Nimitz Class: ‘A thunderingly good naval yarn’

I just finished reading Nimitz Class, a Clancy-style naval thriller written in 1997 by Patrick Robinson, who, I have to admit, I hadn’t even heard of until I found this book a couple of weeks ago under a stack of worn Star Wars screenplay volumes at one of those used book shops outside PVR Saket.

Capt Richard Sharpe, former ed-in-chief of Jane’s Fighting Ships calls the book a “thunderingly good naval yarn” on the blurb at the back, and I’m inclined to agree. Simply, the book is about the mysterious disappearance of a Nimitz-class supercarrier from bang in the middle of its battlegroup somewhere in the Indian Ocean. The book traces the investigation, the politics and the final consequences. All tightly told in a richly researched narrative. Legendary British submariner Admiral John “Sandy” Woodward was technical consultant to the author for the novel — Woodward commanded the Royal Navy’s South Atlantic Task Groups during the Falklands War — so the novel is beautifully replete with technical details that would warm the cockles of anyone who’s even remotely crazy about weapons-specs!

The copy I have constains a teaser chapter to the book Robinson wrote next, called Kilo Class. And since the first two naval thrillers, the author has written eight more, including HMS Unseen, Barracuda 945 and Ghost Force. There’s a new book called To The Death due out this year as well. I plan to venture back to that PVR Saket book guy to see if he has any more. Otherwise, it’s Amazon.