Welcome to SixthFleet.Com, the Cyberspace Home of author David E. Meadows. "When Meadows' men set sail, it's sure to be a mission like no other." --W.E.B. Griffin "Rip-snorting, realistic action-adventure from a man who has been there. David Meadows is the real thing," --Stephen Coonts author of numerous bestsellers, including Flight of the Intruder, Saucer, America, and Liberty. "An absorbing, compelling look at America's future place in the world. It's visionary, and scary. Great battle scenes, believable heroes, plus villains you'll love to hate!" -Joe Buff, bestselling author of Straits of Power, Tidal Rip, and Crush Depth. "David E. Meadows is simply the best writer of naval thriller/adventure fiction out there today." --Tom Wilson, acclaimed author of Black Canyon, Desert Fury, Tango Uniform and other best selling military thrillers.

THE SIXTH FLEET NEWSLETTER - May 6, 2008

This week my newest novel, FINAL RUN, is on the book shelves at your favorite bookstores. Release date is Tuesday, May 6th.

I look forward to hearing from you after your have read this first in a three-book series. This series is unlike any I have done previously in that it covers what I think are three watershed events in the Cold War between the U.S. Navy and the Soviet Navy. Granted these are novels you should not read with the idea that the stories within are grounded in actual events that occurred. It's the other way around. The stores are grounded during three critical years when the U.S. Navy and the Soviet Navy were growing towards an at-sea confrontation that nearly occurred.

FINAL RUN is set in 1956. 1956 was a year of transition for the United States Navy. It had launched the first nuclear powered submarine Nautilus the year before. The Soviet Union was thought to be chasing the same dream of a submarine whose submerge limitations were only of a human and mechanical nature. Rear Admiral Rickover had taken over the program to build the nuclear submarine and within two years had convinced the Navy it was time to shelve the diesels and bring forth into naval warfare a nuclear powered submarine force that would change the nature of modern warfare. A nuclear force that would be one of the three arms of the mutual assured destruction doctrine (MADD) that held the Cold War from going hot. It is a year when World War II veterans of the United States still existed on active duty, patrolling the sea lanes against the Soviet dream, and reliving the combat missions of the War in the thin fabric of peacetime between the Soviet Union and the Western Nations.

1956 is a year when the Soviet Union is pursuing the age-old dream of an ocean-going Navy capable of operating across the globe. The Soviets referred to World War II as the Great Patriotic War. Veterans of the Great Patriotic War still held positions of leadership within the Soviet Navy and its entire submarine force was diesel. Pursuit of Atomic powered submarines for the Soviet Navy was a point of national honor as well as national survival.

FINAL RUN is a story of two submarine captains; two different Navies; similar patriotic love of country; and, a challenge for America to keep its nuclear edge and a chase by the Soviets to meet every naval technology of the west. And, throughout this race to be the global supreme Navy power were the spooks-spies-cryptologists-intelligence gurus of both nations doing their best to report with certainty what the other was doing. This is a story about this competition for Navy supremacy.

I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers, David E. Meadows

David E. Meadows / SixthFleet.Com David E. Meadows Washington D.C. E-Mail readermail@SixthFleet.Com