We have been kept waiting for two years for the second volume of Silent Warriors from wreck expert Young and marine researcher Armstrong. I should add that the authors are not to blame for the fact that I was able to review Volume 1 in April 2007, and am able to review Volume 2 only now. The delay is due to a change of publisher.
The new book covers all submarines lost from Sussex to the Isles of Scilly; Volume 3 will detail losses of British and German boats in North Cornwall waters, Wales, Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea and includes two wrecks off Southern Ireland. Don't get excited - you'll wait another year for this, the next in the series.
Then Volume 4 will cover the whole of Scotland and include a number of new discoveries. And you are likely to be another year older by the time that one appears.
On current form, it will all be worth the long wait. These books are precious. The individual volumes detail each submarine lost in British waters, with loss date, depth, position, type, when and where built, pictures and names of commanders and crewmen.
They list her patrols, ships she damaged, captured or sank, and her last patrol. They name crew survivors, and those killed.
Special technical details about each sub are included, along with useful diving information about the wreck, and how it lies. At £20 each, these books are well worth the money.
Have I no criticism of the content? Yes, I have, but I think I know the way around it.
The index for each volume to date is far too skimpy. It needs to be at least 10 times bigger than the current single page.
All you can get at present are the pages referring to a sub listed by its number or, in the case of British boats, its name.
If you don't know that number or name, you may have to trawl through more than 300 pages to find the detail you want.
If the authors prepare a proper index for every volume, the publisher could print a slim inexpensive complete index volume (Volume 5?) to be sold with the last volume in the completed series.
Kendall McDonald
The History Press
ISBN: 9780752447896
Softback, 352pp, £19.99
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