The Submarine

'This is an excellent book which will spark much interest. It makes an important contribution, not only to naval history, but also to our understanding of the cultural development of British national identity.'-Joseph Maiolo, Editor, Journal of Strategic Studies

'Duncan Redford's understanding of "conventional" naval history underpins his research on submarines. It is a major theme of his book that the operational history of submarines cannot be divorced from its cultural context. Using a variety of primary sources, Redford shows that the Royal Navy's planning and practice relating to the submarine was affected — and sometimes constrained — by ideas and representations of the weapon that emanated from the wider culture. Naval policymaking from the Admiralty downwards operated in the context of cultural ideas of the submarine and its use as a weapon and indeed had an impact on this policymaking. As well as examining the impact of cultural views of the submarine on its planned and actual use as a weapon of war, Redford's book also pays attention to the other side of the picture: the changing impact of the submarine on British cultural life. This is an ambitious and original book which deserves to attract wide interest.'-Paul Readman, Senior Lecturer in Modern British History and Head of the Department of History, King's College London.

'Underhand and damned un-English' was the view of submarines in Edwardian Britain. Yet by the 1960's the new nuclear powered submarines were seen by the Royal Navy as being the 'hallmark of a first class navy'. In this book Duncan Redford, a retired Royal Navy submarine officer, explores how — and why — attitudes to the submarine changed in Britain between 1900 and 1977.

Using a wide array of previously unpublished sources, Redford sheds light on what the British thought about submarines, both their own and those that were used against them. Rather than providing an operational history of Britain's submarines, this book looks at naval and civilian conceptions of what submarine warfare was imagined to be like in the context of unrestricted submarine warfare, the world wars and the development of nuclear weaponry. With chapters on the coronation and jubilee reviews at Spithead, the submarine in novels and films, as well as coverage of the Royal Navy's and civilian views of submarines and submarine warfare this book gives a comprehensive view of the British regard — or lack of it — for the submarine.

Through the examination of the British relationship with submarines since 1900 it is possible to see changing patterns in acceptance and tensions between different sub-cultures, both civil and maritime. Since 1900 the meaning constructed around submarines has changed as the submarine has progressed along a road from perdition as the weapon of the weaker power (and morally weaker power too) to a form of redemption as a major capital unit.

This book will be essential for naval historians, students and those interested in aspects of submarine development and use.