Product Description

Packed with the technological details and insights into military strategy that fans of Tom Clancy relish, The Silent War is a riveting look at the darkest days of the Cold War. It reveals, in gripping detail, the espionage, innovative high technology, and heroic seafaring the United States employed against the Soviet Union in the battle for nuclear and military supremacy. John Pi?a Craven, who shared management responsibility for the submarine-borne Polaris missile system, captures the excitement and the dangers of the times as he recounts the true stories behind some of the century's most shocking headlines and reveals harrowing episodes kept hidden from the public.

Craven describes for the first time the structural problems that almost caused the destruction of the Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, and presents startling information about the race to recover a hydrogen bomb from the B-52 bomber that went down off the coast of Spain. In a report no fan of The Hunt for Red October will want to miss, he provides a fascinating, authoritative perspective on the Navy's reaction to the rogue Soviet submarine and its mission.

A major contribution to Cold War history and literature, The Silent War will appeal to military buffs and fans of nonstop adventure thrillers alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1027641 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From Amazon.com
In October 1962, the United States government demanded that the Soviet Union remove long-range tactical missiles that it had positioned in Cuba, a short flight from targets like Washington and New York. After nearly a week's wait, during which the world braced for nuclear war, the Soviet government finally relented. It did so, in part, because its capitalist foe had one weapon that it then did not: 10 dozen submarine-mounted nuclear missiles that could be fired from beneath the waves and reach targets inside the Soviet Union within a matter of minutes.

In The Silent War, John Craven, an architect of the Polaris missile program, writes that the episode offered unambiguous proof of the value of "a strong silent deterrent" and of the importance of a superb submarine force in preserving the balance of power. In this memoir, he recounts the evolution of the Polaris weapons system during the cold war. Along the way, he reveals little-known incidents of espionage and saber rattling that will give readers pause to wonder how war was avoided for all those years. A bonus for Tom Clancy fans (who are likely to enjoy his book in any event) is Craven's sketchy but fascinating tale of a real hunt for a lost Soviet submarine that took place during his tenure as well as his accessible but nonetheless detailed account of the advanced military technology he helped bring into being. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly
In May 1968, submarine specialist John Craven, then chief scientist of the navy's special projects office, had just crossed into Virginia from Washington, D.C., on his way home from work when he heard an alarming news report on the radio. The USS Scorpion, a submarine, was missing in the ocean with 99 men on board. On hearing the news, Craven writes, "I immediately turned my car around and headed for the war room of the Pentagon." Amazingly, the loss of the Scorpion coincided with the disappearance of a Soviet submarine. How Craven spearheaded the search for the two ships a search that inspired The Hunt for Red October is the centerpiece of this fascinating series of set pieces that delve into the life-and-death mechanics of Cold War-era submarine service. Craven, who had previously been known as the head of the Polaris sub-based missile program, has surfaced mysteriously in the press over the years, most recently in the critically acclaimed Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage; here, he is forthright about much of his background and activities. Anecdote-based chapters include descriptions of repairs to a newly launched USS Nautilus, rough briefings to the press and to the chain of command on Polaris, diving into the transoceanic cable-tapping Man-in-the-Sea program and much more. Craven quotes Byron, Verne and others with feeling throughout, and his explanations of the complicated physics related to his various projects are clear if sometimes still classified making this is a distinctively well-crafted intelligence-community memoir. (Apr. 4) Forecast: As Russo-American relations over espionage heat up, this book should find a general audience primed for a re-examination of the intricacies of the Cold War. While not quite Red October, it should reach beyond the buff market.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A retired chief scientist of the navy's Special Projects Office and a minor character in Sherry Sontag's Blind Man's Bluff, Craven does not generate enough information or dramatic activity to create a Cold War espionage best seller along the lines of Blind Man's Bluff or Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October. The author was a pivotal player in the underwater research for the navy and is especially remembered for his work on deep-sea submersibles. Unfortunately, he does not reveal much that is not already known, except perhaps that the Soviet missile sub that sank around the time of the USN Scorpion was possibly a rogue and may have sunk while trying to launch a missile toward Hawaii. A good read about undersea research, this is ultimately not as not as riveting as other Cold War expos s. This is a hot topic, however, and little has been declassified to date. Recommended for military collections. Richard Nowicki, Emerson Vocational H.S., Buffalo
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Was the Cold War Silent?
This is not a work of documented history; the events described were drawn from undocumented personal recollection. It was written as a rebuff to BLIND MAN'S BLUFF written two years earlier which had exposed his activities working with the Polaris missile project.

Thus, he endeavors to present the facts by one who was involved from the very beginning on a four-decade program of undersea intelligence which must remain secret.

Our government is releasing highly classified information via the Internet, not just in Washington, but in Huntsville, AL where the Redstone Arsenal (full of missiles) is located. I discovered this a few years ago from the secretary of one of the high offices. Her job was to enter this information so that anyone anywhere in the world could have access to this important research which should have remained secret.

This book does not expound upon some of the projects, but now it is available to the public and to foreigners. Just because the Soviet Union has fallen apart, that does not mean there are not other foes who can use this intelligence against us.

John Craven lives in Hawaii and has met with a group of the former submariners for a breakfast gathering the past twenty three years to recall things which are better left unsaid. To wish it had not received the notoriety will be too late to protect this nation's safety.

The index helps to find the references he makes to the action taking place under the oceans. It would have been better if he had used the history of this program as a basis of a fictional account. That way, no one would know what is true and what not.

Through a Glass Darkly
I found the book to be far more tease than substance, perhaps necessarily so. The essense of the book is "I spend a lot of years doing a lot of really cool, interesting, super-secret stuff, but most of it is still secret so I can't tell you much about it." To be sure, the general topics are fascinating -- early and potentially fatal flaws in the design of the hull of the Nautilus, developing the Polaris submarine missile program, deep (we're talking really deep, like maybe 20,000 feet or more) submergence vehicles, and human divers operating at several thousand feet or more beheath the surface. But there is very little detail about the technologies themselves, and not much more about how they were employed.

Craven is, admittedly, limited in what he can say since the facts that are of most interest are still highly classified. To the extent he offers much real meat, he does so by referring to other works, while at the same time discounting their accuracy. This raised my interest in the other works, more so than Craven's, even if there's some doubt about their total veracity. It's always more fun to think you know a lot, than to be certain that you don't.

His chapter suggesting that a rogue Russion missle submarine sank in 1968 while attempting to launch a nuclear strike on Hawaii contains the most interesting revelations, if only because it provides some fair amount of detail. Unfortunately, in his scrupulous efforts to avoid revealing still classified information, his manner of presenting the story seems too coy, too confusing, and a little tortured. For example, he first identifies the sub as "probably a diesel powered Golf class ballistic missile boat", and says he saw photographs with its hull number clearly visible, but then expresses surprise (thus implying disbelief) when public interviews of the crew's survivors (on 60 Minutes) revealed it to be K129, a Golf class submarine. Later, he again refers to it as a Golf, this time with no qualification. It would have been far less confusing for him to simply say, "public sources identify it as a Golf class submarine with hull humber K129, but I can neither confirm nor deny that information," instead of taking us through some obscure references that leave us wondering, is it, or isn't it (an issue that is of interest only because he makes it so). And the symmetry of the location of the sinking, 180 degrees longitude and 40 degrees latitude, is of obvious significance, if only because he keeps repeating it, but he gives not the slightest hint why (or, if he does, it's too obscure for me to appreciate).

The book is more satisfying as Craven's unclassified memoirs of his career, and it does have some interesting information about how projects were organized, how a public project served as cover for a covert one that, in turn, served as cover for an even more covert one, and his interaction with some key individuals, primarily Hyman Rickover and Edward Teller. But with all due respect to Dr. Craven, who I'm sure is a brilliant scientist and fascinating personality, he is not of particular interest because of who he is but because of what he did.

In the final analysis, my expectations were too high and too unrealistic about what I was going to learn in this book. Those who start it with more realistic expectations will be more satisfied than I was.

A real sleeper!
I have to admit, I didn't buy this book. My girlfriend got it for me. I normally don't read about subs as I am interested in Nuclear Weapons and Hazardous Device Disposal. What a pleasant surprise to find that the book is written by one who was involved with one of the biggest EOD Nuclear evolutions in the published literature - the Palomares incident.

This book is the true definition of a sleeper. The first couple of chapters did little to entice me. In fact his "I-me-I-did-this" attitude and lack of refined writing skills put me off a little bit. By the end of the book, I was completely hooked, and hoping he writes another book before he passes away.

You see, his involvement with submersible operations put him squarely in (under? lol) the center of many notable Cold War events. His take on things, bolstered by the fact he was an actual participant in many, put several operations in a totally different light for me.

One such event was the true story behind Clancy's 'Hunt' book. Up until I read Craven's book, I thought the retellings of the operation were, too, well, Hollywood. Craven's explanation makes perfect, although chilling, sense, and has the ring of clarity and truth.

Another topic was the Hughes / CIA Glomar Explorer.Many things about that operation made NO sense to me, until I read this book. While Craven is reticent to divulge many details, his explanations are like a knowledgeable individual peering over your shoulder as you watch and read other treatises on events.

I recommend this book, with the caveat not to concentrate on the author as much as the events. In this light, this is an excellent and worthy next acquisition.