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This is an excellent book on one of the more obscure naval projects of World War I; one which shows what can happen when a bad idea is pressed into service in spite of the advice of experts and those who know better. Designed to meet a need which didn't exist, the K-class submarines were to be faster and larger than any other submarine of the time and were to operate as units of the British Grand fleet. To have such speed and capacity, they relied on steam power which brought with it hazards and difficulties that no one could have predicted. Of the 23 boats in the K-class, 8 sunk with great loss of life, while most the others suffered collisions, and "incidents" which jeopardized the boats and all aboard. The book is written in an easy to read style which looks at the history of the class, rather than the technical details, yet still enough detail to intrigue the most hardcore submarine enthusiast. A nice touch is the inclusion of a set of 1/192 scale sectional drawings, along with 25 black and white photographs. It has an especially good section on the loss of submarine K-13 on its acceptance trials and of the heroic rescue of a number of the crew who were trapped alive on the bottom in the strickened boat. The only deficiency in the book (at least to this reader) is that there should have been more information on the M-class submarines, which were 4 K-class boats that were turned into submarine "monitors" by the addition of a massive 12" gun. It would have been nice to see some drawings or photos of these equally "jinxed" submarine oddities. Overall, this book is highly recommended to anyone with in an interest in submarines, the Royal Navy or the strange and unusual weapons that came out of the First World War.Read full review
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