Submarines, The World Encyclopedia of: A complete history of over 150 underwater vessels from the Hunley and Nautilus to today's nuclear-powered submarines

From Aristotle's description of a submersible chamber and experiments with an underwater capsule by Alexander the Great, inventors have pursued the dream of undersea travel.This fully illustrated book follows that dream, starting with examples of the earliest attempts to travel beneath the waves through to the very latest vessels at sea today.Beginning with a detailed history of the submarine, the book charts the events of more than 120 years of development, a period that saw global production for two World Wars and the threat posed by the Cold War, where opposing superpowers jostled for supremacy through the awesome capabilities of their armaments.The section concludes with an overview of modern nuclear-powered vessels, which are capable of circumnavigating the world 40 times without having to refuel, and which carry in a single boat more explosive power than all the bombs dropped during World War II combined.The second part of the book is a guide to over 150 submarines from around th