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26 of 27 found the following review helpful:
Eyeball to Eyeball with Nuclear TorpedoesSep 20, 2002
By C. Ryan
Just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Peter Huchthausen provides an "I was there" account of the Crisis from alternating perspectives of U.S. Navy destroyer crews attempting to enforce a blockade of Cuba and Soviet submarine crews that unknowingly stumble into the largest antisubmarine warfare force ever assembled during the Cold War. In 1962 Huchthausen was a junior officer on the American destroyer USS Blanding which hunted the Soviet submarines and inspected Soviet freighters withdrawing from Cuba with ballistic missiles.Other sources provide better overviews of the strategic and political aspects of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but the unique aspect of October Fury is the story, based on Huchthausen's interviews with former Soviet submarine officers, of what happens to four Foxtrot Class submarines when the USSR attempts to move them from their base near the Artic Circle to the port of Mariel in Cuba. The Foxtrot crews, unaware of the larger ongoing Soviet deployment of land-based ballistic and surface-to-air missiles, bombers and other forces to Cuba that will soon trigger the Crisis, depart the Kola Peninsula in early September 1962, with orders to make their way to Cuba while avoiding detection by American forces at all costs. As the submarines near the Bahamas in mid-October the U.S.-Soviet face off over Cuban-based nuclear weapons has commenced and the Foxtrots receive orders to cancel their voyage to Cuba and deploy instead to combat patrol stations in the Atlantic and Caribbean . The rest of the book details action over several days as the Soviet submarines vainly try to remain undetected while American destroyers and aircraft hound them mercilessly, trying to force them to surface and withdraw. There are several tense encounters between the Soviet submarines and their American tormenters that nearly result in actual combat. Huchthausen's writing would benefit from more editing to eliminate wordiness and repetitions (we're told three times that a pre-Crisis American military exercise was called "Ortsac, which is Castro spelled backward") and some of the dialog wording sounds improbable. The one small-scale chart showing the area of ocean and islands where the destroyer-submarine confrontations take place is grossly inadequate to help readers follow vessel movements as each side jockeys for advantage. And the former destroyer officer should have asked a submariner to edit the descriptions of submarine operations to correct some terms and details. Despite these shortcomings, I greatly enjoyed October Fury and recommend it to everyone interested in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cold War military topics, submarine adventure and signals intelligence (SIGINT). Huchthausen's depiction of the Soviets' ambitious intended military deployment in Cuba and the operations of the Soviet Navy and its submarine crews will fascinate Cold War buffs. Readers won't want to put down the dramatic, detailed, back and forth descriptions from submarine and destroyer crew perspectives as the Crisis builds up and fades away. This story has the potential to make a great movie. A Foxtrot submarine like those in this book is currently on display to the public in Seattle...
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 October FuryAug 30, 2002
While most people know the basics about the threatening events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, I think this is the first book I've read to really unfold how close we actually came to nuclear war. These pages tell the gripping, yet frightening, encounter of US and Russian submarines in a the historic showdown at sea. The author brings this all-too-real Cold War story to life, re-creating the dramatic and harrowing events. Any lover of naval, military, or modern history should not miss this book.
15 of 17 found the following review helpful:
A needed voice of sanityMar 01, 2003
By Jeffrey F. Bell
I bought this book because I was offended by the hype on the dust cover, which presented it as another Kennedy Court History in which the Cuban Missile Crisis is made to sound even more scary than it really was. It was a pleasant surprise to read a balanced account of Soviet submarine operations during the Crisis, which refutes many of the exaggerated claims still being made about the possibility of unauthorized use of tactical nukes. We learn that Soviet nuclear torpedos were escorted by armed KGB officers who actually slept on top of the weapons, and the Rules of Engagement were so onerous that a sub would have to be actually sinking before one could be fired. Just to be safe, the sub crews were given no training on the nukes and were kept ignorant of their capabilities. This isn't too surprising when one considers that a military coup was always the secret nightmare of communist govenments. If the tactical nukes assigned to Soviet Army units in Cuba were under similar restrictions, it is hard to see how they could ever have been fired -- the nightmare scenario still being cited by Robert MacNamara to justify the Kennedys' secret treaty with Khrushchev.
Another revelation is the very poor mechanical performance of the Soviet subs which suffered an appalling series of engine breakdowns. From the limited details given in this book, it appears that many of these failures were due to mistakes by poorly trained engineering personnel. (Fatigue due to the intense tropical heat and humidity may be a factor also.) Since these subs had specially selected crews and were just out of refit, the mind boggles at what the average Soviet diesel boat must have been like in 1962. Had Khrushchev actually proceeded with his plan to base Golf-class missile subs permanently in Cuba, the result could only have been utter disaster. The more we learn about the Soviet side of the Missile Crisis, the more it looks like the most badly planned and implemented military operation of all time.
8 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Just how close it really was....Jan 22, 2004
By Thomas J. Dougherty
This book is a very detailed account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as told by both the Russian submariners tasked to get through to Cuba and the American destroyers bent on stopping them. In 1962, the decision was made to station both land based nuclear missiles and nuclear armed bomber, as well as SSB submarines armed with nuclear missiles in Cuba. The land based portion, dubbed Operation Anadyr, would use cargo ships to deploy the land based missiles, bomber and troops. The Naval operation, Kama, was to be initiated by four Soviet Project 641 Foxtrot diesel attack submarines, sailing from the Kola peninsula bound for Cuba. These would act as an advanced guard, to be followed by seven Project 629 Golf class balistic missile submarines, each carrying three nuclear tipped missiles. The plan was for these submarines to be based out of Cuba, where they could threaten the southern US. Just prior to departure, each of the Foxtrot submarines received, in addition to their normal torpedo loads, one 10 kiloton T-5 nuclear torpedo. Admiral Gorshkov's orders were "You will use these weapons if American forces attack you submerged or force your units to the surface and the attack...." The fate of the world was thereby placed in the hands of four Russian submarine commanders.
The book skillfully weaves the ensuing tale, alternating the Soviet submariner's stories with the American destroyer's ASW pursuits as the crisis progresses. A showdown in which USS Blandy drops small charges to force one of the submarines, B-130, to surface, leads to frustration for the submarine captain. He therefore orders loading and flooding, in preparation for firing, of the torpedo tube with the T-5 nuclear warhead. Fortunately, cooler heads prevail upon the captain to back down.
Although overall a good read, I had a few minor quibbles. The author uses interviews to reconstruct conversations, and the places them in quotes. In fact it is highly unlikely that those represent the actual words spoken, as quotes imply. He also has tow Russian attaches taking the train to Boston in order to observe the submarines at the New London sub base when the train stops in New London. In fact, Electric Boat is visible across the river, but the submarine base and piers are not at all visible from the train. The closest approach of the train is on the bridge over the Thames River, still some distance, with the sub base some 3 miles away.
Nonetheless, this book lends new insights into just how close the world really came to disaster during that alarming time in history. The author was on board one of the American destroyers, USS Blandy, assigned to the USS Essex task force group, and thus tells tale that from a first hand perspective.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
America AwakesSep 16, 2002
By Phil Perry
Peter Huchthasuen has captured the magnitude and scope of the Soviet effort to establish a foothold in the backyard of the US, in Cuba, just 90 miles away. The introduction of nuclear armed missles and torpedos to the theater was indeed chilling. The author's unmatched access to the personal stories on both sides makes for absorbing reading.
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