On Her Majesty's Nuclear Service

One of the first ever memoirs by a Royal Navy nuclear submarine officer, this is the inside story of the men who ensured that 'Mutually Assured Destruction' was maintained at all times during the Cold War.
During the Cold War, nuclear submarines performed the greatest public service of all: prevention of a third world war. History shows that they succeeded; the Cold War ended peacefully, but for security reasons, only now can this story be told.
Eric Thompson is a career nuclear submarine officer who served from the first days of the Polaris missile boats until after the end of the Cold War. He joined the Navy in the last days of Empire, made his first sorties in World War II type submarines and ended up as the top engineer in charge of the Navy’s nuclear power plants. Along the way, he helped develop all manner of kit, from guided torpedoes to the Trident ballistic missile system. In this vivid personal account of his submarine operations, he reveals what it was like to literally have your finger on the nuclear button.
In his journey, the author leads the reader through top-secret submarine patrols, hush-hush scientific trials, underwater weapon developments, public relations battles with nuclear protesters, arm-wrestling with politicians, and the changing roles of women and homosexuals in the Navy. It is essentially a human story, rich in both drama and comedy, like the Russian spy trawler that played dance music at passing submarines. There was never a dull moment.
Behind the lighter moments was a deadly serious game. This, the inside story of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, reveals the secretive life of submarines and the men who served on them; they kept their watch, and by maintaining the threat of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction,’ helped keep Britain and the world safe.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
1 On Patrol
2 In the Beginning
3 Th e Four-Minute Warning
4 A New Religion
5 The Small Matter of a Journal
6 Welcome to Submarines
7 Resurrection
8 Corporate Constipation
9 God of the Underworld
10 Walter Mitty
11 Trials and Tribulations
12 Going Nuclear
13 Things That Go Bump in the Night
14 Fire Down Below
15 The Strategic Nuclear Deterrent
16 Senior Engineer
17 My Last Patrol
18 War and Peace
19 The Joint Service Defence College
20 Stealth
21 Squadron Life
22 The Directorate of Naval Lost Property
23 The Nuclear Business
24 The Chief Strategic Systems Executive
25 The Peace Dividend
26 ‘Commodore Eric’
27 Leros
Glossary of Terms