Military Model Scene

Title: British Submarines in the Cold War Era
Author: Norman Friedman
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-5267-7122-3

Following up on the author's book on British Submarines of Two World Wars, this is the second part of the story, after WW2, the British Submarine in the Cold War Era. A large format hardback with 344-pages, packed with archive images and plenty of the marvellous scale plans by the late John Lambert, plus others.
The main content is spread across 12 chapters, moving through RN Submarines after 1945; Year Zero, 1945; Sonar & Sound in the Sea; Interim Submarine Conversions; the Fast Battery Submarine; the HTP Adventure; Going Nuclear; the Strategic Submarine; New Generation Nuclear Attack Submarines; Reviving the Diesel Submarine; British Cold War Submarines in Action; and rounding off with After the Cold War. These taking it up to page 206, the rest of the book is taken up with 4 Appendices looking at the specifics of British Submarine Sonars/Asdics; Command & Control Systems; Submarine Weapons; and Midget Submarines, leading on into many pages of Notes, detailing the specific references that have been referred to in writing this detailed book. The content is very interesting reading, using only public documents, with the technological challenges and solutions. Propulsion systems initially made use of German wartime developments and later the use of nuclear power and so much more. The whole subject of submarines is shrouded with an understandable level of secrecy which is still true today, but some stories are here, and with archive photos that do include a number of the Soviet submarines they tracked during the Cold War. There are a lot of plans throughout the book, many from the John Lambert collection, along with others that include a couple of large gatefold plans.
There are still some elements that remain secret, but this is certainly the most detailed account of the RN submarine service that I have seen. Among the Actions it features there is the story of the sinking of the Argentine warship Belgrano during the Falklands War. Coupled with the previous volume on the two World Wars this makes for a combined reference of the Royal Navy submarine service that I think will be hard to beat for many years to come. While some parts of the story remain secret, this level of detail from public records is still very impressive.
Thanks to Seaforth/Pen & Sword for this review copy.

Robin