Book Description
It was the most spectacular display of brinkmanship in the Cold War era. In October 1962, President Kennedy risked inciting a nuclear war to prevent the Soviet Union from establishing missile bases in Cuba. The risk, however, was far greater than Kennedy realized.
October Fury uncovers startling information about the Cuban missile crisis and the potentially calamitous confrontation between U.S. Navy destroyers and Soviet submarines in the Atlantic. Peter Huchthausen, who served as a junior ensign aboard one of the destroyers, reveals that a single shot fired by any U.S. warship could have led to an immediate nuclear response from the Soviet submarines. As absorbing and detailed as a Tom Clancy novel, this real-life suspense thriller is destined to become a classic of naval literature.
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"Huchthausen knows the hidden history of the Cuban missile crisis . . . October Fury contains startling revelations." -- TOM CLANCY Drama on the high seas as the world holds its breath It was the most spectacular display of brinkmanship in the Cold War era. In October 1962, President Kennedy risked inciting a nuclear war to prevent the Soviet Union from establishing missile bases in Cuba. The risk, however, was far greater than Kennedy realized. October Fury uncovers startling new information about the Cuban missile crisis and the potentially calamitous confrontation between U.S. Navy destroyers and Soviet submarines in the Atlantic. Peter Huchthausen, who served as a junior ensign aboard one of the destroyers, reveals that a single shot fired by any U.S. warship could have led to an immediate nuclear response from the Soviet submarines. This riveting account re-creates those desperate days of confrontation from both the American and Russian points of view and discloses detailed information about Soviet operational plans and the secret orders given to submarine commanders. It provides an engrossing, behind-the-scenes look at the technical and tactical functions of two great navies along with stunning portraits of the officers and sailors on both sides who were determined to do their duty even in the most extreme circumstances. As absorbing and detailed as a Tom Clancy novel, this real-life suspense thriller is destined to become a classic of naval literature.
Customer Reviews:
Submarine Down.......2006-08-02
Very well written and engrossing. Contained insights I did not know prior to reading the book.
Good, Fast Reading Marred by Defects: 2.......2006-05-30
"October Fury" is set against the Cuban Missile Crisis in the Fall of 1962. This was when the United States was supposedly "eyeball to eyeball" with the Soviet Union over Russian missiles in Cuba. Author Huchthausen was a crewmember of the USS "Blandy", which assisted the U.S. Naval blockade of that Caribbean island. He extensively interviewed sailors from both Russian and U.S. ships involved in the deployments. Readers will receive a definite grasp for the prevailing undertones in both navies. One lesson is crystal clear: The Russian Navy was a paper tiger, though few U.S. citizens were aware of that fact at the time. Russian subs were in poor mechanical shape and not ready for a protracted siege with a superior foe. Russian rules of engagement were so onerous that the firing of any shots was very unlikely. Actual command of vessels seemed divided between the skipper and the political officer aboard. In OF, Soviet commanders are portrayed as quite responsible, solid and capable naval professionals who cared for the welfare of their crews. They appear as the polar opposite of war mongers. Their true conflict appears to have been between they and their hidebound higher-ups back in Mother Russia. OF capably paints a small picture of that halcyon crisis which probably did not exist. The big geo-political picture has been portrayed elsewhere, perhaps by those driven to burnish President Kennedy's image for posterity. A popular viewpoint is that Premier Khrushchev of Russia dismantled the Cuban missiles when JFK secretly did the same to our weapons in eastern Turkey. (As a side note, this reviewer is still appalled by the rudeness and disrespect that Chief of Naval Operations Anderson showed Defense Secretary McNamara. That guy should have been sacked!). The 3 star rating above results from a reduction in rank due to the appalling (!) inadequacy of the so-called maps. Also, there is no glossary for the plethora of Navy slang. Who makes these decisions to omit? Why are are authors-or more likely, publishers-so remiss? Repair of these defects in future printings would elevate "October Fury" to a more deserving permanent rank of 5 stars. The foregoing is a virtual mirror review of this observer's thoughts on Mr. Huchthausen's "Shadow Voyage", which was plagued by the identical drawbacks. Potential readers are forewarned!
Terribly elitist, poorly researched........2006-04-25
I purchased this book and really looked forward to it. I was on board the USS Lowry, DD770 during the Cuban Missile Crisis and I can't tell you how disappointed I was in this book. You could tell immediately the author was an officer and had little or no knowledge of how a destroyer actually runs (which is rather typical of destroyer officers). His portrayals of the enlisted men were demeaning. I can't speak about the other ships that were there, but his knowledge of what we went through is distorted and factually wrong. For instance, the Lowry was the only ship in the Atlantic Fleet in the area that had a Variable Depth Sonar (VDS) rig on it. And yet he notes that another ship had it too. This is easy enough to document, it is in the Lowry's history posted on the Net for all to see. We were also one of the ships that brought up a nuclear sub and in fact had several ship's bands playing Midnight In Moscow as we circled that sub.
I was in the gun director and had loaded guns pointed at the bridge of a Soviet freighter that was approaching too closely and was prepared to fire at Captain Carpenter's order. I believe that incident was distorted in the book too. Aside from the Captain, the best officers stood back and let us run and fight the ship and I am sure it was the same on the rest of the destroyers. One more point: I never heard an enlisted man say "fooking". And I did check my facts before writing this review. It never ceases to amaze me how many really poor books get published, but this is a perfect example.
Just how close it really was...........2004-01-22
This book is a very detailed account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as told by both the Russian submariners tasked to get through to Cuba and the American destroyers bent on stopping them. In 1962, the decision was made to station both land based nuclear missiles and nuclear armed bomber, as well as SSB submarines armed with nuclear missiles in Cuba. The land based portion, dubbed Operation Anadyr, would use cargo ships to deploy the land based missiles, bomber and troops. The Naval operation, Kama, was to be initiated by four Soviet Project 641 Foxtrot diesel attack submarines, sailing from the Kola peninsula bound for Cuba. These would act as an advanced guard, to be followed by seven Project 629 Golf class balistic missile submarines, each carrying three nuclear tipped missiles. The plan was for these submarines to be based out of Cuba, where they could threaten the southern US. Just prior to departure, each of the Foxtrot submarines received, in addition to their normal torpedo loads, one 10 kiloton T-5 nuclear torpedo. Admiral Gorshkov's orders were "You will use these weapons if American forces attack you submerged or force your units to the surface and the attack...." The fate of the world was thereby placed in the hands of four Russian submarine commanders.
The book skillfully weaves the ensuing tale, alternating the Soviet submariner's stories with the American destroyer's ASW pursuits as the crisis progresses. A showdown in which USS Blandy drops small charges to force one of the submarines, B-130, to surface, leads to frustration for the submarine captain. He therefore orders loading and flooding, in preparation for firing, of the torpedo tube with the T-5 nuclear warhead. Fortunately, cooler heads prevail upon the captain to back down.
Although overall a good read, I had a few minor quibbles. The author uses interviews to reconstruct conversations, and the places them in quotes. In fact it is highly unlikely that those represent the actual words spoken, as quotes imply. He also has tow Russian attaches taking the train to Boston in order to observe the submarines at the New London sub base when the train stops in New London. In fact, Electric Boat is visible across the river, but the submarine base and piers are not at all visible from the train. The closest approach of the train is on the bridge over the Thames River, still some distance, with the sub base some 3 miles away.
Nonetheless, this book lends new insights into just how close the world really came to disaster during that alarming time in history. The author was on board one of the American destroyers, USS Blandy, assigned to the USS Essex task force group, and thus tells tale that from a first hand perspective.
A needed voice of sanity.......2003-03-02
I bought this book because I was offended by the hype on the dust cover, which presented it as another Kennedy Court History in which the Cuban Missile Crisis is made to sound even more scary than it really was. It was a pleasant surprise to read a balanced account of Soviet submarine operations during the Crisis, which refutes many of the exaggerated claims still being made about the possibility of unauthorized use of tactical nukes. We learn that Soviet nuclear torpedos were escorted by armed KGB officers who actually slept on top of the weapons, and the Rules of Engagement were so onerous that a sub would have to be actually sinking before one could be fired. Just to be safe, the sub crews were given no training on the nukes and were kept ignorant of their capabilities. This isn't too surprising when one considers that a military coup was always the secret nightmare of communist govenments. If the tactical nukes assigned to Soviet Army units in Cuba were under similar restrictions, it is hard to see how they could ever have been fired -- the nightmare scenario still being cited by Robert MacNamara to justify the Kennedys' secret treaty with Khrushchev.
Another revelation is the very poor mechanical performance of the Soviet subs which suffered an appalling series of engine breakdowns. From the limited details given in this book, it appears that many of these failures were due to mistakes by poorly trained engineering personnel. (Fatigue due to the intense tropical heat and humidity may be a factor also.) Since these subs had specially selected crews and were just out of refit, the mind boggles at what the average Soviet diesel boat must have been like in 1962. Had Khrushchev actually proceeded with his plan to base Golf-class missile subs permanently in Cuba, the result could only have been utter disaster. The more we learn about the Soviet side of the Missile Crisis, the more it looks like the most badly planned and implemented military operation of all time.
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The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #40 October 1985
Gerry Conway
Manufacturer: DC Comics
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: B000RNLO82 |
Product Description
"Graduation Day..."
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Captain America/Nick Fury: The Otherworld War Vol. 1 October 2001
Peter Hogan
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
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ASIN: B000RE4ETM |
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The Otherworld War!
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- A wonderful account
- HISTORY LITE
- Highly Recommended
- An excellent survey of fantastic 19th century engineering
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Dreams of Iron and Steel: Seven Wonders of the Nineteenth Century, from the Building of the London Sewers to the Panama Canal
Deborah Cadbury
Manufacturer: Fourth Estate
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0007163061
Release Date: 2004-01-06 |
Book Description
A world that had changed little from the Middle Ages was altered beyond recognition by the engineering genius of the nineteenth century:rivers tamed, oceans pacified, continents bridged. In Dreams of Iron and Steel, acclaimed historian Deborah Cadbury tells the heroic tale of the visionaries and ordi-nary workers who brought to life seven wonders of engi-neering that still have the power to awe and inspire us today.
From the London sewers that banished cholera to the Panama Canal that shaved thousands of miles off a dangerous sea passage, from the Hoover Dam that diverted the world's most unpredictable river to give power to over half of the country to the transcontinental railroad that fulfilled the dream of manifest destiny, Dreams of Iron and Steel reveals the epic struggles and personal stories of the most brilliant pioneers of the industrial age, and the financiers and politicians who hung on for the ride as fortunes and reputations were lost and won.
Fueled by Deborah Cadbury's characteristic scholarship and insight, this extraordinary chronicle re-createsthe human odyssey of how our modern world was forged -- with rivets, grease, and steam, but also with blood, sweat, and extreme imagination.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful account.......2004-05-19
A wonderful and original account, with several small flaws. First the Hoover dam wasn?t completed until 1936, hardly making it fair to combine with the other feats. It would have been better to add the Suez canal or Moscow Metro in its place. Perhaps the building and designing of Brasilia would have been acceptable as well. Nevertheless this is a fun action packed account of many extraordinary accomplishments. An enjoyable read.
Seth J. Frantzman
HISTORY LITE.......2004-05-19
DREAMS OF IRON AND STEEL is a serving of History Lite. It is the written form of a BBC television series, subtitled "Seven Wonders of the Nineteenth Century". The subtitle is symptomatic of what is wrong with the book. In order to come up with seven wonders, Deborah Cadbury has stretched the nineteenth centruy to 1931 when Boulder Dam was begun. Her focus on one or two individuals who designed or constructed each of the wonders is probably dictated by the exigencies of television, rather than her adherence to the "great man" theory of history. Cadbury has the good taste, at least, to idolize the engineers and superintendent of the US intercontinental railroad instead of the crooked financiers who backed the project, as the late Stephen Ambrose did.
The British wonders are more interesting to an American reader because they are not so well known here. Cadbury's gaffs in setting the historical scene in Victorian Britain are less obvious to the reader in this country than the American ones. Example: "Nothern plans to abolish slavery had prompted seven southern states to break away and form the Confederate States of America." That statement wouldn't even pass muster in a high school essay on the causes of the Civil War.
Cadbury writes well, if a trifle overdramatically. That too may be traceable to the book's parentage. She appends a large "Bibliography and Sources" section at the end for readers seeking more substantial fare.
Highly Recommended.......2004-03-16
A very well written book that covers what the author has chosen to be subtitled ?The Seven Wonders of the Industrial World.? The basis of this book is that, worldwide the knowledge and the production of iron and steel had reached the point where certain engineering visionaries dared to start considering the material?s properties to build on a grander scale than traditional wood and stone would allow. In little more than the span of a century these diverse engineering projects set a new world standard in their respective fields, and it became the basis for catapulting Western civilization into the modern era of undertaking grand projects. Deborah Cadbury, the author has a very nice writing style. The subject is easily understood, and there is no math. The author evidently did a large amount of research, she includes a bit of background material, but keeps the subject relevant to the central theme. The author does not delve into the engineering details of the problems, but generally strives to give the reader an overall view of the main problems encountered, usually a collection of engineering, financial and political obstacles.
As with most books explaining engineering techniques, a few more diagrams would have been helpful. One consistent pattern throughout many of the projects is that the Engineer/Visionary generally were obsessive control freaks when it came to their projects, and as their project came to life it manifested itself as exacting an equal toll on their health. The title is a little misleading, three of the projects, London Sewers, Bell rock Lighthouse, and the Hoover Dam deal mainly with stone or concrete. The subtitle would be better suited to be the title of this book. This reader highly recommends this enjoyable book
An excellent survey of fantastic 19th century engineering.......2004-02-21
Engineering can at times be less than interesting, yet it was not always so. During the middle of the 19th century, materials and automated power made new endeavors that were once far-fetched dreams, bright new possibilities. Deborah Cadbury skillfully holds the reader enthralled during the tale of each endeavor, laying out the politics, players, economics, and natural obstacles that confronted the dreamer engineers who sought to make the world more civilized and safe for their fellow human. The one aspect of each engineer that struck me above all, was simply the nearly masochistic work ethic each of them displayed in their attempts to accomplish their dream.
All but three of these engineering marvels are notable because of the large impact they had on civilization at large, not simply within the geographic area in which they were manifest.
The three exceptions are monuments to overcoming fantastic environmental challenges to save lives and safeguard property that serve as examples of excellence and durability to this day.
Another aspect of these marvels that presented itself unexpectedly, was the assistance from, or directly to the medical profession from at least three of these projects. It is actually somewhat frustrating to think how many lives could have been saved if only someone had listened to the medical professionals at an earlier point in these specific endeavors.
To summarize, the subject matter is relayed in an entertaining fashion, with due consideration to detailing the people and their motives within the scope of each project, yet without compromising a suitable measure of objectivity. There are more detailed books regarding each project, but I believe "Dreams of Iron and Steel" manages an admirable compromise between informative detail and skillful story telling to merit five stars for excellence and motivational inspiration to succeed.
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The Scientific Background to Modern Philosophy
Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0872200752 |
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Energy Conservation at Wastewater Treatment Plants
Manufacturer: Water Environment Federation
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ASIN: 0943244714 |
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Energy Conservation in Wastewater Treatment Facilities (Manual of Practice. Fd, 2)
Water Environment Federation
Manufacturer: Water Environment Federation
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ASIN: 1572780347 |
Books:
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- Red Acropolis, Black Terror: The Greek Civil War and the Origins of Soviet-American Rivalry, 1943-1949
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Rising Tide: The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines That Fought the Cold War
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