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
