Naval War College Review Volume 56 Article 19 Number 2 Spring 2003 Lost Subs: From the Hunley to the Kursk, the Greatest SubmarinesEver Lost—and Found Frank C. Mahncke Spencer Dunmore Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation Mahncke, Frank C. and Dunmore, Spencer (2003) "Lost Subs: From the Hunley to the Kursk, the Greatest SubmarinesEver Lost—and Found," Naval War College Review: Vol. 56 : No. 2 , Article 19. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol56/iss2/19 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Mahncke and Dunmore: Lost Subs: From the Hunley to the Kursk, the Greatest SubmarinesEBOOK REVIEWS 159 Thetis, and a seawater inlet pipe appar- ently failed catastrophically on Thresher. Dunmore, Spencer. Lost Subs: From the Hunley to Torpedoes can be as lethal to the sub- the Kursk, the Greatest Submarines Ever Lost— marine that carries them as to the en- and Found. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo, 2002. emy. In the years since the loss of 176pp. $35 Scorpion in 1968, its wreckage has been Service in the Confederate submarine photographed several times by deep-sea CSS Hunley was not for the faint of reconnaissance vehicles. These photo- heart—on its first two sea trials, it sank graphs (many of which have been re- with a loss of nearly all hands. With a leased and are in Dunmore’s book), the fresh and stalwart crew, Hunley crept troubled history of the batteries used by from Charleston on the night of 17 the submarine’s Mark 37 torpedoes, February 1864 and sank the USS and engineering analysis suggest that a Housatonic with a contact torpedo. spontaneous and violent initiation of a However, in the ensuing confusion and torpedo battery led to a warhead deto- gunfire, Hunley was lost. nation and hull rupture. For over one hundred years Hunley lay The Russian submarine Kursk appears undisturbed in the mud and silt of to have suffered a similar fate in the Charleston’s harbor, until August 2000, Barents Sea in 2000. Western acoustic when it was raised with an elaborate detection systems picked up two mas- cat’s cradle of slings, braces, and foam sive explosions that correlated with pads. CSS Hunley is now undergoing an Kursk’s position. Naval engineers cited archaeological examination that is by Dunmore build a good case for the yielding a treasure trove of artifacts as theory that the first of these explosions well as insights into the technology of came from the hydrogen peroxide that its time. was carried in Kursk’s torpedoes and Spencer Dunmore’s work, a hand- that the second resulted from the deto- somely produced coffee-table book, has nation of the torpedo’s warhead. more substance than one might initially The most fascinating and yet disap- expect. Dunmore’s accounts of the loss pointing aspect of Dunmore’s book is and recovery of the CSS Hunley, USS his descriptions of crew rescues and sal- Squalus, HMS Thetis, and the Russian vage—fascinating because these opera- Kursk, and the losses of the USS tions are high among underwater Thresher and USS Scorpion, are interest- engineering feats, disappointing be- ing and contain notable new material. cause Dunmore treats them shallowly. Like aircraft, submarines are inherently When Squalus sank off Portsmouth, safe but very unforgiving of human and New Hampshire, the Navy had just mechanical failures. Squalus (1939), placed into service a diving bell for sub- Thetis (1939), and Thresher (1963) each marine rescue. Winching itself down a was lost when its hull was breached half-inch wire fastened to the forward and seawater flooded in. The main hatch of the Squalus 243 feet below, the air-induction valve stuck open when bell ultimately rescued thirty-three of Squalis submerged, a torpedo-tube the fifty-five men aboard. The following outer door was inadvertently opened on summer, Squalus was raised with a Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2003 1 160 NAVAL WAR COLLEGENaval War REVIEW College Review, Vol. 56 [2003], No. 2, Art. 19 complex system of cradles and support- book that reviews the history of the ing pontoons. With each lift, it was college, provides a typical class profile, moved into shallower water, grounded, offers a look at the faculty and the cur- then lifted again. It reached Portsmouth riculum, and describes what a typical Harbor in September 1939. The techni- “Carlisle year” is like for the students. cal details of its salvage are one of the While analyzing the administration, truly great stories of deep-sea salvage Stiehm offers recommendations for im- operations. proving the institution’s ability to pro- Kursk was raised in the fall of 2001 and duce quality graduates. Stiehm believes carried back to Roslyakovo Shipyard. that after following her prescription for Raising the sub was no mean feat of un- improvements, the graduates would be derwater engineering—it weighed better able to fight and win the nation’s twenty-four thousand tons underwater wars and would be better prepared to and lay in 350 feet of water. Unfortu- provide sound, thoughtful advice to se- nately, Dunmore gives but four pages to nior decision makers on matters of na- this accomplishment. Happily, two of tional security and the application of them are devoted to excellent drawings military force in the pursuit of national of the techniques by which the damaged objectives. bow was removed, lift points attached to Stiehm is uniquely qualified to write the hull, and the submarine drawn up this book. She attended the Army War into a specially prepared floating dry College as a student-participant ob- dock. One could well spend a serious server during the first semester of aca- amount of time studying these drawings demic year 1996–97, with the class of alone. 1997. Stiehm was fully integrated into As a comprehensive treatment of sub- the seminar experience of the war col- marine loss and recovery, Lost Subs is lege and shared both the academic and uneven and technically superficial. social experiences of her classmates. She However, its treatment of the Scorpion also served as a visiting professor at the and Kursk disasters and the rich collec- U.S. Army Peacekeeping Institute and tion of underwater and salvage photo- at the Army’s Strategic Studies Insti- graphs will please the generalist and fill tute, both located at Carlisle Barracks. niches for the naval scholar. Stiehm’s critical examination of the Army War College is valuable for the FRANK C. MAHNCKE Joint Warfare Analysis Center insightful information she shares, which is otherwise not available to the general reader, but more importantly should prove valuable to the Depart- ment of Defense policy makers and de- Stiehm, Judith Hicks. The U.S. Army War College: cision makers responsible for the Military Education in a Democracy. Temple Univ. establishment and maintenance of de- Press, 2002. 200pp. $69.50 fense institutions. The complex and multidimensional nature of the global This is an in-depth and insightful exami- war on terrorism has caused the United nation of the U.S. Army War College, States to think about warfare in a new one of the nation’s six senior service col- way. Stiehm’s work challenges those in leges. Stiehm offers a comprehensive https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol56/iss2/19 2.