Originally a puny craft, derided as being of no worth, the submarine evolved to become an assassin of the deep, capable of sinking mighty battleships and gigantic aircraft carriers. The cast of colourful and courageous characters includes a former monk who created submersible boats to assist the cause of Irtish liberation, a spy who hid Confederate submarine secrets in her bonnet during the American Civil War and many a daring young captain who perished along with he men they command.

During the two world wars no corner of the globe was safe from the depredations of submarines. The spectacular (and terrifying) story continued with the Cold War into the 21st century, making the submarine the most powerful vessel ever built, carrying enough nuclear weapons to end life on Earth.
A brilliant deep dive into submarine warfare from ancient Greek divers right up to the current nuclear fleet – revealing some of the navy’s deadliest secrets along the way.

The Deadly Trade takes readers on an epic and enthralling voyage through submarine warfare, including how U-boats in two world wars tried to achieve victory, first for the Kaiser and then 20 years later for Adolf Hitler.
It tells the story of how such tiny craft took on mighty battleships, including U-boats sinking HMS Royal Oak and HMS Barham in WW2, along with the incredible exploits of British submariners in the Dardanelles and Baltic during WW1.The action-packed narrative includes bitterly contested Atlantic convoy fights of WW2 and submarines in the clash of battle fleets at Midway. Iain Ballantyne also reveals how the US Navy submarine service brought the Japanese empire to its knees in 1945, even before the atomic bombs were dropped.
The Deadly Trade tells the amazing stories of not only pioneers such as Drebbel, Fulton and Holland, but also of legendary submarine captains, including Max Horton and Otto Weddigen in WW1. During WW2 we sail to war with Otto Kretschmer, Gunther Prien, Fritz-Julius Lemp, Malcolm Wanklyn, Dudley Morton, Richard O’Kane and Sam Dealey. We get involved in the famous fights of Britain’s ace submarine-killing escort group leaders Frederic ‘Johnny’ Walker, Donald Macintyre and Peter Gretton.
There is a dive into unconventional submarine warfare, including Japanese midget subs in the notorious Pearl Harbor raid plus British X-craft against the Tirpitz in Arctic waters.
Iain Ballantyne plunges readers into famous Enigma machine captures that played a key role in deciding the outcome of WW2. He explains what the Nazis were up to at the end of WW2, pursuing Total Underwater Warfare, partly via the revolutionary Type XXI U-boat. Ballantyne reveals the incredible story of a proposed cruise missile attack on New York and considers the likelihood (or otherwise) of Hitler escaping to South America in a U-boat.
The Deadly Trade takes us into the post-WW2 face-off between the Soviets and NATO, the sinking of the Indian frigate INS Khukri by Pakistan’s PNS Hangor and attack on the Argentine cruiser ARA Belgrano by HMS Conqueror. The Deadly Trade concludes with today’s growing submarine arms race and Putin’s ‘missile boat diplomacy’ along with the use of cruise missiles by the British and Americans to try and decapitate rogue regimes.
The Deadly Trade is the perfect companion to Hunter Killers, Iain Ballantyne’s real-life Cold War submarine thriller.
Iain Ballantyne
Having written about the global activities of the Royal Navy for more than 20 years, Iain Ballantyne has spent time in most types of warship, from nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers, to destroyers and frigates. He has sailed in minefields off war-torn Kuwait, witnessed embargo enforcement in the Adriatic and counter-terrorism sweeps in the Mediterranean. Iain has also voyaged into Arctic waters and accompanied Royal Marines on fast boat patrols off Hong Kong. He won an award for his action-packed depiction of the pursuit and destruction of Hitler’s flagship, as recounted in KILLING THE BISMARCK, his last book prior to HUNTER KILLERS for Orion. In 2017 Iain Ballantyne was awarded a Fellowship by the UK’s Maritime Foundation, one of its top annual awards, in recognition of his immense contribution to the maritime cause since 1990, as a journalist, author of naval history books and Editor of WARSHIPS magazine from 1998 to the present.
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