Attack of the Seawolf

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book, and an entire writing career, is the result of a long chain of people, all of them extraordinary.

The line certainly begins with parents and extends through teachers and mentors, commanding officers and colleagues. To those who have helped on the way, I offer my thanks:

To Donald I. Fine, the giant of publishing who taught me the hard parts and was patient with me when I might not have deserved it.

To Natasha Kern, my agent, the first to see something in the words I wrote.

To Alice Price, who convinced Natasha that what she saw was not a mirage.

To Adam Levison, an editor who listened and explained.

To Barbara Field for her superb illustrations, and for her willingness to learn the insides of a nuclear submarine to make them.

To Andrew Hoffer, production manager, who made it seem easy.

To Richard Mareinko, the venerable commander and founder of SEAL Team Six, a daring and creative Navy SEAL who revolutionized modern special warfare commando techniques, whose life stories came to me not only from his excellent book Rogue Warrior but from Bique family folklore and the girl who used to babysit his kids.

To Lieutenant Commander David De Longa Ph.D., my old roommate from MIT,

Scuba School, and the USS Hammerhead, who opened up the world of deep diving submersibles and showed me exactly how one goes about flying a helicopter.

To the officers and men of the U.S. Submarine Force, especially the alumni of the USS Hammerhead, SSN-663, and especially to Commander Tim Mulcare, now executive officer of the Norfolk, who showed me the workings of a 688 class.

To every teacher who cared, particularly those at Ballard H.S. in Louisville, KY.” and at Annapolis.

And, of course, to Mom and Dad.