-Boat, class not specified
Note: Pennant is that of a Type IXC Class U-Boat sunk on the 30th of July, 1943

U-702
U-Boat, class not specified
Note: Pennant is that of a Type VIIC Class U-Boat sunk on the 3rd of April, 1943

Several other Unnamed U-Boats.

Non-State

Unnamed
Victor V Class Submarine
Ex-Russian submarine sold to al-Qaeda.
Stated to be 'nuclear capable', but just what armament is being carried is not specified.
No other details provided

Plot summary: A mission to deal with a would be terrorist attack on the United States discovers a much greater threat...

Note: This novel is another attempt to out do Clive Cussler and his collaborators. In this case drawing on 1930s claims about Atlantis by psychic Edgar Cayce, for the fringe historical ideas that drive the plot. Along with this the author also throws in people who 'Didn't believe in no surrender.' at the end of World War II. Sadly the authors writing style is just not up to the task.

 

[Graham1973]

Another horror novel with a naval setting...

Donald Allen Kirch, Reich, 2017

Germany

U-152 (Named by the crew 'Nauecilus'.)
U-Boat, class not specified.
Fitted with an 'Automation Control Panel'. As the name suggests this allows a U-Boat to be operated with a minimal crew (Implied to be one person to control the submarine, and the minimum number of people used to load the torpedo tubes.). The submarine is stated to be fitted with the prototype installation.
Note: Pennant matches that of a Type IID Class U-Boat that served from 1941 until 1945 as a training ship. The ship in the novel is described as an operational U-boat, but no specific class details are given.

Plot summary: Following the failure of the Stauffenberg Plot, the crew of a U-Boat is ordered to take the Fuehrer to Norway, on the way there they discover just what it is that Germany has given its loyalty to...

Note: As might be guessed this plays very fast and loose with history, the author finishes the story with a note claiming he based it on a letter-in-a-bottle found on the coast of Denmark in November of 1946 which claimed that Hitler had been murdered by the crew of a U-Boat rather than dying in the Berlin Bunker. He does not give a source for this tale so it could be made up, and even if it was true, the message could easily have been a fake.

Update:

I've managed to track down a copy of the newspaper story that may have inspired the author of this story. It can be read by following the link below.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/67837120

 

[Graham1973]

Alexander Fullerton, Submariner, 2008

United Kingdom

HMS Ursa
U Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Ultra
U Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: A submarine of the same name appears in the authors Everard Chronicles novel 'The Gatecrashers' (1984).

HMS Unbowed
U Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Unsung
U Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Unslaked
U Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Urbane
U Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Tango
T Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: A T Class Submarine of this name also appears in the 'self-published on Amazon' short novel 'The Cauldron' (2013) by author Roy Peters.

HMS Swordsman
S Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.

Italy

Unnamed
Condottieri Class Cruiser (Duca degli Abruzzi Sub-Class)
Details as per the real ships.

Germany

Ankara
Tank Transport Ship (Converted Merchantman?)
Sunk by mines laid by HMS Rorqual (N74).

Sassnitz
Tank Transport Ship (Converted Merchantman?)

Note: Not sure if either of these ships are fictional or not.

Plot summary: The year is 1942, and for the submarines of the 10th Submarine Flotilla the war is reaching it's crisis point.

Note: In what turned out to be his last novel, the author freely mixes real and fictional warship names, making sorting out which is which quite difficult. A brief reference to Paul Everard, a character from the Everard Chronicles series shows that this novel is set in the same 'universe' as that series.

 

[Jemiba]

.... Note: Not sure if either of these ships are fictional or not. ...

- MS Ankara was general cargo vessel used by the German Navy in the Mediterranean as a transport until sunk
by mine in 1943

- Couldn't find a German ship named "MS Sassnitz" before 1959. Was a train ferry then, that may have led the
author to create a forerunner. But a train ferry, though certainly able to carry tanks, would have been suitable
only for delivering them to a dedicated jetty, I think.

So both probably fictional.

 

[Graham1973]

.... Note: Not sure if either of these ships are fictional or not. ...

- MS Ankara was general cargo vessel used by the German Navy in the Mediterranean as a transport until sunk
by mine in 1943

- Couldn't find a German ship named "MS Sassnitz" before 1959. Was a train ferry then, that may have led the
author to create a forerunner. But a train ferry, though certainly able to carry tanks, would have been suitable
only for delivering them to a dedicated jetty, I think.

So both probably fictional.

Thank you Jemiba for that information.

 

[Graham1973]

Denzil Meyrick, Empty Nets & Promises, 2016

United States

USS Newark (DD-??)
Destroyer, class not specified.
'Old' in 1968, so probably a late WWII class.
No other details provided.
Note: The name 'USS Newark' was intended for three US warships in WWII, an unbuilt Cleveland Class Cruiser (CL-88), a Cleveland Class Cruiser (CL-100) converted into a Independence Class Carrier and an unbuilt Fargo Class Cruiser (CL-108). The name itself does not fit the US naming convention for Destroyers, being a town name rather than the name of a naval hero.

Russia

Kirov
'Trawler' (Spy Ship?)
No other details provided.

United Kingdom

Unnamed
Minesweeper, class not specified
No other details provided.

Plot summary: The year is 1968, and for the crew of one Scottish trawler things are going from good to worse, the skippers daughter is about to be married, there are no fish to be found, the publican has been arrested for selling stolen whiskey and now the boat's sprung a leak...

Note: The author is a writer of detective fiction set in Scotland, this book features one of the characters from his main series in a story that is inspired by the more humorous works of authors like Sir Compton Mackenzie...

 

[Graham1973]

William Wingate, Fireplay, 1977

United States

USS Galveston (CV-??)
Aircraft Carrier, class not specified.
Length: 1020ft (310.9m)
Displacement: 80,800 tons
Crew: 4493
Air group includes A7E Corsairs and F4N Phantom IIs
Note: Explicitly identified in the text as a conventionally powered warship. The name used does not fit the naming conventions used for US Aircraft Carriers.

USS Stormy Beach (CGN-?)
Long Beach Class Cruiser?
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Name is dubious. Details of armament however are an exact match for the USS Long Beach (CGN-9).

USS Mary Jane
Oceanographic Survey Ship, class not specified
Length: 260ft (79.25m)
Displacement: 5000 tons
Diesel-electric engines
Speed: 12 knots (Cruising)
Crew: 43 + 17 scientists
Electronics fitted includes side-scan sonar.
Note: Name is dubious, 'Mary Jane' is a slang term for marijuana.

Unnamed
Four Destroyers of unspecified class.

Russia

Doneska
Golf (Pr.629) Class Submarine
Launched: 1963
Details as per the real ships.

Kresta
Kresta I (Pr.1134) Class Cruiser (Modified)
Details as per the real ships save she carries 2 x KA-25 'Hormone' Helicopters, rather than the single helicopter actual members of the class carried.

Sevastopol
Kresta I (Pr.1134) Class Cruiser
Real ship, details as in service

Dmitri Lazarev
Sverdlov (Pr.68bis) Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships

Gordyi
Cruiser, class not specified
No other details provided

Revolutsia
Cruiser, class not specified
No other details provided

Zaytiv
Oceanographic Survey Ship, class not specified
17,000 tons
Crew: 137 + 71 Scientists
No other details provided.

Unnamed
Various destroyers and frigates.

Plot summary: The Russians have lost a submarine in the Pacific, giving the US the opportunity for a major intelligence coup.

Note: This is the second novel I've come across based on Operation Jennifer (Project Azorian) (The other is 'Neptune' (1976) by Noel B. Gerson.), this one features a fictional version of Howard Hughes & the Glomar Explorer (Called in this novel, the Pacific Klondike.) other changes from the actual events are the use of a submersible barge (Omega One) and a copy of the bathyscape Trieste (Explorer One) to salvage the sunken Russian submarine, rather than the grasping claw they actually used. Interestingly this is one of the few 1970s action novels I found to be available on Kindle, as the author re-issued it as an ebook in 2011.

 

[Graham1973]

With thanks to Hood, for their assistance, we return to the Cusslerverse...

Clive Cussler and Graham Brown, The Rising Sea, 2018

China (Peoples Republic)

Giashu
'Fleet tender' (Submarine Depot Ship?)
Fitted with a deck crane
Can carry at least four submersibles (The exact size of these is unspecified.)
No other details provided.

Plot summary: Something is causing the worlds oceans to rise rapidly, but careful study indicates that the ice caps are not melting fast enough to account for it. So where is the water coming from...

Note: This is a surprisingly land bound plotline, that inverts the central mystery of Bob Shaw's 'Medusa's Children' (1977) in which the polar ice melted but the seas didn't rise. There is also a callback to the events of 'Nighthawk' (2017) with a character from that novel turning up in this novel. Finally, it is another in the long line of 'Yellow Peril (China)' stories that have re-emerged since the late 1990s. Others in this thread include 'Sunstrike' (1979), 'Sky Masters' (1991), 'Flood Tide' (1997), 'Icefire' (1998), 'China Sea' (2000), 'Two Peasants and a President' (2012) and 'White Plague' (2015).

 

[Graham1973]

From the 21st Century to the 19th...

Donald A. Joy, A Sudden Thunder, 1978

Confederate States

CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack)
Ironclad (Casement)
Real ship, details as in service.

CSS Reprisal (ex-Penelope)
Gunboat (Converted steam tug)
Armament: 2 x 32pdr (Rifled) guns at the bow
No other details provided.
Captured by USS Cohocton in 1861.

Unnamed
Commerce raider (Privateer)
Steam powered
Two funnels
Paddle wheels (Not stated if sternwheel or sidewheel, most likely sidewheel.)
Shallow draft
4 x 32pdr (Rifled) guns mounted two a side forward of amidships.
No other details provided.

Unnamed
Several Gunboats
Converted tugboats
No other details provided.

United States

USS Cohocton
Steam Sloop (Screw propulsion)
Displacement: 1200 tons
Armament: (Original) Gun Deck: 10 x 32pdr Cannon, Main Deck: 2 x 4 inch 'deck rifles' (As refitted prior to the start of the Civil War) Gun Deck: 2 x 9 inch Dhalgren Cannon, 6 x 32pdr, Main Deck: 2 x 4 inch 'deck rifles' (Initially fixed mounts as bow chasers, modified to be mounted on pivoting mounts by March 1861.) (As at the Battle of Hampton Roads) Gun Deck: 2 x 9 inch Dhalgren Cannon, 6 x 32pdr (4 x Smoothbores, 2 x Rifled), Main Deck: 2 x 4 inch 'deck rifles' (On pivoting mounts.)
Draft: 10-11ft
Speed: 11 knots (Steam), 14 knots (Steam + Sail + A very stiff breeze.)
Crew:270

USS Defence
Steam Sloop (Sidewheel)
10 'guns'
Speed: 8knots (steam)
No other details
Note: Not able to confirm if this is real or not.

USS Mary Jane
Sloop? (Converted Merchantman, sidewheel)
5 x 18pdr smoothbores
Speed: 6 knots (steam)
No other details
Note: Not able to confirm if this is real or not.

USS Melford
Sloop? (Converted Merchantman)
5 'guns'
No other details
Note: Not able to confirm if this is real or not.

USS Buoyant
Sloop?
4 'guns'
Note: Ex-Confederate blockade runner taken into US service. Not able to confirm if this is real or not.

USS Daphne
Sloop?
4 'guns'
Note: Ex-Confederate blockade runner taken into US service. Not able to confirm if this is real or not.

USS(?) St Elizabeth
Troopship (Sidewheel)
No other details provided
Note: Not able to confirm if this is real or not.

USS(?) Atlantic
Troopship
No other details provided
Note: Not able to confirm if this is real or not.

USS Katahdin
Unadilla Class Gunboat
Real ship, details as in service
Note: In the novel one of USS Cohocton's officers is given command of this ship, rather than her historic first commander George Henry Preble.

USS Pawnee
Steam sloop (Screw)
Real ship, details as in service

USS Minnesota
Steam Frigate (Screw)
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Wyandotte (ex-USS Western Port)
Armed Steamer
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: After the Civil War this name was carried by a Canonicus-class monitor (USS Wyandotte (ex-USS Tippecanoe) which was renamed in 1869)

USS Supply
Supply Ship
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Sabine
Brandywine Class Frigate
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Macedonian
Sailing Frigate
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: This is the 1836 frigate notionally constructed from components of the USS Macedonian (ex-HMS Macedonian) captured in the War of 1812, in a ruse known as a 'great repair'. In fact she was a completely new ship.

USS Powhatan
Steam Frigate (sidewheel)
Real ship, details as in service

USS Brooklyn
Steam Sloop
Real ship, detail as in service.
Note: Simply mentioned as an unnamed sloop when she appears, but this is the ship that accompanied the USS Macedonian to Fort Pickens in 1861.

USS Monitor
Ironclad turret ship
Real ship, details as in service.

United Kingdom

HMS Dauntless
Steam Frigate
Real ship, details as in service
Note: At the time the novel is set (December 1860 - March 1862), the HMS Dauntless was serving as the base ship for the British Coastguard in Southhampton, in the novel she is still in active service and is one of the ships encountered while the USS Cohocton is blockading the Atlantic coast of the Confederacy at various points in 1861.

Plot summary: Follows the career of a US Naval Lieutenant from the end of 1860, via the defense of Fort Pickens to the Battle of Hampton Roads. The story follows the general outlines of the Civil War, while adding specific non-historic events which directly involve the hero and the ship he is on, but which do not affect the overall flow of history.

Note: This historic naval novel has an odd publication history bearing separate copyright years of 1978, 1994 and 2013, the last of which refers to the e-book edition available on Amazon. Presumably the author has released the book through different publishers over the years, though it is unclear whether any revisions took place to the text itself during that period. The authors bio accompanying the novel on Amazon indicates that this novel is the first in a series following the central character through the Civil War, the second novel 'The Narrow Fury' (1980) has been released to Amazon, but the concluding novel(s) do not appear to have been released as yet.

This one took a little more research than normal as there is actually very little Civil War set naval fiction, I'm still not entirely sure what the author meant by the term 'deck rifles' other than they are cannon. Overall not a bad novel, let down by what appears to be a bad conversion to ebook resulting in no separation between chapters and odd word spacing along with some misspelled words.

 

[Graham1973]

An unexpected find...

John Gunn, Barrier Reef Espionage, 1955

Australia

HMAS Legend
Majestic Class Aircraft Carrier
Details as per the real ships
Air group includes Fairey Firefly's (AS.7) and Supermarine Walrus's (at least one.)

HMAS Kalda
Tribal Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.
Note: See my post of the novel 'Approved to Scrap' (1968) for details on the Tribal Class Destroyers made in Australia.

Republic of San Paulo (Fictitious South American State)

Unnamed
Submarine, class not specified
Armament: Unspecified torpedoes, Deck Gun, MGs. Also stated to be carrying 12 mines salvaged from minefields laid by the Australians in WWII.
Escape hatch has been modified to act as an airlock for divers.
Diesel powered, has a schnorkel fitted
Captain is a mercenary, four of the compliment are trained divers.
The Artist seems to have based his illustration (see below) off of several different classes of submarine from the German, British & United States navies.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3a32olbk2jvr2ix/Mystery_Submarine.jpg?dl=0

Plot summary: It is the early 1950s. A simple fishing expedition off the Queensland coast turns into a mess of intrigue.

Note: This is a classic 'Boys Own Adventure' based around British nuclear testing in Australia. The story is set after the first British nuclear test (Operation Hurricane, 1952), but the author does not seem to have been aware of the 1953 Totem test series which took place on the mainland. The British would not return to the Montebello Islands, where Operation Hurricane was carried out until 1956 the same year they resumed mainland testing at Maralinga. By implication the story, which also references the Woomera Rocket test site (Featured in another 'Boys Own Adventure', 'Mettle at Woomera' (1962?).) and the Rum Jungle uranium mine (Which became operational in 1954) is set somewhere between 1952 and 1955. The author appears to have believed that the Montebello Islands were the British permanent test site, which sadly was not the case.

The bad guys were a bit of a surprise, I was expecting 'communists', however they turned out to be agents of a fictitious South American country. In the words of the lead agent (A pre-James Bond Film, James Bond Villain, complete with a pool full of venomous sea-creatures.) it is a nation, "...organized for espionage on a scale never before dreamed of..." operating as mercenaries for an unspecified third party. As the Russians and Americans already knew how to make Atomic bombs, this is most likely the French, as at the time the novel was written China was getting assistance in nuclear matters from the Russians.

 

[Graham1973]

Donald A. Joy, The Narrow Fury, 1980

Confederate States

CSS Arkansas
Ironclad (Casement)
Real ship, details as in service

CSS Eureka
Supply ship (Riverine)
No other details provided

Unnamed
Several gunboats and rams.

United States

USS Shiloh
Warship, type unspecified
No other details provided
Note: This is the ship the hero is being transferred East to take command of, no details on what it is are provided in this novel, presumably they will be given in the sequel

USS Machineel (Identifying mark (As cottonclad 'N', as tinclad '37'))
Gunboat
Converted sternwheel riverboat
Armament: (As cottonclad) 1 x 110pdr Parrot Rifle (Open pivot mount fwd), 4 x 32pdrs (two a side, enclosed deck), 1 x 6pdr field gun (upper deck) (As Tinclad) 2 x 64pdrs (Bow) 4 x 12pdrs (2 a side) 6 x 32 pdrs (3 a side) (All enclosed.) 1 x 6pdr field gun (upper deck)
Crew: 111
Note: Hero takes command of the ship following the Battle of Plumb Point Bend, the conversion to tinclad takes place after the end of Farragut's siege of Vicksburg. The Hero is transferred east to take command of a new ship shortly before the start of Grant's final offensive against Vicksburg.

USS Viruna
Gunboat (Screw)
Converted merchant ship (Described in the novel as a 'converted yacht').
Displacement: 1300 tons
Length: 218 ft (66 m)
Beam: 34 ft 8 in (10.57 m)
Armament: 2 x 30pdr Parrot Rifiles, 8 x 8 inch cannon
Note: The author does not provide too many specifics for this ship, however the name is very close to that of the USS Varuna (The name is that of the Hindu God of the sea.) a gunboat sunk during the US capture of New Orleans. I have therefore taken the step of concluding that the author envisaged her as being identical to that ship, however unlike the real ship she is still afloat as of Farragut's attempt to capture Vicksburg.

USS Little Belt
Transport (Sternwheel)
1 x 'Field gun' unspecified type
Note: Not able to determine if real or not.

USS Benton
Gunboat (Ironclad)
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Carondolet
City Class Gunboat (Ironclad)
Real ship, details as in service.

USS St Louis
City Class Gunboat (Ironclad)
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: At the time the novel is set this was the ships name. When the Western Flotilla was transferred from Army to Navy control in 1862 the ship was renamed USS Baron DeKalb.

USS Sumpter (ex-CSS General Sumpter)
Ram (Cottonclad)
Real ship, details as in service
Note: Author changes the history of this ship slightly, rather than being run aground, stripped for parts and then destroyed by the Confederates, the ship is scuttled by the crew in circumstances that lead to the commander being investigated.

Plot summary: Surviving a court martial for his actions at the Battle of Hampton Roads, the Hero finds himself commanding a river gunboat on the Mississippi.

Note: This is the sequel to 'A Sudden Thunder' (1978). The publication dates on this novel are again split, bearing years of 1980 & 2014, the latter being the date the ebook was released. As with the previous novel the author shows some skill in keeping the character close to the historic action while avoiding major history altering changes. The novel ends as I've mentioned earlier with the Hero being re-assigned to a new ship, which will be explored in the third novel, which I am still trying to locate.

 

[Graham1973]

A short story 'self-published on Amazon'...

Zach Neal, Silent Enemy, 2016

Italy

Delfino
Oil tanker converted into base for human torpedo operations.
Described as a replacement for the Olterra which is referred to as "...her unfortunate predecessor." Historically the British suspected that the Olterra was involved in the covert operations attacks on Gibraltar, but the ship survived the entirety of the Italian involvement in WWII.

Plot summary: Following the Italian covert operations attack on Alexandria (19th December, 1941) a plan is put into effect to strike directly at the Italian unit responsible for the attack.

Note: The author plays very fast and loose with WWII history, the war between the British Gibraltar Underwater Working Party and the Italian Decima MAS is one of the more fascinating sidelights of that conflict, but it certainly didn't involve the type of shenanigans the author has his characters get up to.

 

[Graham1973]

Back to the technothrillers...

Jim Czaijkowski (Pen name: James Rollins), Ice Hunt, 2003

United States

USS Polar Sentinel (SSN-777)
Research/prototype SSN
Described as "...half the size of it's bigger brothers..."
Nuclear Powered
Twin Screws
Stated to have been built as a "...pure research vessel..." and the "...test platform for an upcoming generation of attack submarine..."
Originally armed, all weapons have been removed to fit additional scientific equipment
Forward torpedo room has been removed and replaced with an observation deck.
Fitted with experimental ‘Deep Eye’ ice penetrating sonar, described as being "...a type of X-ray for ice."
Note: Pennant number clashes with that of the Virginia Class Submarine USS North Carolina (SSN-777) whose construction started in 2004 and was not commissioned until 2008.

Russia

Drakon
Alula II (Pr. 917U) Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.

Unnamed
Dekabrist (Series I) Class Submarine(?)
Details as per the real ships
Converted into an unarmed transport
Note: Author refers to this submarine as "...an old I-series." submarine, the Dekabrist class were the first Soviet built submarine class, at a time when classes were referred to by 'Series' rather than 'Project'.

Ice Station Grendel
Research facility and submarine dock
Built into a large long lasting ice island
Operated by the Soviet Union, paid for by US 'Black budget' money
Operated 1937 - 1948

And one Russian superweapon.

Polaris Array

A set of five harmonic weapons placed under the North Pole Ice Cap in the late 1990s. When the sixth weapon (A specially designed nuclear bomb.) is detonated within the Arctic circle the harmonic wave created by it will trigger the other five causing the North Pole Ice Cap to shatter. This will cause the entire ice cap to melt over one Arctic summer and create havoc world wide.

Plot summary: It is the 'Day after Tomorrow' and a discovery under the North Polar Ice Cap causes a long-running conspiracy to attempt to do all it takes to keep the full secret from coming out.

Note: This is only the second time I've read one of this authors novels and the first one could not hold my attention well enough to allow me to finish it. While this novel has effective villains and monsters, the author messed up the plot with a twist I've given away in these notes. Quite simply the international relations of the time made the agreement he describes impossible, and the character he has explaining it does not do a convincing job. Finally, the author compounds the mistake by trying to convince the reader of the same in the authors notes after the story has finished with evidence that does not support the events he has occurring in the novel. Over all this is another writer in the mold of Clive Cussler mining edges of science and fringe stories for plot ideas and definitely not the best of them.

 

[Graham1973]

Alistair MacLean, South by Java Head, 1958

Australia

HMAS Kenmore
Q Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Britain transferred the Q Class Destroyers HMS Quality, HMS Quiberon & HMS Quickmatch to Australia in 1942, two additional members of the class HMS Queenborough & HMS Quadrant were transferred in 1945.

Japan

Unnamed
Submarine, class not specified.

Unnamed (ex-PT-??)
PT-Boat
Ex-US PT-Boat captured by the Japanese and used for deceptive purposes.
Details as per the real ships.
No other details.

Plot summary: As Singapore falls to the Japanese in World War Two, the last escapees make a desperate attempt to reach Australia, bearing information worth killing for.

Note: Alistair MacLean was one of the premier writers of action fiction for much of the latter half of the 20th Century until he died in 1987. Several of his novels were filmed in the 1960s and 1970s.

Other novels by him covered in this thread are, 'HMS Ulysses' (1955), 'Night Without End' (1959), 'San Andreas' (1984) and 'Santorini' (1986) . Another novel inspired by Alistair MacLean's work I've covered is Dean Koontz's 'Icebound' originally published in the 1970s under a pen name but re-issued in a revised edition under his real name in 1995.

 

[Graham1973]

Continuing the exploration of 'self-published on Amazon' technothrillers

R.E. McDermott, Deadly Coast, 2012

United States

USS Carney (DDG-64)
Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Bunker Hill (CG-82)
Ticonderoga Class Cruiser
Real ship, details as in service.

Russia

Admiral Vinogradov
Udaloy (Pr.1155) Class Destroyer
Real ship, details as in service.

Liberia

MT Marie Floyd
Armed Merchant Cruiser (Privateer)
Converted Oil Tanker
Modifications include the conversion of one cargo tank into a cell for captured pirates and the addition of a concealed control position, from which all ship functions can be handled in a former aft ballast tank.
Armament: Small arms & rocket propelled grenades

MT Pacific Endurance
Armed Merchant Cruiser (Privateer)
Converted Oil Tanker
Modifications/armament identical to MT Marie Floyd

Note: Both ships are owned by Phoenix Shipping Ltd. and are operating under Letters of Marque and Reprisal (E.g. Privateers) issued by the Liberian Government under newly passed legislation. The combat portion of the crew is made up of mercenaries, either American (ex-USMC) or Russian (ex-Spetznaz). The mode of operation is to sail slowly in regions pirates are present inviting attack. When the pirates board, they are lured into the superstructure, ambushed and captured. Armament is a mixture of American & Russian weapons including M-4 Carbines, Dragunov sniper rifles & Kalashnikov's (The last is not specified in novel but likely.) along with unspecified types of rocket propelled grenades.

Non-State

Somali Pirates

Kyung Yang No. 173
Armed Trawler
Armament: Small arms & rocket propelled grenades
Note: Captured from her Korean (Republic of) crew and used as a mothership for the smaller vessels the pirates use to attack freighters.

Plot summary: As Somali piracy reaches crisis proportions, one ship owner resorts to a desperate scheme only to find that the attacks cover something much more dangerous.

Note: This is actually a better book than the James Rollins novel I covered two posts back, the authors plot is simple, straightforward and enlivened with a gleeful cynicism, just how the heroes get their hands on Liberian Letters of Marque and Reprisal made me laugh, that does not get in the way of providing a good set of thrills. The authors afterward is also a good example of how these things should be written, with a clear explanation of the history that inspired him and how he altered that history in the service of his plotline.

 

[Graham1973]

Jeff Edwards, Steel Wind, 2018

United States

USCGC Sawfish (WPB-87357)
Marine Protector Class Patrol Boat
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Bowie (DDG-141)
Arleigh Burke Flight IV Class Destroyer (Fictional)
Stated to be the lead ship for this Flight.
Armament includes a 200 kilowatt laser weapon, along with the other weapons this class carries.
Stealth design
Carries unspecified drones for recon purposes.
Other details not specified.

USS Walter W. Winterburn (DDG-132)
Arleigh Burke Flight III(?) Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.
Which 'Flight' this ship is in is not specified, most likely it is a Flight III ship.
No other details specified.

USS Mahan (DDG-72)
Arleigh Burke Flight II Class Destroyer
Real ship, details as in service

USS Albany (SSN-753)
Los Angeles Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service

Fictional Weapons system

Sea Bat (Submerged Extended Autonomy Biological Acoustic Tracker)
Armed Underwater Drone
Originally built for NOAA by Norton Deepwater Systems Inc, requisitioned and modified by the US Navy.
Slocum Glider, roughly dolphin shaped, propulsion system is unspecified as is the speed and other dimensions.
Sensors are designed to track acoustic emitting targets, originally these units were to be tasked to follow Blue Whales. For this task those signatures have been replaced with those of the North Korean Supercavitating submarine, once the drone gets to within 2ft (0.61m) of the target the warhead is triggered by a proximity detonator.
The warhead is 7.5pds (3.4kg) of PETN, stated to produce a force equivalent to "...ten M67 fragmentation grenades."

Korea (Democratic Peoples Republic)

MV Aranella
Armed Merchant Cruiser
40,000 tons
18 knots
Armament: Small arms & Rocket Propelled Grenades
Cargo includes nuclear weapons.
Owned by Consolidated Maritime Group, a Liberian shell company ultimately controlled by the North Korean government.

MV Lecticula
Details same as MV Aranella

Steel Wind/Kang Chul Poong
Supercavitating Submarine
Nuclear powered
Supercavitation system uses steam produced by the nuclear reactor to provide both the gas envelope that surrounds the submarine and the thrust (Vented through an aft facing gimballed rocket nozzle.) that propels it at up to 300+ knots, this capability can only be used in short bursts.
When not supercavitating, propulsion is provided by three electric impellers powered by the reactor.
Hull is roughly conical in shape, "...8 meters across the base and 48 meters in length..."
Does not have a conning tower or bow/stern planes, maneuvering is accomplished by the impellers
2 TT (Bow), diameter not specified. The torpedoes fired are supercavitating weapons capable of 192 knots built for North Korea by a German company called "...Ozeankriegsfuhrungtechnologien (Ocean Warfare Technologies)." and delivered to them in secret. The companies designation for these devices is "...Superkavitierender Unterwasserlaufkörper (Supercavitating Underwater Running Body)..." No other details are provided as to size/diameter of the torpedo,the type of warhead fitted or what the North Korean Navy designates them as.
Note: This ship was built without any of the safety systems nuclear submarines are normally built with to save weight and provide the means of propulsion while supercavitating. While the crew does not know it, there is no intention that they survive the mission, succeed or fail.

Plot summary: The year is 2015 (The novel takes place between the Sunday, the 22th of February & Sunday the 8th of March (This happens in 2015).). The US discovers that North Korea has sent nuclear weapons to Cuba. When a new blockade starts in response the US Navy finds that North Korea has another secret weapon...

Note: I have earlier covered a series of naval action novels by this author ('Sea of Shadows' (2004), 'The Seventh Angel' (2010), 'Sword of Shiva' (2012)) featuring a Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer named USS Towers (DDG-103) at the conclusion of the final novel in the series it is announced that a destroyer named USS Bowie is going to be built. For this reason I initially believed that this was a continuation of the previous series, however there are no references to the events of the other three novels leading me to believe that this is set in a different 'universe' from the previous novels.

 

[Graham1973]

Shaun Clarke, Marine A SBS: Terrorism on the North Sea, 1995

United Kingdom

HMS Victory
Mini-Submarine Tender
Can carry up to four minisubs.
No other details provided.
Note: Name clash with the three decker HMS Victory which has never been out of commission since the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

HMS Nelson
Mini-Submarine Tender
Can carry up to four minisubs
No other details provided.
Note: Name clashes with the Barracks and support services facility at Portsmouth Naval Base.

Unnamed
3 Mini-Submarine Tenders
Same details as HMS Victory & HMS Nelson

Note: HMS Victory is carrying 4 minisubs for this mission the other four ships are carrying two each.

HMS Josephine
Pisces III Class Minisub
Crew: 3 (Pilot + 2 SBS Soldiers)
Note: Apparently based on the Pisces III DSV built by Vickers Oceanic in 1969, fitted with a Cybernetic Anthropomorphic Manipulator System, described as "...a set of robotic steel arms used for remote control work on the seabed..."

HMS Huk
Same details as HMS Josephine

HMS Genesis
Same details as HMS Josephine

HMS Trinity
Same details as HMS Josephine

HMS Auk
Same details as HMS Josephine

Unnamed
7 Pisces III Class Minisubs
Same details as HMS Josephine

All of the above are part of a Special Boat Service (SBS) squadron based at Achnacarry

Plot summary: The year is 1982 (The story takes place between the 18th of August and the 20th of August of that year). The IRA has managed to infiltrate and take control of Britain's North Sea oil fields, armed with a home made nuclear weapon they hold the entire country to ransom. With the Prime Minister in a bind, can the SBS retake the rigs.

Note: This book is the first of a series of newsstand action novels released in the mid 1990s (And reissued as ebooks in the 2010s.) featuring the exploits of the SBS. There was speculation at the time that at least some of the novels were based on actual operations, however this one would seem would seem to be pure fantasy, for example despite the story being set in 1982, the Prime Minister of Britain is not Margaret Thatcher, but a man who's vague description suggests he's based on her successor John Major. In addition to the SBS based series two other series were published at the same time. The three series were entitled 'Marine', 'Soldier' & 'Soldier of Fortune' respectively.