Valiant (S-102) Second-generation Royal Navy SSN. Based on the Dreadnought, the entire submarine was produced in the United Kingdom. A total of five units built.
Vanguard Second-generation Royal Navy SSBN. Twice as large as the Resolution class, the Vanguard class will carry sixteen U.S. Trident II (D-5) missiles. Described as being very quiet submarines. A total of four units are expected to be built.
VHF Very High Frequency.
Victor I & II SSNs Second-generation Soviet SSNs. Larger, quieter, and better equipped than November class. Victor IIs differ from Victor Is in that the Victor IIs have four 650mm torpedo tubes and are about 16 feet longer. A total of twenty-two units were built.
Victor III SSN A further modification of a second-generation design. The Victor III class is the first Soviet SSN that came close to Western standards in terms of quieting and sensors. The teardrop-shaped pod on the rudder is the housing for a towed sonar array. The Victor III is the most numerous class of SSN in the Russian inventory, with twenty-six units built.
VLF Very Low Frequency.
VLS Vertical Launch System. A set of twelve external tubes located in the number two main ballast tank on SSN 719 and on the Los Angeles-class SSN.
VSEL Vickers Shipbuilding Enterprises, Limited. The U.K. equivalent of Electric Boat Company.
Waterfall display Phrase used to describe the appearance that a modern passive sonar display makes while showing bearing versus time information. A contact will look like a bright line on a CRT against a speckled background of other noise sources.
WEO Weapon Engineering Officer. Royal Navy equivalent of the weapons officer; however, the WEO is not eligible for command.
XO Executive Officer. U.S. Navy term for the second in command of a ship.
Bibliography
Magazines
International Defense Review
Jane’s Defense Weekly
Jane’s Intelligence Review
Maritime Defense
Morskoy Sbornik
Naval Forces—International Forum for Maritime Power
Naval Institute Proceedings
Navy International
The Submarine Review
Books
Anderson, William R., with Clay Blair, Jr. Nautilus 90 North. Tab Books, 1989.
Baker, A.D., ed. Combat Fleets of the World 1993. Naval Institute Press, 1993.
Barron, John. Breaking the Ring. Houghton Mifflin, 1987.
Blake, Bernard, ed. Jane’s Underwater Warfare Systems 1990-91. Jane’s Information Group, 1990.
Breemer, Jan. Soviet Submarines—Design, Development and Tactics. Jane’s Information Group, 1989.
Burdic, William S. Underwater Acoustic System Analysis. Prentice-Hall, 1984.
Bureau of Naval Personnel. Principles of Naval Engineering. U.S. Navy, 1970.
Compton-Hall, Richard. Submarine Warfare: Monsters and Midgets. Blandford Press, 1985.
———Sub vs. Sub—The Tactics and Technology of Underwater Warfare. Orion Books, 1988.
Crane, Jonathan. Submarine. British Broadcasting Corp., 1984.
Crouch, Holmes F. Nuclear Ship Propulsion. Cornell Maritime Press, 1960.
Daniel, Donald C. Anti-submarine Warfare and Superpower Strategic Stability. University of Illinois Press, 1986.
Dönitz, Karl. Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days. Naval Institute Press, 1990.
Dolphin Scholarship Foundation. Thirty Years of Submarine Humor. Dolphin Scholarship Foundation, 1992.
Earley, Pete. Family of Spies. Bantam, 1988.
Frieden, David R., ed. Principles of Naval Weapon Systems. Naval Institute Press, 1985.
Friedman, Norman. Submarine Design and Development. Naval Institute Press, 1984.
——U.S. Naval Weapons—Every Gun, Missile, Mine and Torpedo Used by the U.S. Navy from 1883 to the Present Day. Naval Institute Press, 1987.
———Desert Victory: The War for Kuwait. Naval Institute Press, 1991.
———The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems 1991/92. Naval Institute Press, 1991.
Gabler, Ulrich. Submarine Design. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1986.
Gates, P.J., and N.M. Lynn. Ships, Submarines and the Sea. Brassey’s, 1990.
Gerken, Louis. ASW versus Submarine: Technology Battle. American Scientific Corp., 1986.
Gillmer, Thomas C., and Bruce Johnson. Introduction to Naval Architecture. Naval Institute Press, 1982.
Gray, Edwyn. The Devil’s Device. Naval Institute Press, 1991.
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Kaufman, Yogi, and Steve Kaufman. Silent Chase. Naval Institute Press, 1989.
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Kramer, A.W. Nuclear Propulsion for Merchant Ships. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1962.
Meisner, Arnold. U.S. Nuclear Submarines. Concord Publications, 1990.
Miller, David. Submarines of the World—A Complete Illustrated History 1888 to the Present. Orion Books, 1991.
Newhouse, John. War and Peace in the Nuclear Age. Alfred A. Knopf, 1988.
Peebles, Curtis. Guardians: Strategic Reconnaissance Satellites. Presidio Press, 1987.
Polmar, Norman. The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy. 5th ed. Naval Institute Press, 1991.
Polmar, Norman, and Thomas Allen. Rickover. Simon and Schuster, 1982.
Polmar, Norman, and Jurrien Noot. Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies 1718-1990. Naval Institute Press, 1991.
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“Encapsulated Harpoon.” McDonnell Douglas Corp.
“Harpoon.” McDonnell Douglas Corp.
“L’Inflexible.” Direction Des Constructions Navales.
“Seahake: Torpedo of the Future.” STN Systemtechnik Nord GmbH.
“Steam—Its Generation and Use.” Babcock & Wilcox, 1978.
“SSN, Rubis Class.” Direction Des Constructions Navales.
“SSN, Rubis Class, Améthyste Batch.” Direction Des Constructions Navales.
“Tomahawk—A Total Weapon System.” McDonnell Douglas Corp.
“TYPE 1400.” Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft & Ingenieurkontor Lubeck.
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“A Review of the United States Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.” U.S. Department of Defense & Department of Energy, 1990.
“Submarine Roles in the 1990s and Beyond.” Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Undersea Warfare, 1992.
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Bond, Larry. “Harpoon.” Game Designers Workshop, 1992.
“Computer Harpoon.” Three Sixty Software, 1991.
“Red Storm Rising.” MPS Technologies, 1988.
“Submarine.” Avalon Hill Company, 1977.
“Wolf Pack.” Brøderbund Software, 1990.
1 To this day, the U.S. Navy will officially only admit that U.S. nuclear “submarines . . . operate at speeds over 20 knots, and depths over 400 feet . . .”
2 Norman Friedman, Submarine Design and Development, U.S. Naval Institute, 1984.
3 Patrick Taylor, Running Critical, Harper and Row, 1986, p. 58.
4 Ibid., p. 259.
5 Ibid., p. 58.
6 Ibid.
7 A. D. Baker, Combat Fleets of the World, U.S. Naval Institute, 1993, pp. 809-811.
8 As this book goes to press, massive cuts in the structure of the submarine force are being planned. These descriptions of bases and organizations are current as of March 1993.
9 The description of the development of the Los Angeles-class boats is superbly told in the book Running Critical by Patrick Taylor (Harper and Row, 1986).
10 A.D. Baker, Combat Fleets of the World, U.S. Naval Institute, 1993, pp. 809-811.
11 The four boats being considered for conversion to guided missile submarines (SSGNs) include the Ohio (SSBN-726), Michigan (SSBN-727), Florida (SSBN-728), and Georgia (SSBN-729), all of which were scheduled for decommissioning under the START-2 arms-control agreement. While several configurations are being considered, the basic idea is to fit the Trident missile tubes with seven-cell vertical launchers and storage for supplies to support special operations forces (SOF). Between 126 and 154 Tomahawks would be carried, along with up to 66 SOF personnel.
12 While a number of boats were configured for electronic eavesdropping, at least four American SSNs were converted into covert operations platforms for deep ocean search and recovery as well as inshore tapping of undersea communications cables. Of the four, only Parche (SSN-683) is still in commission and will be replaced in the next few years. The other three, Seawolf (SSN-575), Halibut (SSGN-587), and Richard B. Russell (SSN-687), were all decommissioned prior to, or at the end of, the Cold War.
13 For more on special warfare and the Army Special Forces, see my book Special Forces: A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Operations (Berkley Books, 2001).
14 The two Lafayette-class (SSBN-616) ballistic missile boats, Kamehameha (SSN-642) and James K. Polk (SSN-645), have had their missile tubes converted to storage areas and been fitted with dry-dock hangars for specialized miniature submarines called SEAL Delivery Vehicles (SDVs). Each can carry and support up to 67 SEALs or troops with everything from explosives to rubber boats.
15 Technically, Seawolf should have been given the hull number SSN-774. However, the Navy’s desire to set the class apart as the first of a new century led to the SSN-21 designation. The SSN-774 designation has been now assigned to the lead boat of the new Virginia-class SSNs.
16 For more on these two yards and how they build ships, see my books Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (Berkley Books, 1997) and Carrier: A Guided Tour of a Carrier Battle Group (Berkley Books, 1999).
17 First demonstrated aboard the Aegis cruiser Yorktown (CG-48), “Smart Ship” uses COTS-based systems to provide improved situational awareness to a reduced watch of crew personnel. It also helps with management of logistics and systems control, making the reduction of crew numbers a reality for the first time since the advent of steam.
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