Seas of Crisis (37 page)

Acknowledgments

T
o begin, I want to thank my formal manuscript readers: Captain Melville Lyman, U.S. Navy (retired), commanding officer of several SSBN strategic missile submarines, until recently Director for Special Weapons Safety and Surety at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and now doing similar work at a major private contractor; Commander Jonathan Powis, Royal Navy, who was Navigator on the fast-attack submarine HMS
Conqueror
during the Falklands Crisis, and who subsequently commanded three different British submarines; retired senior chief Bill Begin, veteran of many “boomer” deterrent patrols; and Peter Petersen, who served in the German Navy’s
U-518
in World War II. Thanks also go to two Navy SEALs, Warrant Officer Bill Pozzi and Commander Jim Ostach, and to Lieutenant Commander Jules Steinhauer, USNR (Ret.), diesel boat veteran and naval aviation submarine liaison in the early Cold War, for their feedback and support. In that latter category I must also include the many new friends and acquaintances I’ve made since joining the United States Submarine Veterans, Inc. (USSVI) as a sponsored Life Associate Member, and the Navy Seabee Veterans of America (NSVA) as an Honorary Life Associate Member, during 2004.

A number of other Navy people gave valuable guidance: George Graveson, Jim Hay, and Ray Woolrich, all retired U.S. Navy captains, former submarine skippers, and active in the Naval Submarine League; Ralph Slane, vice president of the New York Council of the Navy League of the United States, and docent of the
Intrepid
Museum; Ann Hassinger, research librarian at the U.S. Naval Institute; Bill Kreher, operations director of the Naval Submarine League; Chris Michel, founder and president of Military Advantage, Inc.; and retired reserve U.S. Navy Seabee Chief “Stormin’ Normand” Dupuis.

Additional submariners and military contractors deserve acknowledgment. They are too many to name here, but continuing to stand out vividly in my mind are pivotal conversations with Commander (now Captain) Mike Connor, at the time CO of USS
Seawolf,
and with the late Captain Ned Beach, USN (Ret.), brilliant writer and great submariner. I also want to thank, for the guided tours of their fine submarines, the officers and men of USS
Alexandria, Connecticut, Dallas, Hartford, Memphis, Salt Lake City, Seawolf, Springfield, Topeka,
and
Virginia,
and the modern German diesel submarine
U-15.
I owe “deep” appreciation to everyone aboard USS
Miami
for four wonderful days on and under the sea.

Similar thanks go to the instructors and students of the New London Submarine School, and the Coronado BUD/SEAL training facilities, and to all the people who demonstrated their weapons, equipment, attack vessels, and aircraft, at the Amphibious Warfare bases in Coronado and Norfolk. Appreciation also goes to the men and women of the aircraft carrier USS
Constellation,
the Aegis guided missile cruiser USS
Vella Gulf,
the fleet replenishment oiler USNS
Pecos,
and so many other Navy folks.

The Current Strategy Forums and publications of the Naval War College were invaluable. Flying out to the amphibious warfare helicopter carrier USS
Iwo Jima
during New York City’s Fleet Week 2002, and joining with her sailors and marines in rendering honors as the ship passed September 11th’s Ground Zero, was one of the most powerfully emotional experiences of my life.

First among the publishing people deserving acknowledgment is my wife, Sheila Buff, a bestselling nonfiction author and co-author of books on health, wellness, and related topics. Then comes my agent, John Talbot, “spirit guide” for seven years now on all aspects of the writing profession. Equally crucial is my William Morrow editor, Mike Shohl, always full of keen insights on improving my outlines and manuscript drafts.

About the Author

JOE BUFF
is a life member of the U.s. naval Institute, the naval submarine league, the navy league of the United states, the cec/seabees historical Foundation, and the Fellows of the naval War college. respected for his technical knowledge, he is considered an expert in submarines and national defense. two of his nonfiction articles about future submarine technology have won annual literary awards from the naval submarine league. he is the author of four previous highly regarded novels of submarine warfare—
Tidal Rip, Crush Depth, Thunder in the Deep
, and
Deep Sound Channel
— and lives with his wife in dutchess county, new York. You can visit his website at
www.joebuff.com
.

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Books by Joe Buff

S
EAS OF
C
RISIS

S
TRAITS OF
P
OWER

T
IDAL
R
IP

C
RUSH
D
EPTH

T
HUNDER IN THE
D
EEP

D
EEP
S
OUND
C
HANNEL

Praise for the novels of
Joe Buff

“[Buff] delivers fascinating technical detail [and] white-knuckle undersea action.”

Patrick Robinson

“The combined effect of unrelenting action, clever plotting and sheer firepower . . . successfully torpedoes any notion that this long-running submarine series has begun to tire . . . Meticulously described battle scenes both on land and at sea.”

Publishers Weekly

“Joe Buff takes the reader through a labyrinth of action and high adventure.”

Clive Cussler

“Buff makes for sleepless nights. This man knows his stuff.”

David E. Meadows, Capt., USN, author of the Joint Task
Force and Dark Pacific series

“The author out-Clancys Tom Clancy . . . Buff gives us terrific battle maneuvers . . . Talk about fun.”

Kirkus Reviews

“A superb high-water mark in naval fiction.”

Michael DiMercurio, author of
Vertical Dive

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2006 by Joe Buff
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-059471-8
ISBN-10: 0-06-059471-3

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition © 2011 ISBN: 9780062103277

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