Rising Tide, Russian Submarines in the Cold War / Gary E. Weir

Of all the secrets the Soviet Union kept, none were more closely guarded than those involving their submarines. Throughout the Cold War, Soviet submarines patrolled the world’s oceans, playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with their American counterparts in a silent struggle hundreds of feet below the surface. For the first time, “Rising Tide” tells the Soviet side of these secretive operations. Drawing on newly available archives, as well as interviews with a dozen former Soviet commanders––access never before granted to Western researchers––this gripping narrative shows that confrontations between nuclear-armed subs were far more dangerous than we ever thought.

"Rising Tide" recounts successful Soviet operations, including top-secret exercises off the American coast, and espionage coups, such as the spy-ship that monitored American missile tests off the Florida coast and then collected the debris in full view of the United States Navy. All too common were the near-misses, heroic rescues, and deadly catastrophes that plagued Soviet submarines over the years, including the horrific nuclear accident on board the ill-fated K-19, later nicknamed the "Hiroshima"; the internal fire that sank the K-8 in 1970 with twenty-two sailors on board, and the dramatic escape of crewmembers from the Komsomolets in 1989.

Russian submariners fought two battles in the Cold War: one against their American opponents, and another against the cruel Soviet leadership that knowingly put their lives at risk and caused so many needless deaths. "Rising Tide" also provides dramatic first-hand evidence that the final decision to launch a nuclear weapon resided solely in the hands of the Soviet sub commanders. From the Cuban Missile Crisis to the tragic sinking of the Kursk in 2000, "Rising Tide" offers an extraordinary insider's history of the Soviet submarine service, and sheds new light on the darkest secrets of the Cold War.

New softbound book, 354 pages, 29 black and white photographs, 1 diagram, an index, but no maps. This book is now out-of-print. Last of our inventory is here!

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The Authors

Dr. Gary E. Weir, a leading expert on submarines, is Historian of Science and Technology at the U.S. Naval Historical Center, and Adjunct Professor of History, University of Maryland University College. He is author of several books, including "Forged in War" and "An Ocean In Common." Gary Weir lives in Montgomery Village, Maryland.

Walter J. Boyne, former director of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, retired from the United States Air Force as a Colonel and Command Pilot. Boyne has written many books, including "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and "The Influence of Air Power on History." Walter Boyne lives in Ashburn, Virginia.

"I was at Barnes & Noble looking for a more political book, but then I saw "Rising Tide." I picked up and went straight to the counter. And I was not disappointed. It gives you the perspective of the Cold War that not many people have seen. The Russians had been trying to develop a submarine fleet that could counter the United States and wanted a global presence. This book gives you the details from when Stalin was dreaming of this to the sinking of the Kursk in 2000. It gives the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the first testing of a Russian SSBN, the multiple journeys to the North Pole and the espionage conducted by the Soviet Union's submarines. If you have read Blind Man's Bluff, you will definitely like this! I can't put it down!" Unknown reader

"Very good book giving the side of the Soviet "Silent Service" during the cold war. Obviously edited to some extent, but not so bad that you can't fill in the blanks if you have a cold war submarine background. Very interesting points of view on what the Red Sub's were trying to do to us as we were doing to them." Donald M. Gibson, Jr.

"This is the kind of information that during the Cold War the United States spent billions trying to get." Sherry Sontag, Coauthor of "Blind Man's Bluff"