Three Months on Board a Trident Nuclear Submarine.
The Trident submarine is one of the most remarkable feats of engineering in human history: a sleek metal tube powered by a nuclear reactor, breathtakingly silent, yet strong enough to resist intense pressure deep under the surface of the ocean. But the human experience inside - as crews spend months crammed together beneath the sea, manning 24 nuclear-tipped missiles, and always listening for the stealthy enemy - is even more remarkable.
For 'Big Red', veteran 'Time' correspondent Douglas C Waller was granted unprecedented access by the Navy to take readers inside this silent, secretive world. Here is the gripping story of a three-month cruise on the USS "Nebraska": the rituals of the closed society of submariners, the top-secret plans for a nuclear holocaust, the elaborate failsafe mechanisms, and the extraordinary security measures designed to protect the world's deadliest weapons - even from the men who handle them.
Even in the post-Cold War world, our nation's defences ultimately rest on these men and their vessel; Waller's account brings both vividly to life.
