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Stalking the Red Bear: The True Story of a U.S. Cold War Submarine's Covert Operations Against the Soviet Union |  | Author: Peter Sasgen
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 30996
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 359.930973
ASIN: B002ASFPZ0
Publication Date: April 1, 2010
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Product Description
Thrilling submarine espionage and an inside look at the U.S. Navy’s “silent service” Stalking the Red Bear, for the first time ever, describes the action principally from the perspective of a commanding officer of a nuclear submarine during the Cold War—the one man aboard a sub who makes the critical decisions—taking readers closer to the Soviet target than any work on submarine espionage has ever done before. This is the untold story of a covert submarine espionage operation against the Soviet Union during the Cold War as experienced by the Commanding Officer of an active submarine. Few individuals outside the intelligence and submarine communities knew anything about these top-secret missions. Cloaking itself in virtual invisibility to avoid detection, the USS Blackfin went sub vs. sub deep within Soviet-controlled waters north of the Arctic Circle, where the risks were extraordinarily high and anything could happen
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
submarine reality August 30, 2010
Stella F. Parker (Cherry Hill, NJ)
I am half through this book, but it is a real story, not fictional. It is more engrossing than fiction. God bless the men who sail into harm's way to protect our country. This book covers our modern sub force and the training and skill of the skippers and their crew. Very good book.
 Under the radar May 5, 2010
Armando Rodriguez (Philadelphia, PA)
Having read "Stalking" I now have a much better appreciation of the risks and responsibilities undertaken by our submariners during a very dangerous period the extent of which peril was unknown to me. One slip-up and the missiles would have been launched. While the book perhaps goes into too much detail about certain operations and procedures it does give one the feel that the author knows whereof he speaks.
If you're looking for the high drama of Chinese Gordon fighting off The Mahdi and his minions at Khartoum, this isn't it. But given that the author was limited by what actually happened (and didn't have Charleton Heston in the inevitable film's lead role) the author did a commendable job of making interesting a story that was so often out of sight, under water, and under the radar. And while I wouldn't expect to see a movie based on this book at my local multiplex, I wouldn't be surprised to find one on the History Channel or on public television. Bravo.
 Incredibly Average May 3, 2010
Daryl Carpenter
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As someone who reads a lot of naval literature, I'm bound to come across books that are masterpieces, and books that are utter trash. "Stalking the Red Bear" is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum: It's so profoundly average I can't remember much about it, despite having just finished reading it two days ago.
Despite being mildly interesting in parts, and being mercifully free of technical errors (a Submarine Launch Ballistic Missile is referred to as an "ICBM" in a couple places, but that's my only gripe), this book fails on it's promise of being a gripping thriller. The fictional USS Blackfin and it's commander "Roy Hunter" transit to the Barents Sea, snoop around Russian exercises, collect intelligence data, and tries not to be detected. There's plenty of historical exposition, not much character development, and halfway through, I just didn't care about anyone.
Stalking the Red Bear tries to cover a lot of ground - Cold War submarine espionage, the effects of long deployments on families, the life of a typical Soviet Submariner, but the author's stale writing style gets in the way of the fascinating subject matter. It's not a "bad" book by any stretch of the words, but as Cold War submarine stories go, it's pretty average.
 Just OK April 10, 2010
A reader (New Orleans)
I really feel bad about giving this book two stars. I have consumed sub books for many years and was looking for an adjunct to Blind Mans Bluff, which has gathered a lot more publicity. I'm sorry to say that Stalking The Red Bear is a disappointment and painfully amateurish in many respects. The technical details are interesting and seem to concur with what is published in other open sources. The tone is exceedingly dry, and the attempts at reconstructed dialog are a waste and distraction. What could have been a cracking good story devolves into tedium. I think the author was attempting to correct some perceptions and facts that have been put out there by Clancy, "Blind Man's Bluff" and the rest. Unfortunately, this narrative does not challenge anything head on, but just drones on and on in a monotone. The author would do better to team with an established novelist, supply novelist with facts and let the story tell itself in an engaging way.
A Cold Warrior's Thoughts April 6, 2010
W. T. Door (Waterford, CT)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a very revealing book. It is an outstanding depiction of a routine Cold War Submarine Special Operation. If I wrote such a book I would be in jail. Thanks for a great read on submarine ops and a trip down memory lane. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what really happened when the sleek black sub left port in the late sixties and early seventies.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
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