Book Review: Underwater Warriors (Paul Kemp) : MH

 | Military History Book Reviews  | 0 comments  | Print This Post  | Email This Post

Underwater Warriorsby Paul Kemp, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md.,1996, $32.95.

Part of the appeal of this book is the image of the lone warrior setting out to engage superior enemy forces–the archetypal story of David and Goliath repeated in terms of undersea warfare. In this case, the “Davids” are midget submarines, and the “Goliaths” are surface warships of all sizes. The author traces the invention and development of the midget submarine from the first model, the Turtle of 1776, up through the present day and includes a peek into the future. This is a book undertaken to record comprehensively the worldwide history and development of a particular weapon, and judging from the detail contained in the book and the thoroughness of his research, it is easy to believe Kemp’s claim that he worked on it for three years.

John I. Witmer

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to

Post a Comment

Name (required)

E-mail (will not be published) (required)

Please note that HistoryNet Staff cannot respond to requests for research of any type. Please visit our research forum to post research questions. If you have a question about our magazines, please use the contact us form.

Related Articles Captain James Jabara: Ace of the Korean War Civil War Times: June 1999 Editorial Aviation History: July ‘99 From the Editor American History: June ‘99 Letters Drumnadrochit: Caught between the Loch and a Hard Sell? - Dec. ‘96 British Heritage Feature World War II: March 2000 From the Editor Aviation History: January ‘99 From the Editor