Submarine Operations

P R Franklin

There have been many books written about submarine operations over the ages, but most of them have related to strategic maritime operations or naval campaigns. Some have even revolved around specific submarines and their exploits. This book is different. It is not a ‘cut’ and ‘paste’ effort from existing material on the subject. It does not revolve around any specific campaign, battle, or submarine. It draws from the author’s training and experience and generally talks about deploying and operating submarines at the operational and tactical levels in different parts of the world.

By their very nature, submarines are stealthy platforms and every nation deploys them in a manner that cannot be revealed to, or needs to be concealed from, others. However, there are some basic principles that are required to be followed when deploying them on operational and tactical missions, and these have been highlighted in this book.

The book has been produced with a view to targeting those ‘bloggers’ who are on the Internet discussing matters relating to submarines, those who want to know what they are going in for before volunteering to serve on submarines, and for anybody and everybody interested in the business of undersea warfare. Technical descriptions and matters have been kept out so as to make the book an enjoyable piece of reading.

P R Franklin Commodore P.R. Franklin, AVSM, VSM, did his submarine training in Vladivostok, in the erstwhile USSR. He commissioned the third and the sixth of the eight 'Foxtrot' class submarines that the Indian Navy purchased, and sailed them from Latvia, to India round Africa in the late Sixties/early Seventies. After serving onboard these submarines for many years, he subsequently commanded two of them. After a few squadron appointments both afloat and ashore, he headed the
submarine arm as Director Submarine Operations in Naval Headquarters. Among his other appointments in the Indian Navy, he commanded the Training Squadron training officer cadets of the Indian Navy, was Naval Assistant to the Chief of the Naval Staff, and the Naval Advisor to the Indian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom. A graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, he also served as Directing Staff in that institution. He did the higher command and staff course in the Marshal Grechkov Academy in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). He was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in 1995 and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2001 by the President of India.
After retiring from the Navy after 36 years of commissioned service, he was a consultant for a brief spell to a private Indian company that produced a submarine control simulator for the Indian Navy.
His e-mail address is jalvayu@hotmail.com