Reddit mentions: The best naval history books

> how much time I waste on stupid shit

This was my main frustration with myself back in uni and I have since developed a number of strategies for using my time better. These strategies re-enforce each other but fall into 4 categories:

1. Take care of your body and mind
   
   

• Have good sleep hygiene. I need 8.5 hours of sleep a night to be at my best. Figure out what that number is for you and follow through on it. An extra hour of wakefulness is a waste of time if it makes you 40% less effective the next day. Also, go to sleep and wake up at the same time every night. I find it useful to wear an $8 sleeping mask and play rainymood when I sleep. If I have a night when I'm feeling anxious or my brain is keeping me up, I listen to a boring audiobook.
  
  
• Exercise: Doing 30 solid minutes of exercise a day makes my brain better at focusing and helps improve my energy levels without caffeine.
  
  
• Food: High-protein and prefer whole-wheat pasta over white. An Instant pot or MealPrepSunday tactics are great for making healthy food cheaply and quickly.
  
  
• I find that doing Contra Dance rejuvinates me. Find a thing that does that for you.
  
  

2. Block distractions
   
   Use tools that make distraction less likely.
   
   

• Freedom.app is the most cross-platform. it costs money, but if you have a minimum-wage job, it pays for itself even if it only saves you 15 minutes of wasted time per month.
  
  
• On OSX, the app SelfControll is also useful.
  
  
• You can block the Hot Network Questions on StackOverflow
  
  You wouldn't put cookies in front of someone on a diet. Don't do that to yourself.
  
  

3. Make your tasks clearer
   
   

• When you get an assignment or problem set, quickly look through it and ask any questions that come to mind about how you would approach it. Draft an email with those questions and, if you think there are any that don't fall into "I can just answer this myself with a bit of digging", send those to the TA. Then don't touch the problem set until at least tomorrow. This helps you avoid procrastinating on something only to find that. ^(note: I never did this one in uni. This is a version of what I've done with contracting. Take with salt.)
  
  
• Part of the skill of doing a task is shaping the task to fit your brain. Notice the things that make programming make more sense to you and do more of them.
  
  
• List out all the things you don't understand or that scare you about a task.
  
  
• When you get stuck, writing out a clear question to a TA or coworker to unblock yourself. As you write, you might realize the answer.
  
  
• Keeping a notebook of thoughts as you solve a problem or debug something makes it easier both to come back to the task you were working on and to remember your solutions.
  
  
• Blocking out specific tasks on google calendar is a took I've used in the past that has been good. Just don't expect your time estimates to have any relationship with reality. The goal is to help you explicitly mono-task.
  
  
• For programming, Test Driven Development is a great productivity tactic as long as you have something clear to follow about how to set up a test framework/development environment. For python, This book is great. It also teaches web programming.
  
  

4. Build discomfort tolerance
   
   For a long time, I focused on categories 1 through 3. While those help tremendously, you still need discipline. For a long time, I thought "discipline" was yelling at yourself like you had a 10-inch R. Lee Ermey on your shoulder. Nope. Discipline means knowing the things to say to yourself to get yourself to do the right thing, then actually saying it, then actually doing it. The good thing is that you can, right now, figure out what you've got between yourself practice saying it.
   
   

• You might be afraid to get started because you suck at the thing. First, accept that you suck. If you are new to doing something, you do suck at it and that is totally fine. However, doing things you suck at is still really uncomfortable. You're going to have to say to yourself "I'm currently not very good at this, but its okay to do things I'm not good at and I can understand more difficult things that I think."
  
  
• When you get up in the morning, make your bed. It is quick and it subtly re-enforces to yourself that you are the sort of person who gets things done. Another thing that can help with this is keeping a log of the things that you learned so that you have more confidence in yourself.
  
  
• If you find that you are procrastinating on a task, then first ask "what is the impact of doing this assignment?". If it actually has a positive impact ("I'll understand SVDs better and its part of my grade", "I'll be able to get Julia the part of the project on time", etc) then just say to yourself "well, this kinda sucks, but this needs to be done." The Pomodoro Technique is usually good for getting yourself started.
  
  
• You will have a Saturday when you realize at 4pm that you've spent the whole day on Reddit. When this happens, do a few things: Realize that it wasn't the whole day, just the whole day so far. Enable whatever reddit-blocker you have. Then, go do some dishes to reassert your ability to do things. Then, on paper, write down 3 things you could accomplish that day. Focus for 2 hours on one of those things. Once you've done that, you'll be mostly out of your rut.
  
  
• I find this quote by an admirer of Winston Churchill really useful: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
  
  Lastly, I'll leave you with this link to a post on how motivation might work as a function of your confidence in being able to accomplish the task. Most of what I've posted above is really about increasing that confidence directly or indirectly. http://slatestarcodex.com/2018/02/07/guyenet-on-motivation/

>bigger navy's

I don't think there were any larger navies, really. All of my books are packed up at the moment, but I am pretty sure the Royal Navy was, by far, the largest. It came at a price, though. The British army, by comparison, was small and much less effective. The British could afford to neglect their land forces, by comparison, because they for the most part, no longer had enemies that could invade by land.

Because of this, too, especially during the Napoleonic Wars, British sailors and officers were much more experienced than their Spanish and French counterparts, partly because the French Revolution decimated the French naval officer corps, and because French military ships spent most of their time bottled up in port by the British blockade. So, it is why Nelson wanted to sail in close with the French and Spanish at Trafalgar, trusting to superior British gunnery (In that they could fire much faster, thanks to experience) and the greater skill of his officers, to overcome the relatively inexperienced Combined fleet.

The French, on the other hand, had to maintain a large army because they were constantly fighting wars in Europe, specifically against their Habsburg rivals in Austria.

Nor did they always win. The most important example of this is the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781, which led to the French blockading Cornwallis in Yorktown, and his eventual surrender during the American Revolution.

In any case, I'm not too knowledgeable about how promotion in the French navy of the period worked (And would love if someone could fill me in on it), but the British had a semi-meritocratic system of filling their officer corps and promotion. British officers started out essentially as apprentice officers, midshipmen. To get their first real promotion, they had to pass an examination conducted by superior officers to achieve the rank of lieutenant, and then had to either distinguish themselves, get lucky, or have family connections in order to receive a post-captainship. Though, once they got there, promotion was determined only by seniority, and as long as they did not die or disgrace themselves, they would eventually end up an admiral.

So, I think it, generally, was a result of Britain's focus on its naval assets (which none of the other powers did to the same extent), it's system of semi-meritocratic promotion, and really, just luck in some of the people that ended up in the Royal Navy, such as Horatio Nelson.

This is really a question that can't be answered in such a short post. There are tons of books about the subject. Some works that are on the general subject are Command at Sea: Naval Command and Control since the Sixteenth Century, pretty much any of the books by N.A.M Rodgers on the subject. John Keegan also talks a bit about it in his chapter on Trafalgar in The Price of Admiralty

I hope the post helps. I don't think I really can do it justice in this format, though. Plus, I just kinda woke up, so I am not sure if my brain is completely on at this moment!

Read up on the adventures and misadventures of real pirates! The best inspiration is real life, and while many accounts are embellished, exaggerated, or flat out fabricated, they are all neat stories that have survived because they are compelling. I took a class my freshman year of college, and there are lots of good (and cheap) scholarly books you can use like Villians of All Nations, Bandits at Sea, and Pirates, The Complete History from 1300 BC to Present Day. These can be a wonderful source of neat ideas, not just for sidequests but the mainquest and worldbuilding. If you don't want to read any of these, feel free to ask any questions you might have and I'll answer them as best I can. I'll include some of the more ready-made sidequests below.

Allegedly, Benjamin Hornigold and his crew once boarded a ship, but according to the crew "did us no further injury than the taking most of our hats from us, having got drunk the night before, as they told us, and toss'd theirs overboard." Seems like an easy jump for a pirate captain to enlist your players in acquiring new hats after drunken shenanigans.

Another time, Hornigold and Blackbeard allegedly hunted a prize specifically because of it's cargo of Madeira wine, which they and their crews enjoyed. Booze is closely associated with pirates, and tracking down a rare kind of wine, spirit, or rum sounds like a fun sidequest.

Again, many of these stories are probably fake, drawn from sensational contemporary newspapers that were unreliable at best, or from Captain Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates (1724). Johnson is a pseudonym, but his work is one of the biggest influences on the depiction of pirates in pop culture, and has some fun stuff in it.

Boyo? Hahaha I'm being trolled by an 1890 Top Hat dude with a handlebar moustache. Sing us a Barbershop song, Sport!

Anyhooo....

AoN was invented in the US with the Standard class of BB's. AoN does not mean that the bow and stern of the ship had no armored bulkheads, as you said here:

>She had an All or Nothing scheme, which means the bow had little if any armor.

On American BBs, the forward and aft bulkhead were generally of the thickness of the armor belt, hence... wait for it... "All or Nothing"

All or Nothing means you do not add 'medium' armor thickness as on a Japanese Fuso or RN Queen Elizabeth or US New York Class. You either have the maximum thickness of plate practical, or no armor at all. All. or. Nothing.

Typical American Standard BBs included a 13.5" armor belt, and a forward and aft bulkhead of 13.5". In most cases, this armor was tapered from the belt/deck armor end to meet the barbette, which, again, had about 13.5" of armor.

This rule was violated in the US with the intallation of I believe a 15" forward plate in USS Wisconson. Other Iowa class BB's had a typical 12.2" forward bulkhead.

So the Richeleau had a thinner forward bulkhead, but by not means is it 'little' armor, and in being not the same thickness as the belt, actually deviates from the All or Nothing scheme.

U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History Friedman Hardcover

[Battleships: Allied Battleships in World War II 1st Edition Robert O. Dulin Jr., William H. Garzke Jr. ] (https://www.amazon.com/Battleships-Allied-World-War-II/dp/0870211005)

I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you have some reading to do.

Do not take your cues on BB design from World of Warships. It's a game. In fact, true AoN armor schemes are nearly impenetrable from the bow, including the Iowa, Montana, and Yamato class ships. In fact, due to the great deal of STS armor plate included in the two final US classes designed, it would be nearly impossible for a Yamato to penetrate several layers of 1/2", 1-1/2", and 1" STS armor plate, at an angle, and not be disturbed to maintain enough APC integrity to pierce the forward bulkhead. This causes some frustration for those of us who have studied the relevant history of American BBs, and the relative weakness of most IJN APC rounds, but then, it's just a game.

Have a good day!

Edit: I'd like to add, the STS 'armor plate' used in the construction of the Iowa class ships does not include stringers or support beams. All other ships, including other US ships besides the Iowa and Montana classes, used marine-grade steel for decks and bulkheads. In those two classes, decks and bulkheads are often made of STS, or Special Treatment Steel, 118,500 psi tensile. It's essentially Class B armor. So while the Yamato was constructed of mild steel, and had armor plates, the Iowa and Montana classes are actually made out of armor plate. By comparison, modern American warships, as good a standard as any, are constructed of HY80, or steel with 80,000 psi tensile. Of course, modern steel is more consistent and more importantly, has a greater 'give to yield' envelope than STS made in the 1930s. Still, the lavish use of STS in Iowa and Montana class plans and construction means these ships are incredibly stout, much more so than Wikipedia armor statistics can convey. In short, WoW is an arcade game, and the final two classes of American BBs are the finest possible way to construct a Battleship, regardless of fire-control or damage control practice or any other oft-mentioned US superiority. The fabric of the ships themselves is vastly superior to any other BB ever constructed or conceived. They are literally Superweapons.

Not an audio book, but one that was recommended to me a few years ago. It’s called Nelson’s Blood: The Story of Naval Rum.

So Admiral Nelson was revered by his crew. According to lore, he died at sea and his crew wanted him to have a proper burial. So they preserved him in a barrel of rum until they reached England, then drank the rum from the barrel. There’s a popular cocktail in the Caribbean called Nelson’s Blood, which is named for the story. I was fascinated by that and picked up this book as a result.

While that account is likely bullshit, this book gives an excellent account of the history of rum rations in the British Royal Navy — and how the cutting of those rations led some to defect and join spice crews. This inspired the interpretation of pirates we see in popular culture.

Fascinating book with a lot of great anecdotal history. I was a podcaster for a while and have considered producing an audiobook version for my friends who don’t like to read print. Highly suggested if you’re into pirates.

Nelson's Blood: The Story of Naval Rum (Bluejacket Books) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1557506663/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_tv9RCb0GQAQ9Z

Yay Andy Levin!

http://warofthewhales.com


https://www.amazon.com/War-Whales-A-True-Story/dp/1451645015/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394926815&sr=8-1&keywords=war+of+the+whales

Reviews

>As War of the Whales…makes convincingly clear, the connection between naval sonar and deadly mass strandings of whales is scientifically undeniable…a strong and valuable narrative. Source: Washington Post, 50 Notable Books 2014

>A fascinating read and incredibly informative. This is a powerful book and will be of great interest to anyone concerned with marine mammal protection, the uneasy balance between the competing desires for national security and environmental protection, or the messy politics of scientific inquiry. Author: HOWARD ERNST, Professor of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy Source: Navy Proceedings Magazine

>Horwitz delivers a powerful, engrossing narrative that raises serious questions about the unchecked use of secrecy by the military to advance its institutional power. Author: Kirkus starred review Source: Best Nonfiction Books of 2014

> A gripping, brilliantly told tale of the secret and deadly struggle between American national security and the kings of the oceans. At once thrilling and heartbreaking, this is a landmark book of deep, original reporting which could alter forever how we view our role as stewards of the seas. Author: Bob Woodward

The hood had some redesigns because of Jutland, but only so much could be done so late in the process. She still represented largely pre-jutland thinking.

>Steel

I mention steel somewhat metaphorically. An enormous amount of time, money, material, and labor when into the Bismark and Tirpitz, and those resources could almost certainly have been put to better use. Maybe not tanks, perhaps, but definitely something.

>Strangely I've never really looked at American designs since i tend to focus on everyone else.

Norman Friedman has an excellent series covering the history of US warship design with a volume for every class of ship, with much reference to foreign designs as well. It's expensive, but utterly fantastic. Those books are what got me interested in ship design. He also has a pair of shorter, more introductory book cataloging the history of battleship design, looking at what every country did, and a second one for aircraft carriers. It is quite detailed, but makes a point of explaining esoteric concepts like metacentric height. I read the more detailed history first, but would suggest doing the opposite.

What I find interesting is that in the US the submarine service is very tight lipped, but in Russia (especially post Soviet Union) they're much more open about it. I have extended family who are/were in the US Navy and other military branches, including a cousin who was the intelligence officer for an aircraft carrier group, and his son is currently deployed on a sub somewhere. None of my family members talk very much about their service. Those that do pretty much only talk about things that happened 50+ years ago.

I remember when the book Blind Mans Bluff came out, which explored the history of the US submarine service, and went into detail about a number of missions pulled off by them from the 50's up through the late 80's. It detailed how US subs were venturing into Soviet territories on a regular basis to tap undersea telephone cables on a regular basis, etc. When my dad asked a friend who was a former sub commander about the book his response was "Heads should roll for what was discussed in that book".

On the other hand, my understanding is that the authors of books like Hostile Waters, which documents a near meltdown of a reactor in a Soviet submarine, had very little problem meeting with and talking to some of the surviving crew members of that submarine.

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson.

From the book description: In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery–and make history themselves.

The audio book is particularly good with great narration by Michael Prichard with his raspy and dramatic voice.

http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B002V57VVS&qid=1348609611&sr=1-1

There are some terrific books on simple boatbuilding. A great place to start is the book Instant Boats and this one by Gavin Atkin. For a really simple design look into a Puddle Duck - single sheet of plywood, can be built in a weekend.

I hate when people on Reddit crap on somebody who's just trying to learn as much as the next guy, but you need to burn this in a firepit and start over, friend.

You can't just wing this, it's not gonna go well, it's really not. Your single biggest issue here is the weight of all that lumber, if nothing else.

[EDIT]: As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, Hannu's site has some terrific free plans. Just for the love of all that's holy don't wing it. And use plywood stringers, 2x4's are way too heavy.

Hi there, I am not a professional naval historian (my master's was in American history, post civil war) but I have read quite a bit on the topic. Several books come to mind:

• I second the Massie recommendations. Here are Amazon links:
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Dreadnought-Robert-K-Massie/dp/0345375564/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370960465&sr=1-1&keywords=dreadnought+massie
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Castles-Steel-Britain-Germany-Winning/dp/0345408780/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370960472&sr=1-6
  
  
• The British historian N.A.M. Rodger has written two naval histories of Britain, which are very accessible. Rodger does a good job of balancing strategy and tactics with the political and bureaucratic matters that make a navy efficient.
  
  The Safeguard of the Sea:
  http://www.amazon.com/Safeguard-Sea-History-Britain-660-1649/dp/0393319601/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370960428&sr=1-3
  
  The Command of the Ocean:
  http://www.amazon.com/The-Command-Ocean-History-1649%C2%AD-1815/dp/0393060500
  
  
• John Keegan wrote a short book, The Price of Admiralty, focusing on the naval battles of Trafalgar, Jutland, Midway, and the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/0140096507
  
  
• There are any number of books on Midway, but one that I enjoyed is Shattered Sword, by Parshall and Tully. They delved deeply into Japanese archives and reconstructed details of flight operations and naval SOP to illuminate the battle in a way that I had not seen before:
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Shattered-Sword-Untold-Battle-Midway/dp/1574889249
  
  And, of course, if you want fiction, both the Horatio Hornblower and the Aubrey-Maturin series are good reads. A-M is a bit more modern lit; Hornblower is entertaining but starts to read a bit older.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Hornblower
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey–Maturin_series
  
  I hope this helps. When I get home I'll take a look at my shelves and see what else comes to mind.

What kind of facilities do you have access to bud? Any weights, or is it all bodyweight?

Stew Smith is the man with all things prep-fitness-related.

You may check out Military Athlete as well; they have programs for literally every school on the planet. The unscrupulous may be able to find some of the PDFs online without paying for them.

Finally, Tactical Barbell is pretty cool.

I'm not familiar with BA Airborne pipeline or what's emphasized. US Airborne School is running and pullups, basically. It's not a particularly physically demanding course. There's also jumpmaster school which has one of the highest attrition rates for schools, but that's not physically taxing, it just requires 100% scores.

But any of those resources should help you find a workable program. Pretty much any 3-day strength/resistance training program followed by 30-60 minutes of HIIT should plug into your schedule fairly well.

Finally (and obviously) – don't drink. Drink to celebrate after you've finished. You don't want to get run down, fuck your times up, get sick, or not be on your game. Beer will still be there in a month.

Keep at it and keep your head down.

EDIT: Somebody here can probably say with more certainty but when I seem to remember something about staying in shape during fleet basic in the excellent but fairly obvious Breaking BUD/S.

Keegan's History of Warfare touches on maritime power, but his Price of Admiralty is very good, and much more focused on Naval history. If you want a great memoir of WW2 in the Pacific, I'd recommend With the Old Breed by Sledge although this is the Marines, not the Navy specifically.

U-boat.net for a very good online source on German submarines in both World Wars, more encyclopedic than a book, however.

Wolfpack and Battle of the Atlantic are two very readable and good books for a general overview, but there are certainly more academic or exhaustive books as well.

The U-boat War is an oldie but a goodie, written by the same person who wrote das Boot, the fictional counterpart.

On the American side, several submariners wrote very good memoirs. Thunder Below by Eugene Fluckey gives a great overview of both life at sea in an American submarine in the Pacific, but also of operational details, how the patrols worked, etc.

Military academy and wall street a-hole here...here's my take. Your mileage may vary.

First and foremost, there is no substitute for initiative. Well done. It may make you seem like a keener to people who are less committed to succeeding but, in my opinion, it is the first step to leading.

The second step is a desire (passion) for outworking everybody. Cultivate it in yourself. Commit to doing it everyday. Embrace the grind.

Now for the hard part...where it becomes more of an "art" than a science...

The best leaders I've been around in life and sports practiced servant leadership. It seems counter-intuitive and your work will never be done but servant leadership is the tide that lifts all boats and if can make it part of who you are it will serve you well in sports and life. Even if you're on a team with a bunch of losers who don't get on board it is a tremendous character builder and you'll be a better person for it.

How to begin:

Always be the first one at practice and the last to leave.

If there's "shitty" or "not fun" job to do, always be the first to jump on it and recruit help when you need it...don't try to do it all yourself...that's a "hero", not a "leader" and will eventually burn you out. Do that shitty job everyday with a positive attitude. When a shittier job shows up, jump on that and delegate others to do the less shitty work you were working on. (shagging balls after practice, lining fields, setting goals up, keeping the locker room clean, gathering the team for talks from the coach, etc). If you can't find anything that needs doing, ask your coach if he's got anything. Do this every day.

When someone is struggling be the first to jump in and help/coach them up, always positive and always working harder than anyone else. Do this everyday.

Personally, I fucked it up when i was a player. I busted my ass, I was first and last at practice every day, I jumped on the shitty jobs and did all of that stuff but I failed because I was not positive with teammates who were struggling. I rode their asses like dogs because I thought that's what leadership was and I regret it a lot. If a guy is struggling the last thing he needs is some hard charging teammate berating him. Doesn't mean you have to coddle a struggling player, stay on him just keep it positive. Help him figure out a way to get it done, whatever "it" is. Always be looking out for the little guy. If you can help a bench player contribute, you've improved your team and helped yourself.

Good luck!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership



EDIT:
If this resonates with you in any way I recommend you spend a couple bucks on amazon and grab one or both of these books:

https://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Dong-Ha-Bluejacket-Books/dp/155750587X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473342236&sr=8-1&keywords=bridge+at+dong+ha

https://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/055338368X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473342915&sr=8-1&keywords=gates+of+fire

One is nonfiction the other is fiction based on real history. Both are great reads.

Read this:

The Relationship Guy. Jack was my best friend at OCS and a physical stud. He was the ideal 5′10″, 200 lb, thick-necked, strong legged, Academy guy. He was raised in Maine as a member of the Polar Bear Club, so icy water didn’t even phase him, and he knew a great deal about BUD/S, SQT, and the Teams. We all, Jack included, thought he was a shoe-in. While under a boat in Indoc, Jack actually choke-slammed a pathetic member of his boat crew into the sand a few times until that guy (who we’ll talk about in a minute) quit. Jack was legit until he quit 3 hours into Hell Week, during a short Surf Torture after the last Log PT ever, of all things. Because of his girlfriend of 3 months (who had recently promoted herself to fiancee). Rewind a few months.

Jack was a great guy until we got a cell phone access at the end of OCS, when he ceased to exist. He was on the phone with this girl constantly, having the most emasculating phone calls one could ever imagine:

“What did you have for dinner?” “Oh, was it good?” “What did you have for desert?” “Well you should get ice cream then” “What flavor? I don’t know. What flavor do you want?” “Then you should get chocolate.” “One scoop or two? I think one.” “Okay, then get two scoops honey.” BARF.

I shared a room with Jack in BUD/S and spoke to him less in a month than I had in any given day of OCS. No joke. The kid was beyond reclamation and it showed. By the time we started First Phase, Jack was talking about marrying this girl during SQT. She came out to visit from the east coast on a regular basis, draining his bank account at an alarming rate. He proposed and they set a date for sometime in the middle of SQT when he thought he might be able to get a weekend off. He was so distracted that, at the beginning of Hell Week all he could think about was that she was too high-maintenance to deal with him being a SEAL. So he quit.

He was processed out of the Navy and got married while his class was in Kodiak, AK. (If he hadn’t quit, he would’ve got married while his class was in Alaska during his wedding, for which he’d already paid non-refundable deposits at his new wife’s insistence. Which shows he - at least subconsciously - knew he wouldn’t make it). After months and months of feigning happiness, he finally came to terms with his regret and is trying to join the Army Special Forces. I hope he makes it, but I can tell you one thing for sure: if it wasn’t for the woman, Jack would be a Team Guy already.

What do we learn from Jack’s failure?

• Get your household in order. BUD/S is enough on its own. You don’t need to add anything more to your plate. If your girlfriend can’t deal with the hours, stress, or you absence, get rid of her. Despite how awesome you think your girlfriend is, this probably (statistically) applies to you. I’m not saying don’t have a girlfriend when you’re going through. I did, and she was wonderful. She made me food at all hours and helped me prep uniforms for inspections. Good women do exist, but yours probably can’t handle BUD/S. And if she can’t handle BUD/S, she most certainly cannot handle life in the Teams. Save yourself the stress and heartache and do some honest thinking about her expectations and needs. If she’s not going to make it, cut her off now so you don’t have to deal with THAT on top of the stresses of BUD/S.
  
  
• Fully understand your commitments. Jack was dumb in any number of ways, not the least of which was his expectations of life after BUD/S. he scheduled his wedding for a weekend when we’d probably be in SQT. He scheduled it during Basic Orientation/Indoc. See any glaring problems with this? One: how did he know he wouldn’t be rolled once or twice along the way, resulting in his being in BUD/S when he was supposed to get married? He didn’t. Two: how did he know that weekend, even if he HAD made it to SQT, would be available? In reality if he hadn’t quit or been rolled, he would have been on Kodiak Island in Alaska on the day he’d reserved that adorable little chapel in Cambridge. There is no excuse for this level of stupidity. Either he subconsciously knew he was going to quit, or he had no grasp of the commitment he was going to have to make in order to become a SEAL.
  
  
• Don’t make big decisions during BUD/S. BUD/S is mental; it is the world’s most effective mindfuck. You will not be in any condition, despite what you think, to make a big decision. You’re not even going to be in a condition to decide whether you ‘actually’ want to be a SEAL, which is why I’ve told you to make your mind up Before you get to BUD/S. If you can’t even make a good decision regarding the very thing you do all day and night, how do you expect to be able to make a good decision about anything else? Do not get engaged. Do not ask for a divorce. Do not try to have a child. Here are the decisions you WILL get to make: What should I eat for breakfast? What should I eat for lunch? What should I eat for dinner? How long should I stretch before I got to bed? How much more water should I drink? What should I do this weekend to recover and decompress before next week kicks me in the teeth? If you try to make a decision beyond the scope of these questions, you are wrong. Being wrong very often results in ringing a bell three times and hanging your head for the rest of your life.

i'd guesstimate the hull length to be around 30ft. I'd say it's closest to some sort of racing (as opposed to cruising) trimaran, so if one were to copy that thing exactly, there would probably be minimal hull volume. More like a bunch of gigantic kayaks than anything else.

I'm currently finishing up a small skiff- cheap, and I've learned a lot about the process. If you want to start boatbuilding/sailing, there's a lot of nice options. When I was doing my research, I somehow got a PDF of Gavin Atkin's Ultrasimple Boatbuilding, and would recommend.

With regards to having space, there's a bunch of designs under 8ft that would fit indoors, and I've seen some people simply add shelves in winter.

Also, one of the simplest 8ft boats I've seen is the PDRacer (or OzRacer). Looks like a box, but teaches the skills, and apparently sails astoundingly well for its looks.

I'll just go ahead and leave this right here http://www.amazon.com/The-Royal-Navy-Napoleonic-Era/lm/31C0AQAP2Z11 I highly recommend books 2-5, and you can download the first book from Gutenberg (I think).

http://www.amazon.com/Patrick-OBrians-Navy-Illustrated-Companion/dp/0762415401 Pictures... purty

SPOILERS for A-M and (minor) Hornblower
I don't think there's any fiction that is more accurate than O'Brian (on any subject anywhere for that matter), but Forrester's Hornblower series is worth reading for more "naval life". Hornblower and Aubrey were even on station together for the capture of the Spanish treasure frigates! Hornblower does a Hornblowery thing though and laughs when Aubrey gets screwed out of the treasure a mere political point.

Lastly for some quick mindless fun plus tall ship video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze8Y1gokHyA

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp9hsQpB3zA (all four parts are in the related videos, and all worth it)

Werner shall we say embellished a few details in Iron Coffins. Still a great read, though. If you liked that one, try out Steel Boats, Iron Hearts, written by a crewman on U-505, which now resides in a museum in Chicago. Another great sub story was Thunder Below, which I actually thought was so great they could make it into a movie.

Here’s the backstory: I went to check out/purchase this Evo+ unit this morning. It actually had more optional features installed than I expected, so I was pretty psyched. When the seller opened up the hardshell on the back, I noticed a name inscribed on the scrubber canister – a name I recognized. Turns out that the original owner was John Chatterton, host of Deep Sea Detectives on the History Channel and author of Shadow Divers, one of my favorite diving related books. FTW!!!

This book was written by WW2 captain and its awesome!
We had the ww2 battleflag in our mess hall. Pretty awesome.

Do you have both Thedas books? The second one is also great.

I gifted the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Characters and World Compendium to a friend and he seemed to like it very much.
There are a lot of similar things for Tolkiens universe.

My personal favourite companion book is Patrick O'Brians Navy.

Seaman ship in the age of sail is a good one.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0870219553?pc_redir=1395279573&robot_redir=1

The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor is marvelous aswell
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0486402207/ref=pd_aw_sims_1?pi=SL500_SY115
And if your interested about knots
The Marlinespike Sailor
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0070592187/ref=pd_aw_sims_6?pi=SL500_SY115

That 2002 incident they keep mentioning was recently a book. War of the Whales. I've read it and it's wonderful. I highly recommend it to whale lovers.

It's the weekend

This book would be great.

I am preparing myself for the road ahead. To become a Navy SEAL. And with books and SEALs to talk to, I have an advantage.

I am using all information that is given to me through books.

Thanks for the contest!

Right now I'm reading Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson. I really enjoyed some of his other books but I feel like I'm slogging through this one. There are parts that are very intense and interesting ... and then there are the other parts which seem to just drag on.

I think everyone should read With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge. Even if they're not "in to" war or anything like that. It is an excellent story from the perspective of an infantry Marine about the battle of Peleliu and Okinawa in WWII. They were possibly the bloodiest battles of the island hopping campaign. I don't think there has been any other book of similar nature has had the same effect on me.

For people who are "in to" non-fiction war books I suggest The Bridge at Dong Ha which is about John Ripley, a Marine in Vietnam who essentially saves the day singlehandedly. He's also the only Marine to be inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame.

For fictional war related books one of my favorites is Fields of Fire. Excellent story telling and I found myself really connecting with the characters. It has a great way of giving non-soldiers an understanding of the many reasons why people choose to serve, how they serve, and the struggles within.

Neptune's Inferno, by James D. Hornfischer gives a pretty in-depth depiction of what it was like, using interviews with veterans from both sides.

Most local libraries have a copy if you're interested.

One of my favorite books is Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375760989/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_UuWPub08PTZA4

True story that reads like fiction about extreme deep sea divers and the mystery they found at the very edges of what is humanely possible to dive.

Well then I strongly recommend going straight to the source and reading Thunder Below!. Written by Fluckey himself, this book is literally too insane to be made into a movie, because no one would believe it.

This is probably the best submarine story ever written. And there's cake.

Absolutely. I would direct you to this for a great history of US and Russian submarine operations. It also discusses the current state of the Russian (and US) submarine fleet. It's a very accurate and interesting resource.

It's kind of a niche genre but I too am a history buff. I'm also a certified scuba diver and my all time favourite book is Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson.

https://www.amazon.ca/Shadow-Divers-Adventure-Americans-Everything/dp/0375760989


It's the true story of a WWII U-Boat found off the coast of New Jersey by a couple of divers. The book jumps back and forth between present day while the divers are trying to figure out what the heck the wreck is and figure out how it got there, and the ships history.

I've probably read it half a dozen times now! History, real life adventure and scuba :)

Dude, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book. One of the best reads ever.

https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/dp/1610393589

Anything by Henry Petroski

Skunk Works by Ben Rich Military aircraft aren't really developed this way anymore, but the stories are amazing.

Blind Man's Bluff

I know he likes Dead Wake by Erik Larson

And of course 10% Happier by Dan Harris

Pasting my comment from a recent thread:

>Dean King's Sea of Words and Harbors and High Seas are pretty essential, I find.
>
>I also like Patrick O'Brian's Navy: An Illustrated Guide to Jack Aubrey's World, though it's more 'additional reading' than a must-have, for me.
>
>And of course, Lobscouse and Spotted Dog is the essential culinary companion, if you've a mind to spend some time in the galley and want to shout "Which it'll be ready when it's ready!" as authentically as possible.
>
>I've heard good things about the Patrick O'Brian Muster Book, but I haven't used it so I can't speak to it personally.

This is a pretty good read, too

Non-fiction for sure. I do really like history but sometimes its just too dense. I like to switch it up with non-fiction (or some sci-fi) that are kinda self-contained and only relate tangentially to larger events or just a lighter biography. Thinking Shadow Divers, The lost city of Z, Lost in Shangri-La, At Ease - Eisenhower or An American Doctor's Odyssey

Let me add another great suggestion ;-)

https://www.amazon.com/Battleship-Builders-Constructing-British-Capital/dp/1591140277

"The Battleship Builders".

A Patrick O'Brien book would be helpful, but one of the companions would be even better. For really basic stuff I'd check out this book

That sounds cool. Definitely gonna grab a copy.

Here's the Amazon link to "Blind Man's Bluff" for those that are interested in it.

Neptunes Inferno is pretty awesome. Its about the naval actions surround the Battle of Guadalcanal.

http://www.amazon.com/Neptunes-Inferno-U-S-Navy-Guadalcanal/dp/0553385127

>I'd still have some sort of low range ping to detect objects within like 20 feet.

The Los Angeles class subs (of which the USS San Francisco is a part of) is 362 ft long, 33 ft in diameter, displaces 6,900 tonnes, and has an official speed of 20 knots (which equals 33.8 ft per second). At that size and speed, they would need a couple thousand feet of detection range just to start to react, and a couple thousand more to actually avoid a collision. Any active sonar that would give a usable return at that distance is also powerful enough to be detected tens of miles away and thus give away the subs position.

>If there is an enemy sub 20 feet away...

If any sub is 20 feet away and it hasn't been heard on passive sonar then it is because it is dead in the water and a collision is less than 1 second away.

>What's the point of being a war sub that can't see nearby giant objects?

Depends on the type of sub. Missile boats basically just go park off someones coast and wait until they receive orders to launch their missiles towards preprogramed coordinates without ever seeing the target. Attack boats (like the San Fran) have a variety of rolls but generally speaking are not looking for silent terrain. Typically they are looking for other vessels, and they do that by listening for the sounds of machinery. Surface ships are noisy as fuck, and don't require any effort to track passively, but even really quiet subs can be tracked by a well trained passive sonar crew. Coastal defense boats are basically the same as attack boats, except they are smaller and have a more limited range. There are a few other types of subs, but the only type I can think of that might even remotely do what you suggest is sonar mapping subs, but those are not combat vessels and are typically operated by civilians.

I'm not really certain what else you think there would really be to "see". Terrain isn't normally a big problem in the ocean. It's just certain locations that should be indicated on depth charts that you would need to limit operating depth to stay safe and collision free. Else-wise, the ocean is pretty empty, and subs are surfaced when pulling into/out of harbor.

If you want to get a decent idea of what subs do, and how they operate, read the book Blind Mans Bluff. It's probably the most accurate non-classified accounting you will find. Also watch the movie Down Periscope. It's a comedy, and takes some Hollywood liberties, but gives a fair representation when it comes to looking around with sonar.

His book, Thunder Below! is apparently a great read for submariners.

Ghost in the Wires - The story of famed hacker Kevin Mitnick

Any Mary Roach Book if you like Science

In the Heart of the Sea - The true story behind Moby Dick

The Omnivore's Dilemma - A great walk through our food landscape

Gang Leader for a Day - Behavioral Economist embeds with a Chicago Gang

Shadow Divers - My first audiobook. It's a thriller about a scuba discovery of a Nazi Submarine on the Eastern US coast.

The Devil In The White City - A story about a serial killer at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893

Nicely done /u/whibbler. Do you know if Parche replaced Halibut vis-a-vis Blinds Man's Bluff and Operation Ivy Bells? I am curious how that timeline all fits together.

Shadow Divers is a great book about the discovery and subsequent identification of a U-Boat off the coast of New Jersey

Thank you for the book suggestion. I read Shadow Divers years ago and it sounds like Torpedo Junction should be right up my alley.

This! Submarines are really underrated tools of surveillance and intelligence. Just look up the USS Parche.

9 Presidential Unit Citations, and it's records are still sealed til this day. Also, shoutout to Blind Man's Bluff if you want to know more about the hush side of submarines!

>The cable isn't armoured so in theory someone could easily cut it and plug in a laptop to gain access to the house network for nefarious purposes.

Common things are common. It would be much more likely that someone would yank your cable out and take it to sell as scrap.

If there was an economic reason for you to have an armored guarded cable, you'd be able to afford an armored guarded cable.

It's much more likely someone will break into your home and steal stuff than someone would "tap into" an outdoor ethernet cable.

Incidentally, lightning hitting that cable, or near it, and destroying everything on your network is also much more likely than the Mission: Impossible team doing a cable tap.

The US Navy tapped into Soviet communications cables. It took AT&T and a billion dollar nuclear sub:

https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/dp/1610393589

Again, if you have super valuable data, an outdoor cable is not your first concern.

His other two are great as well.

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of her Survivors

Excepting any authors here, two classic books to recommend are Blind Man's Bluff (https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/dp/1610393589/) and, for the serious geeks, Cold War Submarines (https://www.amazon.com/Cold-War-Submarines-Construction-1945-2001/dp/1574885308/).

I don't normally read any fiction but I just read a brand new book called Arctic Gambit by Larry Bond and Chris Carlson (https://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Gambit-Jerry-Mitchell-Novel/dp/0765334925/) and I very much enjoyed it. Possibly a future classic.

The others are correct. The IJN was still convinced of the inevitability of the Decisive Battle that Mahan had espoused at the turn of the century. The entirety of their doctrine, excluding the Decisive Battle, was built around battles being at night and at close range.

They would launch their torpedos while still undetected at long range and then close with the enemy. It’s the same logic behind a Z 52 torping smoke and then charging that smoke, behind a wall of skill, to catch the DD off guard. The IJN hoped for two things. First, that the torpedoes would damage or sink enough ships to make a difference in numerical superiority. Second, that the other ships in the USN formation would turn and break formation making their gunfire much more ineffective and make single ships easier to pick off.

The USN doctrine put all of their eggs in the radar fire control basket. Unfortunately, many of the commanders didn’t trust the new technology, instead trusting their own, flawed, pre-war doctrine. For instance, Norman Scott had a cruiser with search radar but didn’t pick it because he thought a Heavy Cruiser was more befitting an Admiral. So, there was a huge delay in communication between ships and commanders at the Battle of Cape Esperance.

If you’re seriously interested in learning more I strongly suggest reading:

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553385127/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_LjBOAbQ8CTBFT

Hey, that's from Seamanship In The Age Of Sail! Here's a few other drawings that OP might enjoy:

http://imgur.com/a/gyvlj

If you're interested in the techniques behind this stuff, this is my favorite book on the subject: Harland's Seamanship in the Age of Sail.

It's worth owning if you're REALLY into it (or you do it for a job), but you should try finding it at a library or something. It's basically an owner's manual for an 18th century ship.

This book, The Battleship Builders, may be of some interest to you. It's fairly new, but its authors have a fine pedigree, and it may have some bibliographic or note refs you can follow up. There are others, old classics (like Breyer on conventional capital ships) but this might be of use.

Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375760989/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_Hhdfvb1PCVHAW

I cannot overstate how much I loved this book, and if maritime mysteries are your thing, stop reading this comment and find a copy!

People interested in diving and finding stuff, should read this book. It's totally awesome...

I saw this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Patrick-OBrians-Navy-Illustrated-Companion/dp/0762415401

linked on the wiki page here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy_ranks,_rates,_and_uniforms_of_the_18th_and_19th_centuries

There are some references at the bottom which may be useful, most notably Michael Lewis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lewis_%28naval_historian%29

and Brian Lavery:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Lavery

Reading a great book right now, Blind Mans Bluff.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0089EMLGK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

This is exactly right.

During Vietnam the USSR had subs tailing US CAG's with nuclear weapons...

The Sub force was meant to survive the initial exchange, and respond in kind. As theoretically, they were travelling undetected and safe from the initial strikes.

Shadow Divers

An incredible read, I highly recommend to anyone.

Highly recommend reading the book Shadow Divers . It talks about what it takes to dive to these depths and to explore uBoats.

Any one interested in this should read Neptunes Inferno: The story of American and Allied(Austrailian and New Zealand) Navies against the Japanese at Guadal Canal Absolutely mind blowing read thats not covered enough by most WW2 history sources.

This is a classic, I've read this over 5x last year while flying around for work.

I also highly recommend thunder below!, I would pay a lot for a premium USS Barb...

*typo

A beautiful photo for a fantastically crewed submarine.

For those of you that don't know her story, Thunder Below! was written by her skipper Eugene B. Fluckey and tells the tale of those 8 Battle Stars among other things.

If he likes WWII nonfiction, I would recommend A Higher Call and The Hiding Place. I also liked this book on submarine Cold War espionage called Blind Man's Bluff.

Neptune's Inferno was excellent, but not quite as riveting as Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.

Got started on At All Costs, but haven't yet dug in.

Whadda ya got for me?

Well, it's worth remembering that the term "Tall Ship" refers to any traditionally-rigged sailing vessel, which covers hundreds of years of evolution in sailing technology, hence the mechanics of sailing, say, the Roseway, a 1925 Gloucester fishing schooner, are vastly different from sailing the Kalmar Nyckel, a replica of 1625 Dutch pinnace.

That being said, the best book I can recommend is Seamanship in the Age of Sail. It's a modern book, but based on contemporary sources, gives a very thorough explanation of how a 17th-19th century Man-of-War would have been rigged, sailed, and manuevered.

If you guys liked this interview you should read Neptune's Inferno.

It's a book that tells the story of the USN at Guadalcanal, and it's built using first hand accounts like that of Captain Ruiz, Captain's Log, After Action Reports, and all sorts of sources, and it's blended into a book that really hits home about just how brutal the war at sea was, and how ordinary men can do extraordinary things when they have to.

I don't think any non-fiction has ever hit me quite the way that this book did, and it's because of stories just like Captain Ruiz's.

It's been done before, and probably many/most/all cables are monitored by someone.

For what it's worth, Blind Man's Bluff includes the story of the US tapping an underwater cable between Kamchatka and Vladivostok. The tap was found and is now on display in Moscow. Picture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ivy_Bells

Thunder Below, available on Amazon here.

to new depths.

Nope. US subs already did that 30-odd years ago.

https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/dp/1610393589

Also this is nice too.

Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World

Blind Man's Bluff.

Book - Patrick OBrians Navy - Illustrated Companion.

Different resource online.

If it does there is a small industry of books published to explain it all. Patrick O'Brian's Navy for example.

Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World https://www.amazon.com/dp/0762415401/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zbJ8yb6MBDKDG

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0870219553?pc_redir=1395279573&robot_redir=1

Also look up Seamanship in the Age of Sail

Here is the mobile version of your link

The best narrative, novel-style nonfiction writer out there is probably John Krakauer. Into Thin Air, his story of a Mt. Everest expedition gone very badly wrong, is probably my favorite of his, but the guy has never written a less-than-excellent book.

Along similar lines, Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson, about a bunch of amateur SCUBA divers exploring an old WWII submarine at the bottom of the Atlantic, is equally hard to put down.

If no one mentioned, and you haven't read it - you HAVE to read and internalize this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-BUD-Regular-formerly-Training-ebook/dp/B00AY59OS0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415927753&sr=1-1&keywords=breaking+buds

Speaking only for my specialty, Blind Man's Bluff is an excellent book.

It focuses on the Cold War, but you could easily apply it to whatever country you consider to be a threat to the U.S. today.

If you want more, read this insane book.

And then this one.

[Blind Man's Bluff] (https://www.amazon.ca/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/dp/1610393589) by Sherry Sontag covers (among other things) the loss of USS Scorpion, including the original search for the lost sub and the investigation into its loss.

... except the US Navy has been playing that game since the 1950s!

(Source: Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story Of American Submarine Espionage by Sherry Sontag.)

And cutting undersea cables as an act of war has been a real thing since, oh, August 5th, 1914.

Read James D. Hornfischer's books:

Neptune's Inferno - About Guadalcanal

The Fleet at Flood Tide - The Pacific campaign later in the war. I'm currently reading this.

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors - About Taffey 3 and battle off Samar

I read a book about the naval battles around Guadalcanal during WWII. Survivors of sinking ships would sometimes be killed by the shock of unsafed depth charges exploding as the ship, to which the charges were still attached, sank beneath their detonation depth. The shockwave would go up their butthole (no, really) and rupture Important Things™.

Neptune's Inferno is a must-read book for anyone interested in naval combat.