[hrunt]

Those who are familiar with US submarine operations would assume this from the start. For an excellent account of the development of US submarine capabilities (including listening and detection), I wholeheartedly recommend the book "Blind Man's Bluff".[0]

How that book hasn't been made into a mini-series is beyond me. The stories and characters are incredible.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/...

[davidktr]

Based on your recommendation, I just read the first chapter, a harrowing account of how the first sub-based spy mission against Murmansk went catastrophically wrong.

During a rescue operation in the Arctic ocean, several submariners were tossed into the sea. Some of them were killed by their experimental life preservers, until then untested under real world conditions.

The life preservers were floating devices sewn into foul weather gear and boots. The boots were attached to the rest of the suit and could only be removed using a special tool. When hitting the frigid water, a number of the floating devices sewn into jackets burst, leaving the boots as the only buoyant part of the suit.

While the men's boots pulled their feet upwards, the weight of the rest of the suit pulled them under water. Quickly tiring in the churning sear, several drowned, feet pointing upwards.

Lesson still not learned: Equipment untested in the intended domain of application has not been tested.

[nukeman]

I work at a Department of Energy facility as a contractor. Our DOE facility rep was a Navy Nuke, and gave me a copy of this book. I agree that it is fantastic. And it’s written in a gripping narrative style, so it reads more like a novel and less like conventional non-fiction.

[dingaling]

The novelesque style of writing was a real turn-off for me and I returned the book. The authors attempted to dramatise every event as if they were there on the bridge at the time, even for events 60 years previous.

I've been trying to find a less breathless, more academic treatment of the subject but haven't had any success.

[tough]

Ask an LLM to rewrite it?

[jacknews]

Right, I don't think it took a top-secret listening system either - those subs can hear snow falling in NY from half way across the atlantic.