Hostile Waters

    I just finished reading Hostile Waters by Peter Huchthausen, Igor Kurdin, and R. Alan White.  Those that know me, know that this is amazing in itself.  "Maneesh, read a book?"  Yeah, yeah, I know...but this one is really cool.  It is about a Russian nuclear powered submarine, K-219, carrying 30 nuclear warheads to the American eastern coast.  It is a true story about the tragic tale of submarine warfare and the sailors who lived through, and died in a horrible accident off of Bermuda.

    Peter Huchthausen graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy whose long and distinguished naval career culminated in an appointment as attaché to Moscow during the dissolution of the USSR.  Igor Kurdin was executive officer on the K-219 from 1983-1986.  R. Alan White is simply a writer, all four of his previous thrillers have won awards.

    I partly read this book because I was bored and partly because I am going to Turkey in August.  While there I will stay with an old friend whose father is attaché in Turkey.  It should be an interesting experience and now at least I have something to talk about.  The book was amazingly well written and told the story of K-219 from not only the Russian side, but the American's as well.  The degree of camaraderie among submariners is intense.  I was amazed at how closely they felt tied to each other, even between opposing sides.  Also, submariners would uniformly band against those that did not know submarine life but pretended as if they did, the intelligence officers in Moscow, the zampolit political officer aboard the sub, and others.  The lack of regard for the well being of the crew by the admirals back in Moscow was shocking, it seemed that the salvage of the boat was more important than the wellfare of the men.