The Deadly Deep: The Definitive History of Submarine Warfare

In an effort to be comprehensive, Ballantyne (Killing the Bismarck: Destroying the Pride of Hitler’s Fleet) seems intent on recounting almost every wartime use of submarines in this exhaustive, and sometimes exhausting, history. He begins with ancient Egyptian and Greek efforts to hunt and wage war underwater and Leonardo da Vinci’s design for a submersible that he ultimately destroyed because it was too devastating a weapon. He reviews the role of such weapons in the American Revolution and the Civil War before devoting most of the book to the first and second world wars. The devastation submarines caused during WWI led to serious consideration of banning them as an “uncivilised, disgusting outrage” akin to poison gas. The weakening resolve of the Allies to keep Germany in check manifested itself in allowing the Nazis to flout the restrictions on submarine manufacture in the Treaty of Versailles. The account continues through to the present day, with the placement of nuclear cruise missiles in submarines. The length and level of detail (at one point, he discusses minor variations in the number of torpedo tubes in a particular 1930s model, without explaining the significance of the information) makes this work mostly suited to students of military history. Photos. (Dec.)