The Long Patrol

The Long Patrol means that no submarine failing to return home is ever "lost". After a patrol lasting 139 years, the Confederate States Submarine H.L. Hunley returned home.

This work is a description of how the world's first operational submarine was designed and built. As this part of the story is told, Horace Lawson Hunley and his Confederate officers come to life.

On another level, this book is an indispensable social history of the Confederacy during its slow death. It concludes with a description of the burial of the crew of the H.L. Hunley, that links the events of the 1860s with those of 21st century America.

In his discussion of the likely causes for the loss of the Hunley, Mike Kozlowski's description of exhaustion, exposure, cold, ever-decreasing oxygen levels and the multiplying factors of ill-health, concussion and long tern malnutrition all strike a resonant chord. Kozlowski's proposed explanations fit well with information gained during the recovery of the sunken submarine.