Norman Polmar is an analyst, consultant, and author specializing in naval, aviation, and intelligence subjects. Has served as an advisor/consultant to three U.S. Senators, the Speaker of the House, and three Secretaries of the Navy. He has written or co-authored more than 50 published books, including four editions of Guide to the Soviet Navy and nine editions of Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet. He has served in the Secretary of the Navy's Research Advisory Board and served as chairman of the Science and Technology Advisory Board of the Department of Homeland Security. As a naval officer, John O'Connell served in an aircraft carrier and heavy cruiser, and, subsequently, 22 years in submarines, including a Regulus missile submarine, and commanded a submarine and a submarine division. He served as U.S. Defense and Naval Attache in Tokyo from 1978-1981. He authored three books on air power and two books on submarines and served as a docent at the National Air and Space Museum for two decades.
Strike from the Sea succeeds in its stated purpose: compressing the highly technical story of strategic cruise missiles into a succinct volume intelligible to interested common readers as well as specialists. --Michigan War Studies Review This book gives very good insight into the design and deployment of Regulus I and II and the perceived comparison of life at sea with it compared with the early Polaris boats.... I would certainly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the development and deployment of Regulus. --The Naval Review This book nicely fills a void in naval weaponry literature. --Seapower U.S. Naval Institute Press has another winner in Strike from the Sea: The Development and Deployment of Strategic Cruise Missiles Since 1934 by Norman Polmar and John O'Connell. This carefully researched and documented book -- filled with photos, diagrams, statistics, and appendices -- presents a history of some of the world's most dangerous tools of war.... Strike from the Sea is compelling and thought-provoking. --Navy Reads A fascinating history and analysis of the cruise missile weapons system which introduced the era of guided missiles, this book looks at the weapon that was eclipsed in the U.S. (but not the Soviet Union) for decades by the ballistic missile, and which has now come back in a modern form, to present potential strategic challenges to the nation, and fresh challenges to the U.S. Navy. --RADM Thomas A. Brooks USN (Ret.), former Director of Naval Intelligence, co-author of Admiral Gorshkov: The Man Who Challenged the U.S. Navy Authoritative, masterfully written, and drawing from the experiences and knowledge of naval officer John O'Connell and the vast breadth of knowledge of historian and analyst Norman Polmar, this is a must-have book on one of the most critical developments of modern naval armament. --James P. Delgado, maritime archaeologist, historian and author of War at Sea: A Shipwrecked History In October 1962, the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba presented such a threat that the U.S. risked war to attain their removal. Yet as Norman Polmar and John O'Connell masterfully detail, the Soviets successfully worked to attain this capability through other means. Strike from the Sea brings new understanding to the evolution of the nuclear strategic balance during a crucial period of the Cold War. --David F. Winkler, Ph.D., co-author To Defend and Deter: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Missile Program Norman Polmar and John O'Connell have provided an in-depth and fascinating look at the history and evolution of submarine-launched cruise missiles from both sides of the Iron curtain. This topic is not only of historical interest, but an issue increasingly back in focus in the age of great power competition. --Magnus Nordenman, author of The New Battle for the Atlantic: Emerging Naval Competition with Russia in the Far North