The Navy doesn’t allow iPads or Kindles on submarines, for security reasons, so they’ve come up with their own approved e-reader, the NeRD, or Navy eReader Device:
It’s an an E Ink tablet that resembles a Kindle, except it has no internet capability, no removable storage, and no way to add or delete content.
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The Navy is making 365 devices at first, with more to follow. The Navy plans to send about five to each submarine to be shared between multiple people. Each reader is preloaded with 300 books that will never change. The selection includes modern fiction like Tom Clancy and James Patterson, who are popular in the Navy, as well as nonfiction, the classics, and “a lot of naval history,” says Carrato.
The Wall Street Journal adds more:
The content consists mainly of newer bestsellers and public-domain classics, as well as titles from the Navy reading list and other texts for professional development. Since publishing partners include Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette and Random House, the lineup is impressive, ranging from contemporary fiction such as “A Game of Thrones” and “The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo,” bestselling non-fiction such as “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” and bonafide nerd favorites including “The Lord of the Rings” series, Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game,” and Stephen King’s “The Stand.”
NeRD was developed by the Navy General Library Program (NGLP) in partnership with Findaway World, a Solon, Ohio-based firm that built a platform for preloaded content on secured devices. While the NGLP is providing the NeRD and other library services free of charge to officers, sailors and their families, the device won’t be available to the civilian public.