'The Ministry of Defence does not comment upon submarine operations' is the standard response of officialdom to enquiries about the most secretive and mysterious of Britain's armed forces, the Royal Navy Submarine Service. Written with unprecedented co-operation from the Service itself and privileged access to documents and personnel, The Silent Deep is the first authoritative history of the Submarine Service from the end of the Second World War to the present. It gives the most c...

A Very British Bomb is the first authoritative history of Britain as a nuclear weapons power. Written with access to newly declassified Top Secret Government documents it gives the most complete account yet published of the United Kingdom's development, deployment and politics of nuclear weapons, from the scientific breakthroughs which occurred in the early twentieth century, through the Second World War, the Cold War, to the present. It tells the very human story of the tens of t...

The Deadly Trade takes readers on an epic and enthralling voyage through submarine warfare, including how U-boats in two world wars tried to achieve victory, first for the Kaiser and then 20 years later for Adolf Hitler.It tells the story of how such tiny craft took on mighty battleships, including U-boats sinking HMS Royal Oak and HMS Barham in WW2, along with the incredible exploits of British submariners in the Dardanelles and Baltic during WW1.The acti...

HUNTER KILLER: a submarine designed to pursue and attack enemy submarines and surface ships using torpedoes.HUNTER KILLERS will follow the careers of four daring British submarine captains who risked their lives to keep the rest of us safe, their exploits consigned to the shadows until now. Their experiences encompass the span of the Cold War, from voyages in WW2-era submarines under Arctic ice to nuclear-powered espionage missions in Soviet-dominated seas....

**'A magnificent, rollicking narrative' Max Hastings, Sunday Times 'Top 25 Non-Fiction Books of the 21st Century'Sunday Times History Book of the Year 2015Britain's railways have been a vital part of national life for nearly 200 years. Transforming lives and landscapes, they have left their mark on everything from timekeeping to tourism. As a self-contained world governed by distinctive rules and traditions, the network also exert...

In May 2000 the British nuclear hunter-killer submarine HMS Tireless limped into Gibraltar using emergency propulsion and with her nuclear reactor shut down. Days earlier, while traversing the Straits of Sicily the crew had discovered a crack in one of the nuclear reactor pipes, requiring the immediate shutting down of the reactor to prevent a potential reactor accident, an operation never before conducted on a British submarine at sea. Th e previous six days had been a difficult time for ...

The shocking, tragic true story of a strange explosion that wreaked havoc on a Russian nuclear submarine.The true story of the sinking of the Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000. Hailed as "unsinkable, " the "Kursk" was on maneuvers when mysterious explosions rocked the sub, causing it to sink to the bottom of the sea with its 118-man crew. This in-depth look at the disaster reveals previously unreleased information from family members of...

SOMETIMES you come across a lofty railway viaduct, marooned in the middle of a remote country landscape. Or a crumbling platform from some once-bustling junction buried under the buddleia. If you are lucky you might be able to follow some rusting tracks, or explore an old tunnel leading to…well, who knows where? Listen hard. Is that the wind in the undergrowth? Or the spectre of a train from a golden era of the past panting up the embankment?These are the ghosts of The Trai...

'TOUGH, TOUCHING… IT'S A RIGHT GOOD READ' - DAILY TELEGRAPHAt 16, Mark Time wants to become either a geologist or a Royal Marines Commando. So which does he choose? Despite his love of basalt, he chooses the career that teaches him how to kill... and sh*t in plastic bags.Knowing his weak body will have to shape up to complete thirty weeks of commando training, Mark prepares for the Royal Marines by sleeping in his shed wearing only plastic bags. He braves pain by ordering his mate to attac...

Night trains have long fascinated us with the possibilities of their private sleeping compartments, gilded dining cars, champagne bars and wealthy travellers. Authors from Agatha Christie to Graham Greene have used night trains to tell tales of romance, intrigue and decadence against a rolling background of dramatic landscapes. The reality could often be as thrilling: early British travellers on the Orient Express were advised to carry a revolver (as well as a teapot).In Night ...

India was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. There were vast riches to be exploited and vast numbers of people to be subjugated. How better to achieve these aims than by building a rail network that facilitated the export of raw material and made it easier for troops to travel around the country to tackle uprisings? India joined the railway age late: the first line was not completed until 1853 but, by 1929, 41,000 miles of track served the country. However, the creation of this ...

'BR rebel chairman resigns' The Guardian.'Rebel rail chief in row' Daily Mail.'I don't take it back says sacked rail chief' Daily Express.This is the notorious book that got Gerard Fiennes sacked from British Railways while he was Chairman and General Manager of the Eastern Region in 1968.Fiennes became a railwayman by accident, joining the L.N.E.R as a Traffic Apprentice in 1928. Over the next four decades he worked himself up to ...