Jim Boswell

The Cold War Submariner Jim Boswell

In A Cold War Submariner Jim Boswell chronicles the four-year period in which he changed from someone dodging the draft of the Vietnam War to becoming a Cold War submariner, commanding control of one of the most powerful ships in the Navy, the USS Nathanael Greene (SSBN 636). Although Boswell tells us tales of missile launches, torpedo firings, patrol threatening equipment failures, it is more a personal story about the interactions between shipmates serving on the deadliest of ships, out of contact with their loved ones, hoping they would never be told to use the weapons they carried. Although laced with humorous antidotes, A Cold War Submariner does not shy away from telling us what it means to make the call to "man battle stations missile, man battle stations missile". Boswell does not overstate his own capabilities in his transition from a liberal arts student to a nuclear-trained submarine officer. In fact, he readily acknowledges that he struggled to keep up with his compatriots throughout his four-year service. Unlike other submarine stories, what makes The Submariner especially captivating is it is a "coming of age" story, written by a grandfather for his grandchildren for historical purposes. The deterrent submarine force and those who sailed in them were the heroes of the Cold War. Those boats and men never fired a shot in anger yet won the war. As the famous war strategist, Sun Tzu, said: "the highest form of warfare is to win the battle without fighting." So true.