Red November: Inside the Secret U.S.-Soviet Submarine War

“Red November delivers the real life feel and fears of submariners who risked their lives to keep the peace.”
 —Steve Berry, author of The Paris Vendetta

W. Craig Reed, a former navy diver and fast-attack submariner, provides a riveting portrayal of the secret underwater struggle between the US and the USSR in Red November. A spellbinding  true-life adventure in the bestselling tradition of Blind Man’s Bluff, it reveals previously undisclosed details about the most dangerous, daring, and decorated missions of the Cold War, earning raves from New York Times bestselling authors David Morrell, who calls it, “palpably gripping,” and James Rollins, who says, “If Tom Clancy had turned The Hunt for Red October into a nonfiction thriller, Red November might be the result.”

The world came close to annihilation during the Cold War—a sobering fact known to few besides the warriors engaged in the forty-six-year conflict. In this riveting new history, former U.S. Navy diver and fast-attack submariner W. Craig Reed provides a thrilling narrative of the tense underwater dramas and covert espionage operations that brought the United States and the former U.S.S.R. to the brink of nuclear war on several occasions.

Riveting and eye-opening, Red November offers an intimate look at the lives of those who participated in our country’s longest, most expensive underwater war during one of the most dangerous eras in world history. Reed provides never-before-revealed details about some of the most dramatic episodes of the secret conflict—from the harrowing underwater cat-and-mouse chase in October 1962 that almost kicked off World War III to the desperate hours when the USS Seawolf sat grounded by engine failure at the bottom of the sea during an espionage mission in Soviet waters.

“Red November delivers the real life feel and fears of submariners who risked their lives to keep the peace. Smart, detailed, and highly entertaining, this is a story everyone should read.” - Steve Berry, author of The Paris Vendetta

“Red November is a terrific, real-life thriller, filled with larger than life warriors, technological wizardry, undersea games of chicken, and a civilian world perched unknowing on the brink of push-button nuclear destruction.” - Barry Eisler, author of Fault Line

“Red November is a compelling narrative that covers most of the years that I rode the boats. The action in the book is particularly intriguing, as I shared many of the same experiences endured by the characters portrayed within the pages. Submariners will enjoy the book, as did I.” - T. Michael Bircumshaw, Editor, American Submariner

“Red November is one of the most suspenseful and frightening books I’ve read this year. It gives you a new appreciation for the major role submarines play in shaping world history. They may be out of sight, but after reading this book, they will never again be out of mind.” - Raymond Obstfeld, co-author with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance

“This history of the cold war beneath the sea reads very much like a thriller.... For serious submarine buffs, a feast.” - Booklist

“If Tom Clancy had turned The Hunt for Red October into a nonfiction thriller, W. Craig Reed’s Red November might be the result…. Not to be missed!” - James Rollins, bestselling author of The Doomsday Key

“This is an astonishing and important book…. Red November is a book that anyone with an interest in espionage or clandestine naval operations should read.” - George Friedman, author of America’s Secret War and The Next 100 Years

“Red November is palpably gripping and packs the excitement of a real-life thriller. I felt like I was literally on-board a submarine in the middle of a hair-raising mission and on the brink of World War III.” - David Morrell, bestselling author of The Shimmer