Cold War Command

Book excerpt: A British nuclear submariner sheds critical light on the Royal Navy’s Cold War operations in this revealing military memoir. The role played by the Royal Navy's submarines throughout the Cold War remains largely shrouded in secrecy. In Cold War Command, Captain Dan Conley, RN (Ret.), offers an insider’s look at commanding nuclear hunter-killer submarines. As captain of the HMS Courageous and HMS Valiant, Conley was tasked with covertly following Soviet submarines in order to destroy them should there be any outbreak of hostilities. Conley recounts his early career in diesel submarines, as well as his exceptional success against the Soviet Navy at the height of the Cold War. He was involved in the initial deployment of the Trident nuclear weapon system and divulges previously unknown facets of nuclear weapons strategy and policy during this period. He also describes the Royal Navy's shortcomings in ship and weapons procurement, assessing how these failures led to the effective bankrupting of the Defense budget as it entered the 21st century.