A Precarious existence : British submariners in World War One /Richard McKay

"When the Royal Navy Submarine Service set off to war in August 1914, few had any indication of the impact that submarines would have. Very little attention has been paid to the lives of the submariners who achieved such successes at the cost of a third of their number. This book tells the social history of those in the Submarine Service during World War One: it examines why men became submariners; it tells of the paucity of the training and the monotony of patrols; it highlights the acute lack of rescue procedures and the development of the justifiable belief among submariners that they were elite. Who could become a submariner? What were living conditions like aboard a submarine? What did they eat? What happened if a man fell ill whilst at sea? This valuable book provides answers to these questions and many more besides."--Provided by the publisher.