K-19 the Widowmaker: The Secret Story of the Soviet Nuclear Submarine

by Peter A. Huchthausen

Book Overview

An account of one of the Cold War era's most harrowing nuclear accidents documents the maiden voyage of the Soviet nuclear submarine, during which a serious reactor leak spurred a perilous race against time.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 079226472X
• ISBN13: 9780792264729
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: National Geographic Society
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Recommended

This book gives you the real story behind the dramatization presented in the motion picture: K-19: The Widowmaker. More than just a companion piece, the book provides passages from a diary maintained by the captain of K-19, extensive research materials on the incident itself as well as the Cold War Soviet Union conditions and motivations that contributed to the incident. If that were not enough, a wealth of information is provided on other (known) incidents involving Soviet/Russian nuclear naval vessels/projects. Starting just after WWII and continuing up to the loss of the Kursk in Nov 2001, the bravery of the Russian sailors, the alarming loss of life and the environmental impact is well documented.

"These are good weapons we're building,comrades!"

A great expose on the Soviet Navy.Although we all remember the Cold War and the phychological war between the USSR and the West,particularly the US.The massive buildups on both sides seemed to be without end.With the continual blustering of Russia,and continual expansion of communision we all wondered where it would all end.Little did we suspect that the powerful Soviet system would collapse from within with hardly a wimper.Many still don't understand how such a powerful system could fall apart so easily.Well,reading this book will show how the whole system was rotten to the core and totally inept in every aspect except brutality and deceit particularly towards their own people.It's amazing after all the slavery,sacrifice,brutality,forced labor camps,oppression and all the other evils carried out by the government, that so little was accomplished. This book shows that while we feared these Soviet subs,the real threat was that they were so poorly designed,constructed,maintained and operated that the biggest threat was that they would have a malfunction and cause a major disaster. To quote a little that sums up the Cold War from pg.210... "The Cold War ,after all,was not just a military chess game,an effort to maintain the balance of nuclear power,with that wonderful concept Mutual Assured Destruction. It was also a war in a much more literal sense,a war of attrition.Our strategy in constantly upping the ante in the arms race was to push the entire Soviet system to the breaking point.And of course,that strategy succeeded.The Cold War is over,and we were the winners." The book is well researched,well written and very informative.

The stars are definitely for the book alone...

The book does a very good and credible job of portraying the disaster and the events and circumstances surrounding it with good historical context. It is indeed a good and accurate read. But imagine my shock when I saw the movie! Not even close, and an insult to heroic brave men, who, while the "enemy," were doing their duty, even at the cost of their health and life.The needless mangling of the historical account with regard to numerous significant details is one thing, but the outlandish portrayal of the K-19 captain, the crew, the supposed "mutiny" and so on and so forth was way over the top. I could not help but imagine the feelings of the still-living crew members and the widow of Captain Zateyev, who in essence entrusted their accounts and experiences, so long silenced, with the film's director. And for this? I'm ashamed.Was not the actual account compelling enough? The struggle of ordinary men against the sea, against an unseaworthy boat, against the unmigitable danger of a shoddily-designed nuclear reactor, and against an oppressive yet clumsy government regime which was certainly willing for them to give their lives needlessly, unwilling to protect them, and quick to cast undeserved blame on them. Suddenly, the real enemy is all to clear. Is this story not good enough to tell without slanderous revisionism?I come from a Cold War submariner's family. My father served as an officer on the USS Gato, which, incidentally, collided with K-19 in the Barents in 1969 while he was on patrol as part of her crew. As a result of this, K-19 has an unwitting bit part in my family history, for a father who could have never come home from the Barents as a result of his encounter with this ill-fated Soviet SSBN.Peter Huchthausen has given a wonderful, balanced account of the ordeal of K-19 and of the men who served in the Soviet Navy, struggling against forces and circumstances much more threatening to them than NATO or the US Navy. It's a shame that most of the American public will never read the book, instead basing their knowledge of the event on the woefully inaccurate movie. Which is a disservice to Captain Zateyev and his crew, whose true, heroic, and tragic story, for so many, will remain unheard.

Well Researched companion to the movie

A forgotten piece of history (and one that was covered up for quite some time), the heroic story of the K-19 crew and the prevention of a nuclear disaster at sea is a classic story well told in this book. Author Huchthausen is a former US Navy Captain which allows the author to provide unique insight into the portions of Captain Zateyev's memoirs published here for the first time.This voulume is more for military history (and history)buffs than the casual movie fan. Be warned that there is a large amount of the big dedicated to presenting why subs were built the way they were and what misfortunes the Soviets (and the US) had with their nuclear class submarines. There's a large section devoted to pictures of the crew as well as scenes from the movie starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson.Well written and researched K19 is an outstanding book that presents a difficult period in world history from a very different perspective. We've all seen or heard the political side of what occurred during the cold war but rarely has there been a first hand account of what it was like on the front lines. K19 manages to presents a difficult time in history with a well balanced view.

Cold War Submarines

As a retired cold war submariner I was shocked by the atrocities that my enemy (but brother) submariners were subjected to in the Soviet Navy. We always heard rumors of the conditions these young men were subjected to but, due to their closed society, they remained rumors. This book is a must read for any US Navy submariner. We can only thank the almighty that we lived in an open society and sailed on ships where safety was the prime concern. Say what you might about Hyman Rickover and his tyrant ways, he did his job well and we were relatively safe from radiation and fairly sure we would return from the depths.