Fictional Warships - Novels

[Graham1973]

Kenneth Bulmer (Pen name: Bruno Krauss), Shark America, 1982

Great Britain

HMS Wildcat
V & W Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships given the Long Range Escort conversion.

HMS Tonbridge
Hunt Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: Name clashes with a Hunt Class (WWI) Minesweeper scrapped in 1928 and with a freighter taken in to naval service as a netlayer (HMS Tonbridge (T119)) which was sunk in August 1941.

Unites States

Various Unnamed warships.

Germany

U-451
Type VIIC Class U-Boat
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Pennant clashes with that of a Type VIIC Class U-Boat sunk off the coast of Morocco in December 1941. In the series it would appear that she survived and took part in Operation Neuland (February - March 1942) under the command of the series Hero.

Plot summary: The year is 1942, following his experiences in the Mediterranean, the series Hero has been sent to join the U-Boats harrasing the coast of the United States in the wake of Pearl Harbour.

Note (Spoilers): This is the seventh in an eight book series ('Sea Wolf') of novels following the career of a particular U-boat officer through the Second World War. Written by science fiction author Kenneth Bulmer under a pseudonym, this is one of several series of action novels he wrote under various pseudonym's (Adam Hardy ('Fox' A Napoleonic Naval Series & 'Strike Force Falklands' A Falklands War series.), Ken Blake ('The Professionals', TV-Tie ins.), etc.) for the cheaper end of the paperback market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Likely intended to cash in on the success of Edwyn Gray's U-boat novels published in the mid to late 1970s, this series was probably intended to cover the entirety of World War Two, but the last published novel only carried the series to 1942.

While specific dating is not possible, the fact that a Type VIIC U-boat is operating off the coast of the United States gives bounds on when the story is set as they were not sent until the third wave of U-Boat attacks on the US Coast.

In most of the novels the author 'filled out' the quiet times in the novel by having the hero reminiscence about the 'girls he left behind', however because of the way the previous novel ends, the author instead covers just how the hero returned to German lines after the events that close the previous novel.

 

[Graham1973]

Edwyn Gray, Devil Flotilla, 1978

United Kingdom

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

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

France

Gladiateur
Submarine, class not specified
No other details provided.

Poland

ORP Bielik (Erne)
Orzeł Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: 'Erne' is the name of bird of prey known as the Sea Eagle. The Orzeł Class was named after birds of prey, making this the only class of submarine it can be. This would make it the third member of the class after the ORP Orzeł (Eagle) & ORP Sęp (Vulture).

Netherlands

HNLMS Zwaardvisch (As spelt by author 'Swaardvis')
Submarine, class not specified, but most likely O Class.
No other details provided.
Note: Thanks to Arjen for the suggested corrections. As they point out in their post below the O Class were the class of submarines the Dutch used in European waters, the K Class was used overseas. Both classes used numbers rather than names.

Norway

Unnamed
Two 'Coastal' Submarines
No other details provided.

Germany

Heinrich Ullmann
Type 1934 (or 1934a) Class Destroyer
Note: Stated to be the only German Destroyer to survive the First/Second Battles of Narvik. Details provided are sufficient to narrow it down to either the Type 1934 or Type 1934a Class but no closer than that.

Friedrich Ihn (Z-14)
Type 1934A Class Destroyer
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: Author simply gives the pennant number when referring to this ship.

Z-19
Destroyer, class not specified
Note: Pennant number is that of the Type 1936 Class Destroyer Hermann Kunne sunk at the Second Battle of Narvik.

Z-27
Type 1936A Class Destroyer
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: This destroyer was not comissioned until 1941, in the novel it is in service by May 1940.

Plot summary: The year is 1940, as the Germans launch their assault on Western Europe, a special multi-national flotilla is assembled to carry the fight to the enemy, but as the Western Allies fall, how long will the force be able to keep up the struggle.

Note (Spoiler): This is the second of a four book series that begins with 'Fighting Submarine' (1978), like the U-Boat series that started with 'No Surrender' (1974) the series follows a single officer through WWII, in this case British.

The time frame of the novel is from 9 May 1940 to 14 July 1940.

 

[Arjen]

Contemporary spelling would have been Zwaardvisch. Modern spelling of Swaardvis would be Zwaardvis - due to the revised Dutch spelling rules of 1947.
There was a WW2 Zwaardvisch. HMS Talent was transferred to the Dutch Navy in 1943. Any 1940 Dutch submarine would have been either a K-(insert Roman numeral here, built for colonial service) or an O-(insert Arabic numeral here).

 

[Graham1973]

Contemporary spelling would have been Zwaardvisch. Modern spelling of Swaardvis would be Zwaardvis - due to the revised Dutch spelling rules of 1947.
There was a WW2 Zwaardvisch. HMS Talent was transferred to the Dutch Navy in 1943. Any 1940 Dutch submarine would have been either a K-(insert Roman numeral here, built for colonial service) or an O-(insert Arabic numeral here).

Thanks for the additional information, I was going by the authors spelling of the name.

 

[Graham1973]

Last posting for 2018...

Kenneth Bulmer (Pen name: Bruno Krauss), Shark Trap, 1982

United Kingdom

HMS Whippet
V & W Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: Name of a V & W Class Destroyer cancelled on the slips in 1918. A V & W Class Destroyer of the same name appears in the 1944 set novel 'Kleber's Convoy' (1973) by Antony Trew. An Australian V & W Class Destroyer named HMAS Whippet appears in the 1942 set novel 'Big Bill The Bastard' (1976) by J. E. MacDonnell. In the present novel the ship appears in a characters backstory.

United States

USS Ackermann (DD-??)
Farragut Class Destroyer
Launched: 1934
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Author does not give the class, but the armament/displacement details he provides best fit the Farragut Class, which also fits with the launch date given.

Germany

U-451
Type VIIC Class U-Boat
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Pennant clashes with that of a Type VIIC Class U-Boat sunk off the coast of Morocco in December 1941. See the post for 'Shark America' (1982) for the fictional background. In this novel the submarine is sunk by U-580 in a friendly fire incident.

U-580
U-Boat, class not specified
Note: Pennant is that of a Type VIIC Class U-Boat that was sunk by collision in November of 1941. The submarine in the novel is in service as of Autumn 1942.

Plot summary: It is Autumn 1942, the German U-Boat offensive against the east coast of the United States continues

Note (Spoilers): This is final published volume in an eight book series ('Sea Wolf') of novels following the career of a particular U-boat officer through the Second World War. Written by science fiction author Kenneth Bulmer under a pseudonym, this is one of several series of action novels he wrote under various pseudonym's (Adam Hardy ('Fox' A Napoleonic Naval Series & 'Strike Force Falklands' A Falklands War series.), Ken Blake ('The Professionals', TV-Tie ins.), etc.) for the cheaper end of the paperback market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Likely intended to cash in on the success of Edwyn Gray's U-boat novels published in the mid to late 1970s, this series was probably intended to cover the entirety of World War Two, but the last published novel only carried the series to 1942.

While this was the last published story, it was clearly not the planned end of the series, the Hero and most of his crew survive and would presumably have got a new submarine in the next book. More to the point plot threads relating to the Hero's increasing realization that he may be/is on the wrong side of history from earlier stories are expanded on and probably would have been used to build a series climax.

 

[Graham1973]

Back to the comic books...

Anon., Rescue!, published as Commando Comics Nº. 1517, 1981

United Kingdom

MTB-570
Motor torpedo boat, make not specified
Details as per typical members of that type of ship in British service.

MTB-582
Motor torpedo boat, make not specified
Details as per typical members of that type of ship in British service.

Germany

Unnamed
Various S-Boats.

Plot summary: The year is 1944, two MTB crews, long term unfriendly rivals are forced to work together to save an injured British agent from the Germans.

 

[Graham1973]

Anthony Molloy, Dead Reckoning & Standing Into Danger, 2013

United Kingdom

HMS Nishga
Tribal Class Destroyer
Fitted with Type 286 Radar by the 20th of June 1940
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Bantu
Tribal Class Destroyer
Fitted with Type 286 Radar by the start of June 1940
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Atrebate
Tribal Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Gaul
Tribal Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Iceni
Tribal Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Trinovante
Tribal Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Edward
S-boat
Details as per the real ships

HMS Egbert
S-Boat (Copy)
Details as per the real ships as to dimensions and external appearance.
Note: This ship is a British copy of an S-Boat, the external appearance is identical to the German versions, but the engines and weapons are the closest British equivalents to the German originals.

HMS MTB-520
Camper & Nicholson MGB-502 Class (Modified)
Details as per the real ships in regards dimensions and propulsion
Completed as a Torpedo Boat, with the following armament:21 inch TT, (Twin mount) Vickers 0.5 inch mgs & 2 pdr guns (Exact numbers and locations not specified.)

HMS MTB-521
Camper & Nicholson MGB-502 Class (Modified)
Details as per the real ships in regards dimensions and propulsion
Details as to armament identical to MTB-520

Note: The MGB-502 class were a set of eight MGBs building for Turkey that were taken into British service at the start of the war. Five of them were converted to high speed freighters and used to smuggle ball bearings from Sweden to the UK.

HMT Cuckold Point
A/S Trawler
Diesel Engines
No other details provided.

HMT Durness Point
Minesweeping Trawler
No other details provided
Sunk during the Norwegian Campaign

Unnamed
Five Flower Class Corvettes
Details as per the real ships.

France

Creuse
'River Class' (Amazone Class?) Submarine
No other details provided.

Germany

U-354
Type VIIC U-Boat
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Pennant is that of a Type VIIC U-Boat commissioned in 1942 and sunk in 1944. The author explicitly states it is this Type. For some reason the captain of this submarine has exactly the same name as the captain of U-497 & U-534.

U-463
Type VIIC U-Boat
Details as per the real ships
Note: Pennant number is that of a Type XIV U-boat commissioned in 1942 and sunk in 1943. The author explicitly states it is this Type.

U-491
Type VIIC U-Boat
Details as per the real ships.
Captured by HMS Nishga and HMS Edward
Taken into British service as HMS Antler
Note: Pennant number is that of a Type XIV U-boat that was cancelled incomplete in September of 1944. The author explicitly states it is this Type.

U-497
Type VIIC U-Boat
Details as per the real ships
Note: Pennant number is that of of a Type XIV U-boat that was cancelled incomplete in September of 1944. The author describes it as being the same class as U-491. For some reason the captain of this submarine has exactly the same name as the captain of U-354 & U-534.

U-534
Type VIIC U-Boat
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Pennant number is that of a Type Type IXC/40 Class U-Boat launched in 1942 and sunk in 1945. The author explicitly states it is this Type. For some reason the captain of this submarine has exactly the same name as the captain of U-354 & U-497.

Kassel
Destroyer (Referred to as a 'Z Class')
No other details provided.
Note: German Destroyers in 1940 were made up of the Type 1934/1934a/1936/1936a Classes. All bore pennant numbers starting with 'Z', only the first three classes bore names, usually of German Naval Heroes, therefore this ship (Named after a German Town.) must be of either the Type 1934/34a/36 class, but the author does not provide any class specific details.

Lübek (ex - HNoMS Otteroy)
Netlayer, class not specified
Comissioned: 1918
No other details provided
Note: Ex-Royal Norwegian Navy ship captured during the Norwegian Campaign.

Unnamed
R Boat
Details as per the real ships.

Unnamed
3 Destroyers
No other details provided

Plot summary: The year is 1940 (The two novels cover the period June to November 1940). For the unorthodox warriors of Special Force Orca, success at Dunkirk and the growing war against the U-boats lead to new opportunities to come up with cunning plans to 'Baffle the Boche'. But will the human cost be too much...

Note: I suspect these two novels (Second and third in a series of thirty two novels (As of this post.).) started as a single book that was split around a natural division point. The author starts moving away from 'Boys Own Adventure' action and starts bringing in the characters personal lives, which he manages to keep interesting. The ending of the third book is nicely dark with the leader of Special Force Orca contemplating the human cost of the battle that climaxes the book and struggling against the despair it engenders.

The author also starts bringing historical characters into the story, the climactic battle makes use of anti-submarine tactics made famous later in the war by Captain Frederic J. Walker and the author has his hero be a friend of Walker's who's taken the chance to try out some of Walker's suggestions/ideas in real life, at a time when Walker himself had been essentially sidelined. The author is however to be faulted for the poor editing that results in three U-boats having the same captain and crew which makes the climax of the two novels more than a little confusing. That said, he is a far better writer than many of the authors 'self-publishing on Amazon'.

 

[Graham1973]

Anthony Molloy, On Fortune's Side, 2013

United Kingdom

HMS Nishga
Tribal Class Destroyer
Type 286 Radar replaced with Type 290 Radar by May of 1941
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Fearnought
F Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: Explicitly identified as a member of the F Class by the Author.

HMS Frightful
F Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: Explicitly identified as a member of the F Class by the Author.

HMS Antler (ex-U-491)
Type VIIC U-Boat
Details as per the real ships.
For the current mission some of her topedos have been replaced with captured German TMC (Magnetic mines deployed from a submarines torpedo tube.) mines (A real weapon.)

HMS Ethel and Maud
Armed Merchant Ship (Q-Ship)
Converted tramp steamer
Armament: 4 inch guns (exact number not specified)
Bows have been re-inforced with concrete in case they need to ram a U-boat.
Engines have been upgraded and allow her to move as fast as a destroyer (30+ knots.)
No other details.

HMS Edward
S-boat
Details as per the real ships

Germany

U-44
Type VIIA Class U-Boat
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Pennant clashes with that of a Type IXA Class U-boat launched in 1939 and sunk in 1940. Explicitly identified by the author as a Type VIIA.

Tirpitz
Bismark Class Battleship
Real ship, details as in service.

Prinz Eugen
Hipper Class Cruiser
Real ship, details as in service.

Unnamed
Several Destroyers of unspecified class.

Unnamed
Several netlayers of unspecified class.

Plot summary: The year is 1941 (The story takes place between March and May of that year.), evidence is found that the German navy is planning a massive spring offensive that will see a large scale raid by her surface fleet. Special Force Orca is given the task of doing whatever they can to disrupt the German preparations, leading to their most dangerous mission of the war yet, an attempt to penetrate the Baltic and lay mines at the entrance to the main German naval base.

Note: In the fourth book in the series the author continues to move away from the 'Boys Own Adventure', with the centerpiece of the story, HMS Antler's penetration of the Baltic being presented as being every bit as grueling and dangerous as a real attempt would be. The author shows some skill in integrating his storyline into actual history with the 'blame' for the April 23rd, 1941, mining of the Prinz Eugen being laid at the foot of HMS Antler rather than the RAF.

 

[Graham1973]

Mark Iversen, The Persian Horse, 1991

United States

USS Bulkeley (FFG-???)
Oliver Hazzard Perry Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships

USS Manchester (FFG-???)
Oliver Hazzard Perry Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships
Note: Author does not provide an explicit identification of class. Simply states that she is a 'sister frigate' of the USS Bulkeley (FFG-???) and provides other information making clear which class the ship is.

USS Pascagoula (AGF-?)
Raleigh Class Amphibious Transport Dock
Details as per the real ships. (E.g. USS LaSalle (AGF-3) as it has been converted from an LPD into a command ship.)

Iran

Abaland
Alvand Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships.

Plot summary: It is some time after Bush the Elder's War (Persian Gulf, 1990 - 1991) in the Persian Gulf, fighting has resumed between Iran and Iraq with the US struggling to keep commerce flowing. A situation one of the warring nations plans to make worse.

 

[Graham1973]

Yet another 'Boys Own' short story...

Anon., The Ship That Vanished, published in Anon. (ed.), Adventure Stories for Boys (1967/1979)

United Kingdom

India Star
Bulk Carrier
Displacement: 20,000 tons
Engines: Not specified, twin screws
Note (Spoiler): The ship has been requisitioned in secret by the Royal Navy and is being used for a covert trial of ASW sensors designed to detect nuclear powered submarines at "...immense distances." (The specifics are not given.) Great care has been taken to keep this trial hidden from prying eyes.

Turkey

Unnamed
'Destroyer', class not specified
No other details provided.

Plot summary: A freighter has disappeared without trace during it's post refit sea trials. For the captains sons, something does not seem quite right...

Note: The collection this story comes from was first published in 1967 and then republished in 1979. According to the publication details the story (Which is the only unaccredited story in the collection.) was first printed in either "Boy's World" or "Eagle" in 1963. Also published in this collection is a short story attributed to Harry Harrison. Assuming this is the creator of the 'Stainless Steel Rat', then this is from fairly early in his career dating from a time in his life when he was working as a ghost writer for Leslie Charteris , creator of 'The Saint'.

 

[Graham1973]

Wilbur Smith, Those in Peril, 2011

United States

USS Reno (CG-?? or CGN-??)'
'Cruiser', class not specified
No other details provided
Note: Referenced in a characters backstory. Name was used during WWII for a Atlanta Class Light Cruiser (CL-96) that was scrapped in 1946. The same character is described as having retired from the US navy 10 months prior to the events of the novel and had been the commander of a 'battle cruiser' prior to retirement.

USS Manila Bay (DD-??? or DDG-???)
'Destroyer', class not specified
No other details provided.

Non-State

MV Golden Goose
Armed Merchant Ship
Converted Liquid Natural Gas Tanker
Owned/Operated by the Bannock Oil Corporation.
Armament: 2 x Mk 44 Bushmaster IV (40mm) guns in concealed mountings built into the superstructure arranged to provide as wide a field of fire as possible.
Note: Cargo Tank No. 1 (Closest to the superstructure) has been converted into accommodation for 150 men, also carried are 3 x AAV-P7/A1 (Ex-South Korean Army) and enough small arms to equip everyone aboard. The ship's helipad is large enough to handle either a MIL-26 or a Sikorsky CH-53E.

Plot summary: As the Sicilians say, revenge is a dish best served in cold blood. But what will prove colder, the hearts of those seeking it, or the sea itself...

Note: There is no dating information provided, so the 'Day after Tomorrow' rule applies.

 

[Graham1973]

David Alexander, Smart Bomb, 1993

United States

USS Okeanos (SSBN-???)
Wichita Class Submarine
Length: 980ft
Displacement: 10,000 tons (surfaced)
Propulsion: Hydrojets
Armament: (As operated by the USN) Gorgon Ballistic Missiles (Can be fitted with either Nuclear or Conventional (MAneuverable Reentry Vehicle (MARV)) warheads), Torpedo Tubes (Size and number not specified, contain 'Mark 10' torpedoes.). As operated by 'Force Three' (A criminal syndicate.) 14 Skybolt (Stealth) Cruise Missiles replace the Gorgon Missiles.
The manta shaped hull is constructed from high tensile plastics covered by a polycarbonate paint to enhance underwater stealth.
Has no conning tower. All sensors are built directly into the hull. Sensory data is processed into a single picture by a (Non-AI) supercomputer system called 'Rigel'.
Note: Stated to be the only member in the class, presumably the others are under construction. Uses a Blue/Gold crew rotation system.

Other weapons:

Marine Anti-Naval Technology Armament (MANTA)
Discus shaped underwater robot
Constructed of low radar cross section composites
Speed: 20kt
Power: Solar rechargable batteries of an unspecified type.
Fitted with eight legs to allow it to crawl along/hide under the seafloor if needed.
Can home in on a target using pre-programmed sonar signatures and attach itself to the hull using a form of fast-setting superglue.
Contains a powerful explosive warhead.
Apparently a US weapons system. The hero makes use of one in the course of the novel.

Skybolt
Cruise Missiles
Booster rockets for launch. Main propulsion system is a ramjet. Speed: "...nearly Mach Two..."
The stealth system aside from the usual passive techniques also makes use of a LED? 'smartskin' to cause the missle to blend into whatever background it is in front of (Think of the effect used in the first 'Predator' movie which came out in 1987.).
Nuclear warhead.
Created by the 'Force Three' criminal syndicate front Omnivore Corporation.

And for the aircraft mavens...

F-25 'Death Ray'
Described as "...transonic...advanced tactical fighters..." with a "...low-observable wedge-shape..."
Engines are described as scramjets.
No other details.

Plot summary: The year is 2032, a criminal organization has hijacked a nuclear submarine and made the usual 'give us what we want', in this case a small country, 'or we launch' demand. Only one man can stop them, Quinn (Codename: Nomad)...

Note: This 'James Bond crossed with Cyberpunk' tale was first published in 1992 and subsequently the author has regained the rights and made the entire four books of the series (Of which this is the third novel.) available for free in PDF form via his website.

 

[Graham1973]

David Alexander, Desert Fire, 1993.

United States (1990s)

Unnamed
Stealth Warship
SWATH Hull
Propulsion and Armament: No specifics beyond the following statement which indicates that the "...propulsion system borrowed quieting technology from Trident submarines while rocket launchers, deck guns and other weaponry were all kept hidden behind retractable panels prior to combat deployment." (Note: When the author mentions 'Trident submarines' he probably meant the Ohio Class SSBNs. Ships propulsion system is probably conventional.)
Described as having the radar cross section of "...a raft of seaweed..."
Fitted with a flight deck described as follows "...ringed the central core of the advanced designed vessel which contained living quarters, command and control stations and the crafts propulsion systems. Sections of the deck could be raised to handle helos, tilt-rotor craft or VSTOL aircraft such as the Hawker Harrier." (Note: When the author mentions 'tilt-rotor craft' he probably meant the V-22 Osprey.)
Note: This appears to be an enlarged version of Sea Shadow (IX-529). Exactly how many aircraft the ship can handle is not specified nor is the ships exact compliment. In the novel it deploys a single SH-60 Seahawk to carry a special agent into Iraq.

Plot summary: The year is 2035, a madman escaping justice has used an experimental time machine to flee into the past. The agent pursuing him is sent to the same era with instructions to keep the disruptions to the time-line to a minimum.

Note: The 'past' portions of the novel take place during Bush the Elder's War (Persian Gulf, 1990 - 1991). The novel itself is the last in a four book 'James Bond meets Cyberpunk ' series that appears like Kenneth Bulmer's 'Sea Wolf' series to have been terminated prematurely as it does not resolve plot threads from the previous novel and the villains last crazed words are decidedly ominous.

 

[Graham1973]

Desmond Bagley, The Spoilers, 1969

Non State

Fuad Syndicate

Stella del Mare
Motor Yacht
Weight: 200tons
Speed: 14knots
Armament: 1 x 40mm Bofors Gun (Stern), 3 x MGs (1 Bow, 1 Port, 1 Starboard). All improvised mounts, the aft mount is concealed.
No other details provided.

Orestes
Armed Merchant Ship
Coaster
Weight: 3000tons
Speed: 8knots (Max)
2 x 21 inch TT (Underwater), Small arms.
No other details provided.

Fictional Weapon

Mark XI Torpedo (Modified) (Note: The original weapon is the British Mark XI Torpedo, a British copy of the German G7e-T2, not the American Mark 11.)
Details as to dimensions are unchanged.
The original lead-acid batteries have been replaced with high-performance mercury batteries and modified electrical circuitry giving a range of 18miles (29km) over the original 3.1miles (5km) at the same speed (28 knots). The person modifying the four torpedoes states that when he is finished with them they will be "...the best torpedo that ever took water."
The original 710lbs (322kg) TNT warhead has been replaced with one containing 180lbs (81kg) of TNT and 500lbs (227kg) of heroin with an impact detonator. Described by one character as being other than a thermonuclear bomb, "...the most expensive bang in history."
Note: As far as the Fuad Syndicate is concerned the warheads are packed with 551lbs (250kg) of heroin and some ballast to keep the center of gravity correct.

Plot summary (Spoiler): After losing his daughter to heroin addiction a British film magnate (& self-made millionaire) decides to 'do something' about the heroin trade. What his 'synthetic James Bond' and fellow mercenaries find is a complicated arms-for-drugs deal born out of Middle Eastern politics. If they're not careful they may do more than take down a drugs syndicate...

Note: There is no specific dating information, but clues in the story suggest it takes place somewhere between the year it came out and the next year (eg 1969-70). The novel is an early example of the 'get tough on drug smugglers' genre which became much more prominent in the late 80s/early 90s when a series of novels, including 'Clear and Present Danger' (1989), 'Hammerheads' (1990) and 'Sea Wolf' (1991), which I have covered previously came out suggesting that the armed forces should be used against drug cartels. Another, later entry in this genre I have covered is Larry Jerram-Croft's 2012 novel 'Cocaine'.

 

[Graham1973]

David Graham, Side-Wall, 1983

United Kingdom

HMS Londonderry
'Harrier-Carrier' (Invincible Class?)
No other details provided, if Invincible Class then details are as per the real ships.
Note: Name does not fit class.

HMS Thatcher
Titan Class Submarine Aircraft Carrier
Airgroup includes unspecified helicopters and 'Super-C' Harriers (Super Sea Harriers?), these aircraft are armed with Moccasin IR guided Air-to-Air missiles.
No other details provided.

United States

USS Sherman (CGN-???)
Semi-submergible 'Cruiser', class not specified
14,000 tons
Crew: 240 (200 Ratings, 40 Officers)
Nuclear powered, twin-reactor powerplant, speed: 60kts (Not specified if this is the maximum speed.)
Armament/electronics are described as follows: "...a wide range of radar, infra-red Doppler, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, conventional and nuclear. Secondary banks of anti-missile missiles guarded her flanks."
Defence is handled by the Computerized Anti-missile Negation and Destruct Intercept (CANDI) system (The crew refers to the system as 'Candy'.) which is capable of handling 16 incoming targets.
Missile armament: 10 x Arcturus ICBMs (Nuclear, MIRV Warhead), Unspecified number of Seacruise Missiles, described as "...low-flying supersonic Cruise missiles with built-in radar capable of seeking out any surface ship within 1000 kilometers, delivering a conventional or nuclear punch...", reference is made in the novel these missiles also making use of satellite guidance. Has a nose camera for terminal guidance. In addition there are other unspecified missile systems.
Submergence depth is 164ft (50m) at which point only the 'fighting bridge' remains above water. When submerged stated to be able to withstand anything short of a nuclear detonation going off within 328.1ft (100m).
Stated to be first ship in the unnamed class.

USS Robert F. Kennedy
Warship of unspecified class
No other details provided.

USS Bluefin
Submarine Aircraft Carrier
Carries unspecified VTOL Aircraft.
No other details provided.

United German Republic

U-906
Dresden Class U-Boat (SSN)
No other details provided.

Russia

Unnamed
Copy of the RMH Albatross intended for military use.
Armament includes 'Shark' Cruise Missiles whose attack profile is described as follows "...fired underwater, take off and fly at zero feet to the target, dive to ten feet and wind up to high speed with rockets on the final approach."
Note: It would appear the author was not aware of the Caspian Sea Monster.

Non-Warship

United Kingdom

RMH Albatross
High Speed Passenger Vessel
Surface Effect Ship
Length: 200m (656ft)
Weight: 600 tons
Nuclear powered.
Speed: 300 knots
Crew: Unspecified
Passengers: 2000
Note: On the maiden voyage the ship will be used to test an anti-radar system code-named RAZOR in conjunction with the Royal Navy, with the test taking place on the return trip. Exactly what the acronym stands for is not explained. The system is derived from American stealth research and makes use of a hull embedded antenna system to analyze incoming radar signals and then re-transmit a nullifying counter-pattern. The company building it British Hovermarine, sees it as a chance to revitalize the British economy.

Non-Ship (But interesting...)

'Telebird'
Drones with a two meter wingspan.
Minijet engines
Fitted with a 3-D camera in the belly.
Carried aboard US warships.
No other details provided.

Schmeisser 0.22
Sub-machine gun (Note: This is not an assault rifle, the author uses the term 'burp gun' when describing them.)
1000 round powered rotary magazine
Rate of fire not specified, but a victim's upper body is described as being "...unrecognizable..." after a burst is fired, so it's probably quite high.
Note: Exactly what type of round is being fired from these is not specified, I would assume 5.56x45mm rather than 0.22lr.

Plot summary: The year is 1993. With the world still reeling from the Soviet seizure of the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s and Britain under the yoke of the British Labor Party (Whose 'Shared Employment Act' requires all positions to be held by at least two people...), one British firm is working on a revolutionary form of ship that will allow oceanic travel to compete again with the airlines, something the worlds remaining airlines (United American Airlines, Alledeutshelufhansa, etc) will do anything to stop, anything...

Note: This is one of the wilder 'Future of the Past' novels I've read, a few examples will suffice, in the United States, the CIA, NSA & FBI were all shut down in the late '80s due to the concerns of the public only to be revived as 'Unistate' (E.g. All three combined into one Agency...) by Bush the Elder. Margaret Thatcher won the Falklands war in 1982, cut a deal with the IRA in 1983 and was then killed by gunmen working for Ian Paisley resulting in the Labor Party returning to power. Citizens of the the EEC have no access to public healthcare if they drink or smoke and of course German Re-unification on lines that are implied to be very different to what actually occurred... And of course like so many authors of this era this one also misses the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.

Other novels exhibiting this 'future of the past' quality I've covered are 'Thirty-Four East' (1974), 'The Hastings Conspiracy' (1980) (Both by Alfred Coppel), 'North Star Crusade' (1976) (William Katz), 'The Phoenix Odyssey' (1986) (Richard P. Henrick) and 'End Game', 2011 (Matthew Glass), along with what is probably the most well known 'alternative history' sequence, 'Raise the Titanic' (1976), 'Vixen 03' (1978), 'Night Probe' (1981) & 'Deep Six' (1984) (All by Clive Cussler) which are set in an alternative 1980s (The novels are set between 1987 ('Raise the Titanic') & 1989 ('Deep Six').) with many differences from what actually happened, most notably Canada being absorbed by the United States (Something Cussler quietly dropped in later novels.).

The rather fine cover is by Geoff Hunt, for a further view into the world the author created I've attached a scan of the back cover as well.

 

[Graham1973]

Robert A. Liston, The Seraphim Code, 1988

United States

USS Evansville
Warship, class unspecified
No other details provided.
Note: Appears in a characters backstory. The name clashes with USS Evansville (PF-70), a Tacoma Class Frigate scrapped in 1953. As this ship was extant "...four years ago..." (e.g. 1979) this has to be a different ship.

USS Admiral Halsey (CVN-???)
Nimitz Class Carrier(?)
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Class is not specified in the book, but a character describes her as "...one of the newest...", which most likely means the ship is a member of the Nimitz Class. At the time the story is set the name would have clashed with the Leahey Class Cruiser USS Halsey (CG-23). Airgroup includes navalized F-16 fighters (Simply referred to as 'F-16s' in the book.).

Russia

Comrade Molotov
Typhoon Class Submarine (?)
Details as per the real ships.
Electronics fitted include a Extremely Low Frequency receiver (Disabled for the purposes of the laser communications system trial.) and a prototype laser communications system
Note: The cover of the Tor Books edition depicts a Typhoon Class Submarine. A Russian character states that the submarine is "...one of the newest and finest in the fleet..." strengthening the likelihood the submarine is a member of the Typhoon Class, the first members of which entered service in 1981. The cover of the 2012 eBook edition depicts a WWII German U-Boat firing a ballistic missile.


Plot summary: The year is 1983. Former NSA agent David Sloan was retired from the spy game. But, with a dead KGB agent on his front doorstep, he's going to have to get back in the game fast or risk ending up behind bars, or dead...

Note: This is actually the second of two books featuring this character. Originally published by Tor Books, the novel was re-issued by the author in eBook form in 2012. Covers for both editions have been attached, the second, as noted previously is a classic example of the kinds of mistakes made with CGI covers. The cover of the 1988 Tor books edition features a tag line "Run Silent, Run Deep, Run..." clearly inspired by the title of Edward L. Beach's 1955 WWII novel 'Run Silent, Run Deep'.

 

[Graham1973]

Damon Knight, CV, 1985

United States

USS Bluefields
'Helicopter Carrier', class not specified.
No other details provided.

Plot summary: The year is 1998. The prototype sea habitat Sea Venture capable of carrying 3000 people, 2000 of them permanent residents has just set sail on it's maiden voyage, as it crosses the Pacific Ocean, a strange disease of unknown origin strikes.

Note (Spoiler): Damon Knight (1922 - 2002) was a science fiction author most well known for the short story 'To Serve Man'. This novel was the first in a trilogy dealing with the arrival of an alien life-form which has curious effects on the human psyche. Dating the story was almost impossible, as there are no specifics, save one scene in which a character discusses a traumatic event in 1973 and states it took place 25 years previous to the time of the story.

This is another 'Future of the Past' story, but the back history is only quickly sketched in, with references to riots in London in the late 80s and the destruction of Tel Aviv (by nuclear weapon?) at some point before the story begins. Like many authors Knight makes no reference to the internet, which started to become prominent in the real world around the time the story is set.

Other novels exhibiting this 'future of the past' quality I've covered are 'Thirty-Four East' (1974), 'The Hastings Conspiracy' (1980) (Both by Alfred Coppel), 'North Star Crusade' (1976) (William Katz), 'Side-Wall' (1982) (Geoff Hunt), 'The Phoenix Odyssey' (1986) (Richard P. Henrick) and 'End Game', 2011 (Matthew Glass), along with what is probably the most well known 'alternative history' sequence, 'Raise the Titanic' (1976), 'Vixen 03' (1978), 'Night Probe' (1981) & 'Deep Six' (1984) (All by Clive Cussler) which are set in an alternative 1980s (The novels are set between 1987 ('Raise the Titanic') & 1989 ('Deep Six').) with many differences from what actually happened, most notably Canada being absorbed by the United States (Something Cussler quietly dropped in later novels.).

 

[Graham1973]

Another item of 'self-published on Amazon' sci-fi/horror...

Carl Rackman, Incendiary, 2018

United States

USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23)
Seawolf Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service.

United Kingdom

HMS Trenchant (S91)
Trafalgar Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service.

Russia

Kuguar (K-337)
Akula (Pr.971U) Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: The name and pennant are those of a member of the Akula Class which was converted into the first Borei Class Submarine while under construction. Author explicitly identifies the ship by name and pennant number in the chapter headings.

Plot summary: In 1970, the United States captured something in Cambodia, in 2017, that something escaped captivity...

 

[Graham1973]

Another entry in the irregular 'non-state' series.

David M. Salkin, Crescent Fire, 2007

United States

Various Unnamed warships.

Non-State

al-Qaeda

MV Crescent Fire (aka MV Crescent King)
Armed Merchant Ship
Converted Medium-sized Oil Tanker
Details as per the real ships of this type.
Armament consists of 1 x Scud-B Missile with a Sarin warhead mounted below decks in the modified forward cargo tank. The weapon has to be raised above deck level to fire. Also aboard are sufficient AK-47s and other small arms for the entire crew.

Plot summary: It is some time after the 11th of September 2001 and word has reached US intelligence services that the unthinkable has happened, al-Qaeda has a nuclear bomb in their possession.

Note: Not a very pleasant read, the US warships are referred to as an amorphous 'US Carrier Group' without any specifics. And as with all novels of this type, there is a lot of high-grade paranoia about Islamic extremists. Other novels of this kind I've covered include, 'SuperHawks: Strike Force Alpha' (2004), 'Saved' (2013) & 'Vanished' (2013).

 

[Graham1973]

Cyn Mobley (Pen Name: C. A. Mobley), Rites of War, 1998

Korea (Democratic Peoples Republic)

'Submarine 12'
Romeo Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships

Denmark

HDMS Troikan
'Corvette', class not specified
No other details provided.

Germany (2002)

Spessart (A1442)
Rhön Class Tanker
Real ship, details as in service

U-504
Type 215 Submarine (Fictional)
Diesel electric, fitted with a snorkel and a small AIP engine.
Crew: 80
Capable of minelaying via the torpedo tubes. Has miniature manipulator arms mounted "...just above the sonar dome..."
Uses a pump-jet propulsor system copied from the British Swiftsure Class Submarine.
Has 8 torpedo tubes. Stated to have bow and stern tubes, but the layout is never specified.

Germany (WWII)

Non-Ship

Seabed laid CAPTOR mine.
The encapsulated torpedo is fitted with a nerve gas warhead containing Tabun, it is designed to penetrate the hull of a ship where a bursting charge fires releasing the nerve gas into the ship.
The mines use a Magnetic trigger.
Armed/disarmed by an acoustic pulse.

United States

USS Lewis B. Puller (FFG-23)
Oliver Hazzard Perry Class Frigate
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: Ship was transferred to Egypt in September 1998. In the novel the ship is still in US service as of 2002.

USS Wasp (LHD-1)
Wasp Class Amphibious Assault Ship
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Ramage (DDG-61)
Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: The author aside from referring to the ship as either an 'Aegis Class' Destroyer or a Burke Class Destroyer at various points in the novel gives this ship the pennant number DDG-82, that of the USS Lassen.

USS Weeks
'Frigate', class not specified (Most likely an Oliver Hazzard Perry Class Frigate)
No other details provided.

United Kingdom

HMS Oberon (S09)
Oberon Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service
Note: The ship actually decommissioned in 1986 and was scrapped in 1991. In the novel the ship was still operational as of 2002. The author explicitly identifies the ship by name and class.

HMS Audacious
Warship, class not specified
No other details provided.

HMS Battleaxe (F89)
Type 22 (Batch 1) Frigate
Real ship details as in service
Note: This ship was sold to Brazil in 1997. In the novel the ship is still in British service as of 2002. Author gives the ships name only with no details.

HMS Brilliant (F90)
Type 22 (Batch 1) Frigate
Real ship details as in service
Note: This ship was sold to Brazil in 1996. In the novel the ship is still in British service as of 2002. Author gives the ships name only with no details.

HMS Brevard
Warship, class not specified
Armament includes ASROC (Not weapon the British ever used. British warships were fitted with Ikara missiles.)
Fitted with a shrouded propeller and a sound masking system
No other details provided.

HMS Illustrious (R06)
Invincible Class Aircraft Carrier?
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: Author describes the ship pointing it's 'guns' at a surrendered German U-Boat.

HMS Gallant
Warship, class not specified
No other details provided

HMS Victory
'Cruiser' or 'Frigate', class not specified
No other details provided
Note: Name clashes with HMS Victory, the three-deck ship of the line commissioned in 1778 that is still an active unit of the Royal Navy. Author gives the name only and refers to the ship as either a 'Cruiser' or a 'Frigate' at different points in the story.

Plot summary: It is the year 2002, a reunited Germany has started to flex it's muscles in Europe, to ensure the Americans don't spoil the party, various schemes are put in motion.

Note: This technothriller was first published in 1998 under the name C. A. Mobley, subsequently it was republished as an eBook under the authors real name, the only one of the three books the author published under that name to have been republished. As to the authors real identity, she claims to have been a former naval officer. However given the sloppiness of the research that appears to have gone into this book I have my doubts.

This novel, like several others I have covered exhibits a 'Future of the Past' quality. This quality at least in technothrillers seems to have been most common in the period between the late 1960s and the early 1990s. The other novels exhibiting this 'future of the past' quality I've covered are 'Thirty-Four East' (1974), 'The Hastings Conspiracy' (1980) (Both by Alfred Coppel), 'North Star Crusade' (1976) (William Katz), 'Side-Wall' (1982) (David Graham), 'CV' (1985) by Damon Knight, 'The Phoenix Odyssey' (1986) (Richard P. Henrick) and 'End Game', 2011 (Matthew Glass), along with what is probably the most well known 'alternative history' sequence, 'Raise the Titanic' (1976), 'Vixen 03' (1978), 'Night Probe' (1981) & 'Deep Six' (1984) (All by Clive Cussler) which are set in an alternative 1980s (The novels are set between 1987 ('Raise the Titanic') & 1989 ('Deep Six').) with many differences from what actually happened, most notably Canada being absorbed by the United States (Something Cussler quietly dropped in later novels.).

 

[Graham1973]

Dale Brown, Flight of the Old Dog, 1987

United States

USS Lawrence
Spy Ship (Converted Trawler)
Length: 100ft (30.48 m)
Fitted out for ELINT. Intelligence processing is carried out in the former fish processing hold.
No other details provided.
Note: Name clashes with a Charles F. Adams Class Destroyer in service between 1962 and 1994.

Plot summary: The year is 1988, the Soviet Union has just completed testing of the worlds most powerful laser. Paired with a radar of unimaginable power, the threat to world peace is obvious, but how to stop it...

Note: This is where it all starts for Dale Brown, the novel became wildly successful and spawned a long running series that continues to this day. The copy I located is a later reprint to mark the release of the 1992 computer game 'Megafortress', which simulated the aircraft featured in the novel, the B-52I 'Megafortress' (Redesignated the EB-52 in later novels...) and featured not only a scenario based on the novel, but ones set during Bush the Elder's War (Persian Gulf, 1990 - 1991). Two later add-ons followed, the second of which was based on the novel 'Sky Masters' (1991) which I've covered earlier in this thread. There is no specific dating information in the story, which when the story came out it was set the 'Day after Tomorrow'. However when the author wrote a sequel to the novel, 'Night of the Hawk' (1992), the opening chapter of the sequel reveals that the events in 'Flight of the Old Dog' take place in 1988.

The basic plot was based off long running fears that the Soviets had perfected ground based directed energy ASAT weapons, which at the end of the 1970s had inspired the novel 'Poseidon's Shadow' (1979) by A. P. Kobryn. Those fears were rather ironically based on misinterpretation of the byproducts of the testing of the RD-0410 nuclear thermal rocket engine as being from the tests of charged particle weapons. There is at least one similar mis-identification in the book, when the author describes the AS-12 (More correctly the AS-10 'Karen'.) missile as being a Soviet copy of the AGM-84 Harpoon.

 

[Graham1973]

Ian MacKintosh, Warship, 1973

United Kingdom

HMS Hero (F42)
Leander Class Class Frigate
Details as per the real ships.

RFA Wave Gallant
Wave Class Oiler
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Since 2003 a new Wave Class has come into existence. This ship is a member of the earlier class, members of which served between 1944 and 1974.

Plot summary: Following an air crash in the Caribbean sea, a Royal Navy frigate takes the survivors to the nearest island, where there is a hospital with an excellent reputation. On arrival they find themselves at the center of an election campaign rapidly turning violent.

Note: 'Warship' was the name of a popular British naval TV series that ran from 1973 to 1977, this novel is the first of three spin-off stories released while the series was on air. As far as I've been able to tell the story is not based on any of the aired episodes. There is no specific dating information in the novel and so the story most likely takes place either the year the novel came out or a year later.

 

[Graham1973]

Terence Strong, Deadwater Deep, 1998

United States

USS Manta
Covert Operations Minisub (Program Designation is Secure Clandestine Underwater Basing Apparatus (SCUBA))
4 crew + 16 Special Ops personnel.
Authors description:
"...first impression was of a sort of black underwater flying saucer... ...rather than being perfectly symmetrical, it was a teardrop-shape which tapered towards the stern. ...wide stabilizing 'wings' running the full length of each side of the craft gave it an uncanny resemblance to a manta ray. There was no obvious conning-tower or fin...Just a four-foot smooth hump amidships from which twin masts protruded."
Weight: 60 tonnes
Beam: 45ft (13.72m)
Draught: 19ft (5.8m)
Length: Unspecified.
Propulsion: Water-Jets. Power is supplied by fuel-cells.
Electronics: Sonar, GPS, mast mounted visual/ELINT sensors.
Hull is covered in anechoic tiles.
Armament: Stingray Torpedoes & decoys in two 'Magnum' systems mounted fore and aft. Each system is a rotating magazine (How many weapons/decoys are carried are not specified.), however only two torpedoes/decoys can be fired from either end at a time.
Carries a 15ft (4.6m) long, 8ft (2.44m) wide inflatable stealth submersible dubbed 'The Phantom' in a storage compartment between the inner and outer hull.
Carrier is USS Rhode Island (SSBN-740), which has been modified with the necessary attachments.
Note: The submarine is a systems test prototype that has been placed into active service for this project.

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)
Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier
Real ship, details as in service.

China (People's Republic)

Various Unnamed warships.

Plot summary: It is the late 1990s. China's increasingly aggressive moves at sea have become a concern for the United States and the United Kingdom, so a plan is put into motion to counteract them. But in the rush to get things going, something important is forgotten...

 

[Graham1973]

Dale Brown & Jim DeFelice, Dreamland: Pirahna, 2003

United States

USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)
Blue Ridge Class Amphibious Command Ship
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Independence (CV-62)
Forrestal Class Aircraft Carrier
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)
Kitty Hawk Class Aircraft Carrier
Real ship, details as in service.

'Pirahna'
Experimental Unmanned Underwater Vehicle.
Described as looking like "...an oversized torpedo with extra sets of fins on the front and rear."
Fitted with nose mounted sensors including, optical, thermal and current sensors in addition to passive sonar. Capable of tracking targets up to 75km from the UUV.
Speed: 50 knots (Max), 36 knots (Cruise), propulsion system is designed to be extremely low noise at all speeds.
Powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.
Product of joint USAF/USN program to apply technologies developed for USAF drones to aquatic applications. Can be controlled from aircraft using relay buoys.

China (Peoples Republic)

Shangi-Ti
Aircraft Carrier, class not specified
Tonnage: 20,000 tons (Fully laden)
Length: "...a little less..." than 700ft
Aircraft: 12 x Su-33s (Chinese copies of the Russian Su-33), 4 x Harbin Z-9 and at least one SH-3 Sea King fitted with British Thorn EMI Searchwatcher radar (E.g. a US Helicopter fitted with a British radar. Functionally equivalent to the British Sea King AEW.2)
Ramped flight deck, catapults and arrester wires are fitted.

T'ien
Same unspecified class as Shangi-Ti
See above for details.

The book makes three size comparisons, when the ships are first mentioned they are described as being half the size of a Kuznetsov (Pr.1143.5) Class Aircraft Carrier (Specifically the Mao Zedong (See: 'Shadows of Steel' (1996).) and similar in size to the British Majestic Class Aircraft Carriers and to the American Wasp Class LHD.
No other specifics are provided regarding the ships. I'm not sure if they appear in later books.

Unnamed
Various Cruisers & Destroyers and two submarines described as "...Trafalgar clones..."

India

Shiva
Kilo (Pr. 877) Class Submarine (Modified)
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Modifications are only vaguely described, but include, updated batteries and sensors along with automation to allow the submarine to be run with less crew than the standard members of the class. The conning tower is described as being more like that of the Russian Akula (Pr. 971) Class Submarines.
The submarine is equipped with an Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) radio receiver.
In addition to the standard torpedo armament the submarine carries a number of Kali missiles. These are launched from the torpedo tube, travel underwater for 4-5 miles (6.4-8 km) before rising to just above the surface until the target is reached. Missile is initially launched at a set of co-ordinates, switching to radar guidance at a distance of 5 miles (8 km) from the target.

Plot summary: The year is 1997 (The plot runs between August 17th to August 31st of that year.). Tensions between China and India following a failed attempt by the People's Republic to annex Taiwan earlier in the year (Covered in the novel 'Fatal Terrain' (1997)), which will be covered by this thread at some point in the future.) have reached the boiling point. While the US is neutral in the resulting clashes, the opportunity is taken to test out a new ocean surveillance system and gain intelligence on any new systems deployed by the two powers. What they find points to someone else watching the fighting and they're interested in more than watching...

Note: The 'Dreamland' series which Dale Brown writes in collaboration with Jim DeFelice runs parallel to the main line of Brown's novels. As with the main series, some of the earliest novels are not available as eBooks. While an aviation dominated series, some interesting naval hardware turns up from time to time.

 

[Graham1973]

Michael Kilian, Deepkill, 2005

United States

Coast Guard

USCGC Manteo (WPB-?)
Island Class Cutter
Details as per the real ships.

USCGC Sentinel
Coast Guard Cutter, class not specified
Carries: 1 x MH-68A 'Sting Ray' Helicopter (Militarized Augusta AW109) (Armament: 1 x M240 Machine gun 1 x Robar RC-50 sniper rifle.), 1 x 26ft inflatable boat (Speed: 30 knots)
Armed with "...cannon and machine guns..."
No other details provided.
Note: Mentioned in a characters backstory in the first few chapters of the novel. Does not appear in this story.

Plot summary: It is the early years of the 21st Century. Following a failed attempt to bomb the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the hunt is on for those responsible. The search uncovers another hunt, this one by a retired USAF pilot looking for two nuclear bombs, lost off the Delaware coast in 1967 and deliberately covered up at the time...

Note: This novel was probably intended as the first book in a series built around the character of Erik Westman, a Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) agent, that was aborted because the author died only a few months after the novel came out. No specific dates are given, but various references in the novel suggest that it is set in the period between 2002 - 2008. What is really striking though is that the author does not mention the events of the 11th of September, 2001 until about halfway through the novel, and even then in a very low key way.

 

[Graham1973]

Harry Rubin, Chasing Pirates, 2006

USS Mantis (aka SV Mantis)
Q-Ship (Converted yacht)
Length: 61ft (18.6m)
Steel Hull
Sloop rigged, auxiliary diesel engine. (Speed: Approx 10 knots)
Main Armament: 2 x M2-HB .50 cal MG (Concealed mounts). Crew armament consists of 2 x M-1 Garand Rifles, 2 x M3A1 SMGs, 6 x M1911 handguns & 2 x M79 Grenade launchers
Crew: 6 (5 men, 1 woman)
Note: The interior has been extensively modified to fit the two machine guns and two video cameras needed to provide proof that the Somali pirates fired first. Also carried are a ten person life raft (The navy originally planned the mission around a ten person crew.) and a 12ft long motorized dinghy (25hp motor). Electronics fitted include commercial radar and GPS.

USNS Geiger (T-AKR-???)
Watson Class Vehicle Cargo Ship
Details as per the real ships.
Note: The author does not specifically identify the class. However the limited details he provides indicate the ship is of this class.

USS Darby (DDG-??)
Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Given that this is 2006, this is most likely an Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer, however the author simply refers to the ship as a 'destroyer' and provides no specifics.

USS Gonzalez (DDG-66)
Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Vincennes (CG-49)
Ticonderoga Class Cruiser
Real ship, details as in service.

USS Cape St. George (CG-71)
Ticonderoga Class Cruiser
Real ship, details as in service.

Non State

Unnamed
Motorized Dhow
Armament: 1 x 75mm howitzer (Bow), small arms
No other details provided.
Operated by Somali Pirates.

Unnamed
Several Pirate skiffs.
Operated by Somali Pirates.

Plot summary: The year is 2006. With evidence that piracy off the Somali coast is starting to get worse, a plan is drawn up to try and discourage them.

Note: Dating the story is fairly easy, the Somali Pirate attack on two US warships on the 18th of March, 2006 is reported to the heroes as they start off on their journey towards Somali waters.

 

[Graham1973]

Dale Brown, Night of the Hawk, 1992

Valley Mistress
Salvage Ship (AGI)
Helipad
Equipped to carry a DSRV, at present the DSRV hangar is being used a CV-22 Osprey PAVE HAMMER
Equipped to gather ELINT.
No other details provided
Ship is nominally civilian owned but registered to the US Navy Ready Reserve Fleet.
Note: This ship also appears in the later novel 'Shadows of Steel' (1996) which is set in 1997.

For the Aircraft Mavens

CV-22 PAVE HAMMER
Tilt-Rotor Aircraft
Crew: 3 + 8 Passengers (Soldiers, special ops troops, etc)
Armament: 1 x 20mm Hughes Chain Gun (Pod mounted), 12 x Stinger Missiles (Pod Mounted), the pods are mounted on 'outriggers', but which pod is on which side is not specified. Both weapons pods are steerable using helmet mounted controls similar to those in the Apache helicopter.
Note: This is a Special Ops variant of the V-22 Osprey. In this novel it is stated that there are six such aircraft and that they were 'hidden' in the appropriation of 60 V-22s for the Border Security Force (aka Hammerheads), which is covered in the novel 'Hammerheads' (1990) in this thread.

Plot summary: It is the early 1990s (The story runs between 29 November 1991 & 13 April 1992). The Soviet Union has collapsed, but the precarious independence of the Baltic States is still under threat. US Intelligence has uncovered evidence that one former Soviet facility, working on a stealth bomber may have had help from someone who believed to have been killed during the operation to destroy a Soviet ASAT laser (Covered in the novel 'Flight of the Old Dog' (1987).). A special mission has been sent in to discover the truth of this.

Note (Spoiler): This novel appears to have written as much to bring the authors first novel in line with his evolving universe as anything else. In the opening chapters it is revealed that 'Flight of the Old Dog' was set in 1988, rather than a nebulous 'near future', however this novel is simply set 'a few years' after 1988. The only clue as to when it is set is the reference to the events of 'Hammerheads' another of Dale Brown's novels with a somewhat hazy placing in time. It was not until the publication of 'Storming Heaven' (1994) that it was revealed that 'Hammerheads' was set in 1990 strongly suggesting that this novel was also set in 1990. The authors follow up 'Chains of Command' (1993) however included a scene where it was stated that the events that climax 'Night of the Hawk' took place in 1992, thus pinning the story down chronologically.

 

[Graham1973]

Taking a break from the post-WWII period with a comic book...

Anon., Danger Zone, published as Commando Comics Nº. 1353, 1979

Germany

Drachen
'Coast Defence Vessel'
No other details provided in the text. However going by the illustration the armament is 2 x 4.1 inch guns (Fore & Aft), plus two lighter gun weapons (37mm & 88mm) forward of the aft 4.1 inch gun and no visible torpedo tubes. Hood has suggested that the armament is specifically 2 x 1 4.1 inch guns (Fore and aft), the 88mm gun superfires over the aft 4.1 inch gun with a twin 37mm mount ahead of the 88mm gun.
Note: In overall appearance the ship appears to have loosely been based on the Type 37 Torpedo Boats (In service from 1941.) with an extra 4.1 inch gun forward and no torpedo tubes.

Unnamed
Two S-Boats
Details as per the real ships.

Great Britain

Unnamed
Destroyer.

Plot summary: Two friends explorations along the German coast before WWII stand them in good stead during WWII.

Note: This comic book is in fact a WWII set version of Erskine Childers 'The Riddle of the Sands' (1903), which I have covered earlier in the thread. The storyline hews very closely to the original plotline. The story itself runs from early 1939 to some months after the Dunkirk evacuation (eg 1940).

 

[Graham1973]

David Black, The Bonny Boy, 2019

United Kingdom

HMS Berkhamsted (ex-USS ?)
Town Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships

HMS Bedivere
B Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: Explicitly identified as a B Class Destroyer by the author.

HMS Calliope
Dido Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Name clashes with a Calypso Class Corvette launched in 1884, converted to a training ship in 1902 (Between 1915 - 1931, it was named HMS Helicon to avoid a name clash with the C Class Cruiser HMS Calliope.) and finally scrapped in 1953.

HMS Ellan Vannin
Submarine Depot Ship (12th Submarine Flotilla (Fictional Version))
Converted passenger ship
Note: Ex-Isle of Man Steam Packet Company ferry boat. No specifics are given but general characteristcs/appearance are probably similar to the five ships the company built in the period between 1927 - 1936. The name of the ship has only been used once by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, that ship was lost with all hands in 1909. In real life the 12th Submarine Flotilla was formed on the 17th of April 1943 to take control of the X-Boats.

HMS Maidstone
Submarine Depot Ship (8th Submarine Flotilla (Real Formation))
Real ship, details as in service.

HMS H-57
H Class Submarine
Note: See the novel 'Gone To Sea In A Bucket' (2015) for the details on this ship. This novel indicates she survived into 1942.

HMS Nonpareil
N Class Submarine (Fictional)
See the novel 'Turn Left For Gibraltar' (2017) for the class details.
Note: Name clashes with an N Class Destroyer transferred to Holland in 1942 as the HNLMS Tjerk Hiddes and an Algerine Class Minsweeper whose construction was cancelled shortly after it started in 1944.

HMS Niobe
N Class Submarine (Fictional)
See the novel 'Turn Left For Gibraltar' (2017) for the class details.

HMS Safari (P211)
S Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service.

HMS Scourge
S Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Name clash with S Class Destroyer in launched in December 1942 and in service from July 1943 to February 1946. It also clashes with HMAS Scourge, a fictional N Class Destroyer created by author J. E. MacDonnell. An S Class Submarine of the same name appears in the 1943 set novel 'The Gatecrashers' (1984) by Alexander Fullerton.

HMS Sepoy
S Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Name clashes with a Auk Class Minesweeper launched in 1943 and immediately taken into US service as USS Dextrous (AM-341).

HMS P268
S Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: The submarine in the novel is destroyed by German bombing in 1942 before it is completed. In real life HMS Sprightly (P268) was ordered in 1943 and construction was cancelled at the end of the war.

HMS Tenacious
T Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships
Note: Name clashes with a T Class Destroyer commissioned in October 1943.

HMS Trinity
T Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships

HMS Turbid
T Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.

Italy

Capella
Spica Class Torpedo Boat
Details as per the real ships

Procyon
Spica Class Torpedo Boat
Details as per the real ships

Unnamed
Various MAS Boats and Armed Trawlers

Germany

Atilla
Tank Transporter
4000 tons
Speed: 15 knots
No other details provided.

Plot summary: The year is 1942. The Hero, in command of his own submarine at last learns the most important lesson of all, some of the people out to get you wear the same uniform you do.

Note (Spoilers): The story runs between May and late 1942 (Operation Torch occurs in this novel.). It's nice to read a series in which the author is not afraid to have the hero make mistakes from time to time. It will be interesting to read the next novel in the series when it comes out, especially as the conflict mentioned so heavily in the online blurb does not take place until the last pages of the novel.

 

[Graham1973]

Anon., The Survivor, published as Commando Comics Nº. 1376, 1979

United Kingdom

HMS Fairfield
Armed Merchant Cruiser
Armament: 2 x 6 inch guns (Mounted fore and aft), other armament not specified
Speed: 15 knots (max)
No other details provided.
Note: Typical Armed Merchant Cruisers of the Second World War had a main battery armament of 8 x 6 inch guns mounted four a side.

HMS Poden
Parthian (P) Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Class assignment based on name only.

Germany

SS Austerlitz (aka SS Nordenfelt)
Oiler
Armament: 1 x 37mm Flak 43 AA gun mounted aft. (Single weapon mount.)
No other details provided
Note: When first encountered the tanker is disguised as a Swedish vessel. It is also being used as a prison ship for ships crew captured by the raider.

Kallheim
Deutschland Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships.

Unnamed
Armed Merchant Ship (Commerce Raider)
No other details provided.

Plot summary: Another German raider has slipped into the sea-lanes and the race is on to keep the damage to convoys to the minimum.

 

[Graham1973]

Carl Rackman, Jonah, 2017

United Kingdom (1940)

HMS Venator
'Destroyer', class not specified
Main battery: 4 inch guns in four turrets (A, B, X & Y)
No other details provided.

United States (1945)

USS Brownlee (DD-???)
Fletcher Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships that surrendered one bank of torpedo tubes for extra anti-aircraft guns.

USS Mattersley (DD-???)
Allen M. Sumner Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: The author does not provide any more details on this ship other than it is of a 'newer class' than the USS Brownlee. In the authors note at the end of the book, the author states he based the Kamikaze attack in which this ship appears on one involving a Fletcher Class/Allen M. Sumner Class pairing making this identification reasonably secure.

USS Rescue (AH-18)
Hospital Ship (Converted passenger liner.)
Real ship, details as in service.

Germany (1940)

Unnamed
U-Boat, type not specified
No other details provided.

Plot summary: The year is 1945 (The main story runs between the 18th of April & 20th of May of that year. The first chapter takes place in 1940), following a devastating Kamikaze attack a badly damaged destroyer is patched up and sent home for repairs. On the way home the crew is pursued by madness as the ghosts of the past stalk the crew, one man is unaffected, but can he find the cause in time, or is he the cause...

Note (Spoiler): While I completed the book, I kept thinking of another (Non-warship) novel by Brian Callison, 'The Auriga Madness' (1980) (And one reviewer on Amazon was reminded of Herman Melville's 'Moby-Dick' (1851).) as I was reading it. While this is not necessarily a problem, I was able to figure out just what was going on a lot sooner than the characters were able to, which did lessen the enjoyment, when the 'big reveal' took place it simply confirmed that I had put the clues together correctly. I also think the opening 1940 chapter was not necessary, the story actually works better without it.

I also have some problems with the way in which the author sets up his climax, it felt rather contrived.

 

[Graham1973]

A break from our regular programming...

Thomas E. Mulkey, Matt Renner & Loren K. Wiseman, Twilight 2000: Gateway to the Spanish Main, 1987

Non-State

USS Constitution (Replica)
Details as to dimensions exactly the same as the original ship
Engines: 2 x 450hp Caterpillar Diesel Engines, the exhaust is released via the ships mizzen-mast which is hollow and made of steel. By 2000 the engines have been converted to run on alcohol.
Speed: Diesel (12 knots), Max reached under sail (15 knots)
Has been constructed of wood, using as close to historic techniques as 1980s H & S regs would allow.
Armament (Post '97): 30 x M2HB Machine Guns (Mounted on the gun deck (15 a side, they fire through the gunports.)) and a 20mm PIVAD (Gatling Gun) on the quarterdeck.
Owned by the fictional Paradox Studio (Though by 2000 this is probably moot.).

History (Summarized): The ship was constructed in 1987 for use in a film, by the 1990s she was being used as a mobile filming location for a sit-com entitled 'Darwin was a Monkey's Uncle' (Think of the kind of sit-coms coming out of America in the late 1980s/early 1990s and you should get the idea...), when the nuclear exchange occurred in 1997, the ship was well clear of any of the danger areas, but the crew rapidly realized the situation they were in. The armament was obtained by fair means & foul so as to protect themselves from seaborne marauders. By 2000 the ship is getting closer to the continental United States and the crew are hoping to find out what happened to their families and homes.

Note: The ship above was probably inspired by the two replicas of HMS Bounty built in 1960 & 1978 for filming purposes, the fictional history comes closest to that of the 1960 ship, which sank in 2012 during Hurricane Sandy.

Loren K. Wiseman, Twilight 2000 (The Last Submarine Trilogy (3): Boomer), 1989

Russia

Barrikada
Typhoon Class Submarine
Launched: 21st October, 1996
Commissioned: 21st January, 1997 (Approx date. The book states that commissioning happened three months after launch.)
Details as per the real ships

Note: The role-playing game (R-PG) 'Twilight 2000' was published by GDW in 1984 and assumed that WWIII broke out in 1995 as a Sino-Soviet conflict with NATO supplying the Chinese. East & West Germany cook up a 'reunification' deal that spreads the conflict into Europe by 1996. The nukes don't start flying until summer 1997. By 2000 there is a 'peace' more due to exhaustion as both sides turn to focus on long term survival than any diplomatic move.

The R-PG was land based and these two ships are the only major fictional warships to appear in the published material I know of at this time.

 

[Graham1973]

Continuing the break in our regular service.

Adam Geibel, A Rock in Troubled Waters (Challenge Magazine, Issue 42, Pgs 4 - 12), 1990

United States (Navy)

USS Hyman Rickover (ex-Gazela)
Armed Barquentine
Length: 177ft (54m)
Beam: 26ft (7.9m)
Draught: 17ft(5.2m)
Armament: 1 x 3"/50cal gun (Mounted between the Fore & Mainmast), 2 x 0.5 inch M2HB MGs (Pintle mounts amidships), 2 x Mk19 Automatic Grenade Launchers (Pintle mounts fore & aft.) & 2 x 81mm Mortars (Amidships)
Note: The Gazela is a real preserved sailing ship (Wikipedia: Barquentine Gazela). In the games setting the ship was taken into US Navy service in 1997, initially as a coastal supply vessel, but as the situation worsened it was further modified to take on a combat role. The ships diesel engine has been converted to use alcohol as fuel. The ships name clashes in the real world with USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-709) a Los Angeles Class Submarine in service 1984 - 2006 and USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-795) A Virginia Class Submarine that is under construction as of the date of this post.

USS Bigelow (DD-942)
Forrest Sherman Class Destroyer.
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: The Forrest Sherman Class were decommissioned in 1988. In the game, the surviving members of the class were re-activated at the start of 1997. The USS Bigelow is one of three surviving members of the class in 2001.

USS Confidence (WMEC-619)
Reliance Class Cutter
Real ship, details as in service.
Armament has been modified and now includes 1 x 76mm gun (Added in the early 1990s replacing the original bow gun) & 2 x 40mm Mk19 Automatic Grenade Launchers. Other armament is unspecified.
Note: In the game setting, the US Coast Guard was completely absorbed into the US Navy at the start of active hostilities in 1996.

Unnamed
Several 'Monitors' (Converted LCM-6)
Details as to hull/propulsion as per the real ships (Note in this setting diesels have been converted to use alcohol as fuel.)
Armament: 2x 20mm Vulcan Cannon (Fwd, turreted mount, alternatively 1 x 20mm (or 25mm) cannon & 1 40mm Mk19 Automatic Grenade launcher.), 1 x 81mm mortar, 2 x 7.62mm mgs(either M60s or M240s) (Midships, 'bucket' mount.), 2 x 0.5 M2HB (Aft, turret mount, alternatively 1 x 40mm Mk19, 1 x M134 5.56mm Minigun).
Note: These are Vietnam style monitor conversions making use of whatever weapons can be scrounged up, all such craft are fitted with light armor. These ships typically have a crew of 10.

Note: See the previous post for details of the Twilight 2000 R-PG setting. GDW published a house magazine called Challenge that included support articles for their game settings. This article was designed to expand details of what had been going on in the continental United States during the war and tie together a number of published scenarios set there.

 

[Graham1973]

Resuming normal services...

T. J. Sedgwick, Overlord, 2015

HMS Intrepid
Intrepid Class Amphibious Assault Ship
2000 Royal Marines
65(+) UAVs split between the following configurations, Anti-Submarine, Recon, Search and Rescue, troop insertion, ground attack and air defence
No other details provided

HMS Orient
Intrepid Class Amphibious Assault Ship
Same details as HMS Intrepid.

For the aircraft mavens.

V-30B 'Dragonfly'
VTOL Transport
Described as: "...an armored twin-engine VTOL tilt-jet which had succeeded the V-22 'Osprey'.
Armament: SkyShield anti-MANPAD system (Israeli made.), unspecified cannon.
Speed: 0.9 Mach.

Plot summary: The year is 2045. The British Government has embarked on the project of creating a New Model Army based around teleoperator controlled robots. However as the project nears completion, disturbing evidence is uncovered about those charged with carrying it out, but is the suspected plan theirs, or someone else's...

 

[Graham1973]

Jeff Rovin, Tom Clancy's Op-Center: Sea of Fire, 2003

Australia

HMAS Suffolk (PTF-?)
Fremantle Class Patrol Boat
Details as per the real ships.
Note: In the novel the class name is misspelt as 'Freemantle Class'. The ship's name does not fit the class.

Plot summary: It is the 'Day after Tomorrow', an Australian patrol boat has recovered the survivor from a failed pirate attack. When it is found out that both he and the debris he was clinging to were radioactive, alarm bells ring, and a US Government crisis management organization is ordered to investigate just what it was the pirates stumbled across.

 

[Graham1973]

Just a quick note for any 'Aircraft Mavens' reading the thread, the entry for the novel 'The Capricorn Quadrant' (1990) by Charles Ryan has been updated to include the fictional Russian aircraft at the center of the plot.

 

[Graham1973]

Harry Rubin, The Counterfeit War, 2007

United States (Coast Guard)

USCGC Santa Catalina
Coast Guard Cutter, class not specified.
No other details provided

United States (Navy)

USS Summer Wind (aka SV Summer Wind)
Covert Ops Vessel (Converted Yacht)
Type: Catamaran
Length: 46ft (13.7m)
Beam: 24ft (7.3m)
Auxiliary Engines: 45hp diesels (1 in each hull)
Speed: 12 - 15 knots (Max on Diesels), 8knots (Cruising on diesels)
Crew: 10 (6 (Former crew USS Mantis.) + 4 Navy SEALS)
Electronics: Standard fitout for a yacht of this type. Adds secure communications equipment.
Armament: Limpet mines (Unspecified number), 4 x Flare guns modified so that they can be converted to single shot .45 pistols (The conversion kits are hidden in the engine compartments, the ammunition is concealed in specifically marked lifejackets.)
Note: This is a ship intended for a different kind of covert ops than the converted yacht in the authors previous novel ('Chasing Pirates' (2006)), also aboard are scuba gear and commercial diver propulsion vehicles modified for extra underwater stealth.). The yacht, which was built in Canada and is still registered in that country was seized as proceeds of crime (The previous owner forgot to declare his illegal earnings to the IRS.) and has been rented to the US Navy (At a cost of $1 per year.) for covert operations purposes.

Venezuela

Camello del Mar (ex-LCT 1367)
Landing Craft Tank
Standard details as per the ones constructed during WWII
History: Transferred from US Service to Venezuela in 1959. Notionally transferred from Venezuelan Navy to a company owned by the Venezuelan Government.
Armament: Small Arms.

Plot summary: The year is 2007. Venezuela's 'Maximum Leader' has come up with a plan to flood the Caribbean with counterfeit US currency. Only while being transported aboard ship to their destinations will the bills be vulnerable.

 

[Graham1973]

Charles Ryan, The Corregidor Tape, 1992

Australia

HMAS Wallangong (ex-USCGC ?)
Island Class Cutter (Modified) (Referred to in the novel as an Island Class 'Frigate')
Details as per the real ships
Armament: As per the real ships, adds 1 x RIM-72C Sea Chaparral launcher (See note below) and replaces the 25mm M242 Bushmaster with a 76mm OTO Melara gun.
Note: This is how the author describes the ships anti-air armament -

"Aboard her was the 'Hip Pocket' launch setup, which contained the rather outdated Chapparal launcher with passive engagement and infrared threat acquisition components and dual-mode Redeye missiles.

The Redeye, utilizing a passive radar and infrared guidance system could knock down an incoming cruise missile. But its range was limited to a ten-mile radar pickup, a thirty-thousand foot ceiling and it could only track incoming missiles traveling less than Mach 1.3 speed. It was also known to have a tendency to stray off its target."

After discussion with Hood, I've decided to indulge in editorial discretion as the missile description is much closer to the Sidewinder, than the FIM-43 Redeye MANPAD missile. I will also note that there is no town in Australia called 'Wallangong'.

Further the author seems to have had little real knowledge about Australia, the warship is named in the novel as ANS Wallangong (E.g. Australian Navy Ship), the leader of the Australian Federal Parliament is referred to as the 'premier' (The term used for the leader of a State parliament.) rather than the 'prime minister' or that the Royal Australian Airforce (Referred to in the novel as the 'Australian Airforce.') posessed BAe Harriers along with F/A-18 'Hornets' and that most Australian warships are not armed with surface-to-air weapons.

Non State

Green Tiger Triad

3 x LC-11's
Shallow draft assault boats
Length: 40ft
Draft: "...less than two feet..."
Armament: 1 x 2 0.5inch MG (Fwd) (Originally 1 x 2 0.5inch MG (Fwd), 1 x 40mm Mk 19 Automatic grenade laucher (aft). Aft gun replaced with extra fuel tanks by the current users.)
Engines: 2 x 450hp Big Bloc Chevy Engines
Speed (Max): 45knots
Note: Ex-US craft left in the Phillipines following the end of the Vietnam War, now used for drug smuggling by the Triad. Apparently a real craft used by Navy SEALS, but I've not been able locate any details. Editorial discretion has been used with the original armament. The author describes the aft weapon as a "...M-60 fixed, clip-linked, high-explosive gun..." which does not seem to be a real weapon.

Private Ownership

'PT Boat'
As per the WWII ships.
Rearmed with 2 x Mk 10 Torpedoes & 2 x 0.5 inch MGs
Note: Ex-USN vessel sold into private hands.

Plot summary: A major summit between the leaders of the United States, Russia & China is about to take place in a resort hotel anchored off the Queensland coast. A journalist stumbles across a plot to assassinate all three leaders at the conference. Chased by assassins working for the plotters she tries to alert the authorities, but blocked at every turn, has to resort to extraordinary measures to reach the conference site in time.

Overall, while the novel is an exciting chase scenario, the authors clear mistakes and apparent lack of research distract the reader from the action.

 

[Graham1973]

R. Cameron Cooke, Wolfpack 351, 2019

United States

USS Aenid (SS-???)
V Boat
Details as per the real ships of the Narwhal/Nautilus subgroup.
Note: Identical to USS Narwhal (SS-167) & USS Nautilus (SS-168)

Wolfpack 351

USS Blueback (SS-326)
Balao Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service
Note: In real life the ship commissioned in August of 1944. In the novel the ship is in service by the start of 1943

USS Sea Dog (SS-401)
Balao Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service
Note: In real life the ship commissioned in June of 1944. In the novel the ship is in service by the start of 1943

USS Finback (SS-230)
Gato Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service.
Note: In real life the ship commissioned in January of 1942 and was operating off Taiwan and the Marshall islands in April of 1943. In the novel she is operating in the Sea of Japan during this time period.

USS Pintado (SS-387)
Balao Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service
Note: In real life the ship commissioned in January of 1944. In the novel the ship is in service by the start of 1943.

Note: US Wolfpack tactics were built around three submarine groups, not four submarine groups. The first wolfpack was organized in October 1943, not prior to April 1943 as in the novel.

Japan

Hamakaze
Kagerō Class Destroyer
Real ship, details as in service
Note: In real life the ship was serving in the Solomon Islands Campaign during the period the novel is set. She was sunk during the attempt by the Yamato to attack the Okinawa beach heads in 1945. In the novel the ship has spent the first few years of the war in Japanese home waters and is sunk before the end of 1943.

Unnamed
Various Destroyers & Kaibōkan

Plot summary: The year is 1943 (The novel starts on the 28th of April finishes around a month or so later.). A daring US operation to insert submarines into the Sea of Japan has resulted in the four submarines making up Wolfpack 351 becoming trapped by vengeful Japanese forces. The only slim chance the submarines have to escape is if the Japanese forces can be diverted to another target, a task that will place the submarine carrying out the diversion in extreme danger if something goes wrong.

Note: As in the authors novel 'Dive Beneath The Sun' (2016), which I have covered earlier in this thread, he has resorted to altering the histories of real ships to populate his fiction, something which he mentions in his end notes without explaining why he does this.

 

[Graham1973]

Dale Brown, Leadership Material, published in Combat, Stephen Coonts (ed.), 2001

United States

USS Percheron (CGN-???)
California Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships
Note: Name does not fit the class naming scheme, being that of a breed of draft horse. The author explicitly identifies it as a member of the California Class.

For the aircraft mavens (Spoilers)

Iran

TU-160E 'Blackjack' (Fictional)
Bomber
Manufacturer: Tupolev/Kazan Aircraft Production Association
Nation: Soviet Union/Russia (Aircraft has been sold to Iran, two Russian instructors form part of the crew.)
Crew: 5 (Pilot (Iranian), Co-Pilot (Russian Instructor), Bombardier (Iranian), Defensive Systems Officer (Iranian) + 1 Russian instructor making use of a jump seat.)
Speed: As per the real aircraft
Avionics: In addition to the standard avionics of the real aircraft, the plane is fitted with, enhanced ECM systems and a multi-spectral phased array radar mounted in the forward bomb bay, the emitters are mounted in fairings above and below the forward bomb bay.
Engines: 4 x Kuznetsov NK-32 (Real engines, modified to reduce radar reflection from the compressor blades inside the engines.)
Wings: Variable-Geometry
Armament: "...any weapon in the Soviet arsenal from dumb bombs to multi-megatonne gravity weapons and cruise missiles..." (For the first mission in the story the armament is 6 x Kh-29 (AS-14 'Kedge') missiles carried externally. For the second mission the armament is: 12 x Kh-15 (AS-16 'Kickback') missiles carried in a rotary launcher in the aft bomb bay, 2 x Kh-29 (AS-14 'Kedge') & 8 x R-40 (AA-6 'Acrid) missiles carried externally.)
Description: To the standard TU-160 'Blackjack' the following changes have been made: "...a low slender V-tail made of composite materials... most of the skin not exposed to high level heat in supersonic flight was composed of radar absorbent materials. " (See also the 'Avionics' & 'Engines' section for other changes.)

Note: This is a Soviet/Russian attempt to match the capabilities of the B-52I/EB-52 'Megafortress'. Only one aircraft was modified in this way before the Soviet Union was dissolved and desperate for funds the Russians have sold the plane to Iran.

Plot summary: The year is 1991 (The story takes place in March of that year.), Bush the Elder's War has just ended, but an American warship entering the Persian Gulf has been struck by missiles whose fragments bore Iraqi markings, has Saddam Hussein found a source of new firepower, or has someone else decided to enter the game...

Note: When the first two novels in the 'Megafortress' series 'Flight of the Old Dog' (1987) & 'Sky Masters' (1991) were released the series jumped the events of the Gulf War (1990 - 1991) although the computer game based on the first novel did include a campaign based around this conflict. This short story is an attempt to fill in that gap in the series.