Captain Peter O’Connor, the former Commanding Officer of the guided missile cruiser USS Yorktown, was my principal U.S. Naval adviser. He has my enduring thanks for his time and patience. Another Virginian, retired Vice Admiral Robert F. Dunn, generously provided me with superb data on the day-to-day operations in a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.
There were many other serving officers, both submariners and surface ship executives on both sides of the Atlantic, who were more than happy to guide me through the techniques of command, and I thank them all, and wish I could name them personally.
I thank, too, Alan Friedman, author of Spider’s Web, for his careful advice about the banking tactics of the more dubious Middle Eastern regimes.
Finally, I would like to thank my longtime friend and colleague, Joe Farrell of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, who read the manuscript meticulously, separating American and English phrases and the military jargon which enters a book such as this. He says he was given the task of preventing American fighter pilots from sounding like Winston Churchill.
Since he also arranged my introduction to Captain O’Connor, I’ll forgive his irreverence.
— Patrick Robinson
About the Author
Patrick Robinson was born in Kent, England. He has worked as a journalist and in publishing, and is the author of a number of nonfiction titles, including Admiral Sir Sandy Woodward’s account of the Falklands War, One Hundred Days. Mr. Robinson has homes in Ireland and on Cape Cod. His military thrillers are, in publication order, Nimitz Class; Kilo Class; H.M.S. Unseen; U.S.S. Seawolf; The Shark Mutiny; Barracuda 945. Please visit www.patrickrobinson.com.
Also by Patrick Robinson
One Hundred Days
(with Admiral Sir John “Sandy” Woodward)
True Blue
Nimitz Class
Kilo Class
H.M.S. Unseen
U.S.S. Seawolf
The Shark Mutiny
Slider
Praise for Patrick Robinson
Jack Higgins: “An absolutely marvelous thriller writer.”
Carlo D’Este: “Patrick Robinson is a master craftsman of the technothriller. No one does it better — not even Tom Clancy.” (D’Este’s books are Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life and Patton: A Genius for War.)
Publishers Weekly: “His willingness to challenge the rigid boundaries of the military thriller is welcome, particularly as his writing stays always on its toes.”
Nimitz Class
The U.S.S. Thomas Jefferson is one of the most powerful warships in the world. A nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, it is believed to be impregnable. But when the Thomas Jefferson suddenly disappears at sea, the Pentagon is stunned. There was no warning. No apparent attack. And no survivors. All signs point to a nuclear accident. But subsequent reports suggest that a rogue submarine, armed with nuclear warheads, may be on the loose. Where did it come from? How could it get within striking distance of the Thomas Jefferson? Worse yet, where is it now? The deadly chase begins.
Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1985-89: “Nimitz Class is that rare combination of military thriller and tactical treatise. While capturing the excitement of naval operations, it also raises critical issues about the future of naval forces, terrorism, and the implications of the spread of weapons technology.”
Jack Higgins: “An absolutely marvelous thriller, one of the best things of its kind I have read in years. I don’t need to urge people to read it, because they will do so by the millions.”
San Francisco Examiner: “The best military thriller since The Hunt for Red October…Robinson has crafted a fast-paced, chilling, yet believable tale, peppered with unforgettable characters.”
Sunday Denver Post: “Rivals The Hunt for Red October in thrills.”
Clive Cussler: “Action follows action with menace piled on mystery on top of intrigue. Nimitz Class is a stunner that irreversibly hurtles the reader through explosions and deceptions from the first page to the exciting climax on the last.”
Captain Richard Sharpe, editor, Jane’s Fighting Ships: “A thundering good naval yarn. An enjoyable read, Nimitz Class has a more serious purpose — to draw attention to the worldwide peace keeping role being carried out by the U.S. Navy.”
Dallas Morning News: “A perfect nautical thriller: suspenseful, exciting, technically accurate, and plausible enough to be unnerving. For sailors and non-sailors alike it is the can’t-put-down geomilitary yarn for this summer’s reading.”
Publishers Weekly: “The rich detail here is impeccable, every bit the equal of Clancy’s…Readers will be engaged…by this cautionary tale.”
Kilo Class
The 240-foot, nuclear-armed Russian Kilo-class submarine is one of the stealthiest and most dangerous warships ever built. Beijing has ordered ten Kilos from the cash-strapped Russians. With three delivered and seven more Kilos on the way, the task before Admiral Arnold Morgan, newly appointed U.S. National Security Adviser, is nothing less than to save the Pacific Rim from Chinese control. Morgan sends the U.S. Navy’s deadliest covert force, the elite SEALs, to penetrate deep inside the remote waters of northern Russia on a daring mission of destruction. Meanwhile, a brave U.S. captain heads his 7,000-ton nuclear vessel beneath the north polar ice cap toward a formidable Russian cordon determined that the Kilos be delivered at any cost. In a tense game of geomilitary survival, the world’s three most powerful nations face all-out war.
Publishers Weekly: Gripping…A sure hit.”
Florida Times-Union: “Superb. Patrick Robinson is quickly replacing Tom Clancy as the preeminent writer of modern naval fiction.”
New London Day: “Compelling — because it’s believable.”
Kirkus Reviews: “Spectacular…Deserves wide sales to the technothriller crowd.”
H.M.S. Unseen
H.M.S. Unseen is one of the most efficient, lethal submarines ever built. Not the sort of weapon one wants to go astray. But on a training mission off the English coast, Unseen vanishes. Soon after, planes begin blowing up in mid-air. U.S. National Security Adviser Admiral Arnold Morgan is convinced that only one man can be responsible: a reportedly dead terrorist mastermind — and he is right. Morgan’s old nemesis is there, somewhere, in a million square miles of ocean, at the helm of Unseen, and he is determined to bring Morgan to a face-to-face confrontation.
Courier Times: “Robinson’s most suspenseful naval techothriller yet — a tense, unpredictable adventure that rivals the best of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown.”
Carlo D’Este, author of Patton: A Genius for War: “Patrick Robinson’s best book yet. H.M.S. Unseen, the third volume of his brilliant naval series set in the near future, is a dazzling, pageturning yarn that establishes its author as a master craftsman of the technothriller.”
Kirkus Reviews: “A…master of technothrillers…H.M.S. Unseen is far more smoothly written than [the works of] Tom Clancy.”
U.S.S. Seawolf
Using stolen U.S. military technology, the Chinese are producing a frightening new breed of ICBM weaponry. So U.S. National Security Adviser Admiral Arnold Morgan dispatches deep into the forbidden waters of the South China Sea the most advanced hunter-killer submarine in the U.S. fleet: the 9,000-ton, ultrasecret Seawolf—only to watch helplessly as an accident puts Seawolf under Chinese control. Morgan must then assemble the largest Special Forces assault group since Vietnam, to bring Seawolf, and her crew, home.
Stephen Coonts: “Robinson is one of the crown princes of the beach-read thriller. Clear the calendar when you buy U.S.S. Seawolf.”
Publishers Weekly: “Gripping…As usual, Robinson makes the impossible look easy and ratchets the tension higher and higher.”
The Shark Mutiny
In partnership with Iran, the Chinese navy is holding the world’s oil supply hostage. Now eighty percent of America’s active sea power is being mobilized — including U.S.S. Shark, an aging nuclear submarine on what was to have been its quiet final tou
r of duty. But during a Navy SEAL assault on China’s Indian Ocean power plants, a disaster occurs that spawns death, disbelief, rage — and mutiny aboard Shark. Featuring an ensemble cast — headed by U.S. National Security Adviser Admiral Arnold Morgan—The Shark Mutiny moves from the secretive heart of the Chinese high command; to the control room of a U.S. submarine; to the screaming flight decks of the great aircraft carriers; all the way to a United States Navy court-martial. Epic in its sweep, meticulous in its authenticity, breathtaking in its pacing, The Shark Mutiny is the most dramatic story of rebellion on the high seas since The Caine Mutiny.
The Baltimore Sun: “There are plenty of twists and turns…The action whizzes along so quickly, and the story line is ingenious.”
Soundings: “Robinson again will have readers staying up way past their bedtimes in order to find out what happens next…Thrilling and terrifying…We can only hope reality is nowhere near as interesting.”
Barracuda 945
When a commanding officer of the UK’s Special Air Service (SAS), Major Ray Kerman, vanishes during a bloody skirmish in the Palestinian quarter of Hebron, it cannot be presumed that he is dead — especially when two of Kerman’s advisors are discovered murdered in a style that is consistent with SAS techniques. Has Kernan himself joined with the terrorist group Hamas? The evidence against Kerman becomes overwhelming to U.S. National Security Advisor Admiral Arnold Morgan as Hamas makes repeated strikes on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with a sophistication previously undemonstrated. Confirmation comes with the seizing of a Russian Barracuda 945, one of the world’s most sophisticated submarines: it can fire cruise missiles with lethal accuracy and remain submerged — for years, if necessary. Hamas, Syria, Iran, and China all appear to be players as the Barracuda slices invisibly toward America’s West Coast…
The Guardian (UK): “Robinson has been called the British Tom Clancy, but I’d describe him as the new Frederick Forsythe. Barracuda 945 has the precision and momentum of Day of the Jackal, except that this jackal has an identity. He’s…SAS…turned Muslim terrorist whose global exploits make bin Laden look amateur.”
Critical Acclaim for Nimitz Class
“A rarity…. The book reeks with authenticity.”
— Houston Chronicle
“The best military thriller since The Hunt for Red October…. Robinson has crafted a fast-paced, chilling, yet believable tale, peppered with unforgettable characters.”
— San Francisco Examiner
“A perfect nautical thriller: suspenseful, exciting, technically accurate, and plausible enough to be unnerving. For sailors and non-sailors alike, it is the can’t-put-down geomilitary yarn for this summer’s reading.”
— Dallas Morning News
“Clever…. Rivals The Hunt for Red October in thrills.”
— Sunday Denver Post
“Thriller fiction at its best — a tale based on a premise too horrible to contemplate but too plausible to ignore…. Riveting.”
— New London Day
“The rich detail here is impeccable, every bit the equal of Clancy’s…. Readers will be engaged…by [t]his cautionary tale.”
— Publishers Weekly
“A thundering good naval yarn…an enjoyable read. Nimitz Class has a more serious purpose, to draw attention to the worldwide peace keeping role being carried out by the U.S. Navy. We must hope that a ‘Nimitz Class’ type of incident, which every professional sailor will recognize as extreme but plausible, would not shake American resolve.”
— Captain Richard Sharpe, Editor, Jane’s Fighting Ships
“The reader is almost a part of the adventure, sitting at the right hand of those masterminding the operation. Nimitz Class brought back some real-life experiences for me.”
— J. Daniel Howard, former undersecretary of the Navy
“Nimitz Class is that rare combination of military thriller and tactical treatise. While capturing the excitement of naval operations, it also raises critical issues about the future of naval forces, terrorism, and the implications of the spread of weapons of mass destruction. I strongly suggest that all military professionals read this book, not only for the issues it confronts, but for the sheer enjoyment of a great book.”
— William J. Crowe Jr., former U.S. ambassador to Great Britain
Credits
Illustrations by ML Design
Cover design by Gene Mydlowski and Richard Hasselberger
Cover illustration © 1997 by Danilo Ducek
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