Under the Periscope

In the oily darkness of a British harbor, Lieutenant Commander John Raymond and the crew of H.M. Submarine '123' prepare for patrol. What unfolds is not merely a war story but an intimate portrait of men living, working, and sometimes dying in a steel tube beneath the sea. Mark Herbert Joseph Bennett draws on his own Royal Navy service to capture the unique world of submarine warfare in the final years of the Great War, immersing readers in the cramped compartments, the constant thrum of machinery, and the particular breed of courage required of men who volunteer for the most dangerous branch of the navy. The narrative moves between technical precision and raw human emotion, revealing how a submarine crew becomes a family bound by shared danger and dark humor. This is history from inside the hull, a first-hand account of anticipation before the hunt and the weight of knowing the sea above is filled with enemies.