cover image Submarine Admiral: From Battlewagons to Ballistic Missiles

Submarine Admiral: From Battlewagons to Ballistic Missiles

I. J. Galantin. University of Illinois Press, $26.95 (345pp) ISBN 978-0-252-02160-2

In this memoir of his 41-year military career, from midshipman to four-star rank, mostly in the submarine service, Galantin provides an authoritative overview of the evolution of the sub and its role in the U.S. Navy. A distinguished combat veteran of WWII, he saw postwar service as head of the Navy Department's submarine branch; and, as director of the Navy's Special Projects Office, he had a leading role in developing the Polaris missile system for subs. Galantin recalls the loss of the Thresher at sea in 1963 and explains how that tragedy--and the mystery of its cause--led to a comprehensive examination of submarine design, construction and operation. Long involved in high-level planning and policy-making in the Pentagon, he gives a good account of how the Navy met the Soviet challenge at sea as well as the submarine's role in the post-Cold War era. Our nuclear subs, he argues, remain the chief deterrent to global strategic aggression. His Pentagon insider's view includes much interesting information about intra-Navy and interservice turf wars. Galantin retired in 1970. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)