Chapter One
In Peril Under the Sea
On the Nautilus men's hearts never fail them. No defects to be
afraid of, for the double shell is as firm as iron, no rigging to attend to,
no sails for the wind to carry away; no boilers to burst, no fire to fear,
for the vessel is made of iron, not of wood; no coal to run short, for
electricity is the only power; no collision to fear, for it alone swims in
deep water; no tempest to brave, for when it dives below the water, it
reaches absolute tranquillity. That is the perfection of vessels.
— Jules Verne,
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869)
In the bleak midwinter, the cold wind sweeps across Long Island Sound and
funnels up the Connecticut valley of the Poquehanuck River, now called the
Thames. Mariners know well the narrow channel that leads to the building yards
of the Electric Boat Company and the Navy's submarine base in Groton,
Connecticut, across the river from New London, where at pier after pier
submarines make their preparations ... read full excerpt from: The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea ebook
