Naval and Maritime Book
Reviews by Rob Jerrard
Books from Pen and Sword
Books Limited
Depth
Charge, Royal naval Mines, Depth Charges and Underwater Weapons 1914-1945
Author:
Chris Henry
ISBN:
1844151743
Publishers:
Pen & Sword
Price
£19.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 2005
I
should first say that because of my age, the years which this book covers were
before my time in the RN. It covers up
to 1945. Chapter 10 covers,
"ahead throwing weapons". My
first two ships, HMS Grafton 1958 and HMS Chichester 1959 did have "ahead
throwing weapons", but not "hedgehog".
The first hedgehog was fitted to LCT 162. HMS Grafton being a Blackwood class 14 anti-submarine frigate had
to "limbo", a three-barrelled depth charge mortar and HMS Chichester
being a first rate Salisbury type 61 aircraft direction frigate, carried a
"squid" a triple-barrelled depth charge mortar.
According
to several books I have consulted HMS Aisne a battle class destroyer I served
in (1966) also had squid, but I confess I cannot recall it.
I
can vouch for the excitement of seeing these weapons in action. Indeed I have some very good photographs of
Chichester firing her squid off Singapore, taken from HMS Albion alongside us. For some reason we were allowed to remain on
the forecastle that day, instead of the usual, "take cover". 
I can also recall that in Grafton we very often fired
the limbo because we were part of the 2nd TS at Portland, Dorset and
went out daily to train with Submarines.
I
understand that the limbo A/S mortar was introduced into the Whitby class frigates
after successful sea trials in the weapon class destroyer Scorpion. They gave all-round training instead of
having to point the ships, as with squid.
This
book has some previously unseen photographs from the collection held at the
Museum of Naval Firepower in Gosport,
which was originally the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Priddy's Hard,
familiar to HMS St Vincent boys I am sure.
Within
the book there are also lots of highly technical drawings of mines and rare
photographs of ships.
HMS
Vernon features in the book since on the eve of the First World War it was one
of the first establishments developing and testing naval weapons, and the
mining school was formed there
The
author describes "squid" on page 165
“Squid
was a three-barrelled mortar that fired a particularly large projectile, which
weighed 4001b and contained 2001b of explosive. According to Willem Hackmann, ‘Its most novel feature was the
automatic setting of the depth pistols of the projectiles by the Type 147
depth-determining asdic set. The three
barrels were set at a fixed elevation, but mounted at their base on a
horizontal training axis driven by a motor.
This could alter the training angle by about 30° side to side. The three
barrels were fixed slightly out of alignment so that when fired the bombs would
land in a triangular pattern of about 120ft on each side. Unlike Hedgehog, Squid was able to explode
its charges at varying depths and if a ship were armed with two weapons, they
could be arranged to fire at different depths. Squid was revolutionary because it was developed in conjunction
with a depth measuring ASDIC unit. The projectiles had time fuses, which were
set automatically when the depth of the target was known. The sinking speed was
expected to be 40ft per second. The body had a flat nose and rounded front end,
but otherwise it was cylindrical, terminating in a stabilizing tail. The nose
was weighted by being made from cast iron. Gas checks were built into the body.
The fuse was set into the nose and had a two-stage arming device, which was
initiated on set-back in the mortar ('set-back' being the term for the shock
transmitted to the fuse when the projectile is launched) and fully armed on
impact when it entered the water. These two features were combined with an altered
clock-timed mechanical fuse, number 211 Mark 3. These devices were chosen
because they were already in production and available in quantity. The
technical history produced by the department explained the workings of the
mechanical fuse:
The
mechanism, when started, continues to run until the ‘hand' reaches a form
recess in the hand race, the position of which has been preset by the setting
motor actuated by electrical impulses transmitted from the Depth Setting
Control (DSC) in the ASDIC room in accordance with the last depth prediction.
Firing occurs when the hand is ejected into the recess in the present position.'
This
weapon did not come into service until 1943 but it quickly had an impact.
This
fascinating book not only covers the history of these weapons but it also tells
us something of the lives of the men who worked at HMS Vernon. Little is known of such men as Herbert J
Taylor MBE, who retired on 22 December 1945 having never been recognised
officially by the authorities. An
appendix gives a complete list of his inventions.
Rob
Jerrard
Treaty
Cruisers - The First International Warship Building Competition
Author:
Leo Marriott
ISBN:
1 84415 188 3
Publishers:
Pen & Sword Books Limited
Price
£19.99
Publication
Date: 15 December 2005
Press
release
The
Washington Naval Treaty of 1921 and subsequent treaties in the 1930s
effectively established the size and composition of the various navies in World
War II. In particular they laid down design parameters and tonnage limitations
for each class of warship including battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers
and destroyers.
With
one or two exceptions, battleship construction was deferred until the mid 1930s
but virtually all navies embraced the concept of the Bin gun-armed 10, 000 ton
heavy cruiser and laid down new vessels almost immediately.
Treaty
Cruisers traces the political processes which led to the treaties, describe the
heavy cruisers designed and built to the same rules by each nation and then
considers how the various classes fared in World War 11 and assesses which were
the most successful.
Ships
from the navies of Britain (County Class), France (Duquense, Suffren and
Algeria Classes), Italy (Trento, Zara and Bolzano Classes), Germany (Hipper
Class), the USA (Pensacola, Northampton, Portland, New Orleans, Wichita and
Baltimore Classes) and Japan (Furatake, Asoba, Myoko, Takoa, Mogami, and Tone
Classes) are included. Appendices cover construction tables, the history of
each ship, technical specifications, armament and aircraft carried.
Review
I became aware from an early
age that my uncle had been lost when HMS Barham was torpedoed on 25 November
1941. I also knew that he had served in
HMS Devonshire (because I have the commissioning book) when it was attached to the
First Cruiser Squadron Mediterranean Fleet 1931-1934 Captain DB Le Mottee and
dispatched on special service in China.
My father was not what you
would describe as a great talker.
However one day when I asked again about the ships his brother served
in, he suddenly remembered that he had served in HMS Hawkins before WWII. The Hawkins Class were the precursor of the
Treaty cruisers. Because of my interest
in Hawkins and Devonshire and the fact that I served in HMS Lion, a Tiger Class
cruiser, the last cruisers built for the Royal Navy makes this book of
particular interest to me. I am also
confident it will find a wide readership in all those ex-RN personnel, who
either served in or remember the County Class cruisers, names familiar to many
of us, Berwick, Cornwall, Cumberland (famed for steaming 1000 miles from the
Falklands in 34 hours to join other ships at the River Plate), Kent, Suffolk,
Australia, Canberra, Devonshire, London, Shropshire, Sussex, Dorsetshire,
Norfolk, York and Exeter. It may also
be of interest to children and grandchildren of men who served in these ships.
Prior to any alterations
(London was reduced to two funnels) the earlier ships were often referred to as
three funnelled cruisers and easily recognised.
Dorsetshire was the last to
be built. Devonshire was finally
scrapped in 1954 having been present at the Royal Fleet Review of 1953. Cumberland was the last survivor - she was
broken up in 1958 after a career spanning thirty years.
There was of course more
than one Treaty and not all applied to or were accepted by all countries. Most books will divide up British Treaty
cruisers into classes eg Kent Class were Berwick, Cornwall, Cumberland, Kent,
Suffolk, Australia and Canberra. London
Class were, Devonshire, London, Shropshire and Sussex. Norfolk Class were Dorsetshire and
Norfolk. Next came York and Exeter,
both in classes of their own. There
should have been a Surrey Class, Northumberland and Surrey were both cancelled.
It is still possible to see
some of these ships in films, the three funnels making them easy to
identify. London presents a recognition
problem because when modernised between 1939-41 she had a funnel removed and
subsequently took on the appearance of a Fiji Class light cruiser. York and Exeter being termed ‘B’ Class
cruisers also had two funnels.
Treaty Cruisers will also
appeal to enthusiasts outside the because it also covers Ships from the navies
of, France (Duquense, Suffren and Algeria Classes), Italy (Trento, Zara and
Bolzano Classes), Germany (Hipper Class), the USA (Pensacola, Northampton,
Portland, New Orleans, Wichita and Baltimore Classes) and Japan (Furatake,
Asoba, Myoko, Takoa, Mogami, and Tone Classes) are included.
Their names are not so
familiar although the German Treaty Cruisers come to mind, Hipper, Blücher and
Prinz Eugen.
The book is very well
illustrated and the Appendices are very informative. Appendix III for instance
discusses the one common factor in all the various Treaty cruisers, that they
were armed with 8” guns, details of which are discussed. Appendix II lists all the ships.
Appendices
cover construction tables, the history of each ship, technical specifications,
armament and aircraft carried.
There is no doubt that
cruiser enthusiasts will welcome this book.
Rob Jerrard
Armada
1588 The Spanish Assault on England
Author:
John Barratt
ISBN:
1 84415 323 1
Publishers:
Pen & Sword
Price
£16.99
Publication
Date: 17 November 2005
PRESS
RELEASE
Compelling
new account of the defeat of the Spanish Armada Story told in clear, concise
detail, day-by-day, hour-by-hour.
Based
on contemporary sources, eyewitness accounts, the latest historical and
archaeological research
Exposes
myths and misunderstandings about the battle
The
defeat of the Spanish Armada is one of the turning points in English history
and was perhaps the defining episode in the long reigns of Elizabeth I of
England and Philip II of Spain. The running battle along the channel between
the nimble English ships and the lumbering Spanish galleons has achieved
legendary status.
In
this compelling new account John Barratt reconstructs the battle against the
Armada in the concise, clear Campaign Chronicles format, which records the
action in vivid detail, day-by-day, hour-by-hour. Armada 1588 questions common
assumptions about the battle and looks again at aspects of the action that have
been debated or misunderstood. Included are full orders of battle showing the
effective strengths and fighting capabilities of the opposing fleets. There is
also an in-depth analysis of the far-reaching consequences of the wreck of
Philip II’s great enterprise.
John
Barratt has written widely on English sixteenth and seventeenth-century
history, and is well known for his books on the land and sea warfare of the
period. His recent research has focused on Elizabeth I's war with Spain, in
particular on the Armada and on Spanish galley operations in the English
Channel.
REVIEWS
At
a time when the whole country is celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the
Battle of Trafalgar it is apt to pause and with the publication of this
excellent book look further back to 1588 when perhaps the realm was in an even
greater danger, when invasion looked even more certain.
As the cover piece tells us,
the Spanish Armada is one of the turning points in English history and it was
perhaps the defining episode in the long reign of Elizabeth I of England and
Philip II of Spain. The running battle
along the channel between the nimble English ships and the lumbering Spanish
galleons has achieved legendary status.
It may well assist readers
to study the biographical notes, Orders of the Battle, Roll Call, Campaign
Glossary and Bibliography before reading the main text. Much will depend upon your previous
knowledge of the events of 1588 and your understanding of nautical terms. There are plenty of black and white
illustrations to assist to the reader and this book also uses the now familiar
‘boxed out themes’. This enables the
reader to study particular aspects whilst moving through the main text, eg,
what is the difference between a pirate and a privateer, who were trained bands
and militia, what was a race-built galleon?
This must have been a very
exciting and worrying time for England.
Do we remember Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher? The Royal Navy certainly does.
HMS Drake is the name retained by the naval base at Devonport and HMS
Hawkins and HMS Frobisher were cruisers that served before during and after
World War II, indeed my uncle Ronald Jerrard served on HMS Hawkins before World
War II.
Staying with the theme of
ships names we see just how far back names familiar to us today were already
used in the English fleet, Ark Royal, Victory, Triumph, Dreadnought, Revenge,
Swiftsure, Vanguard, and Tiger were all there.
There were also a variety of armed merchant vessels with names
unfamiliar such as Violet of London, Grace of Topsham, President of Dartmouth,
Bartholomew of Topsham to name just a few. (Topsham is a small town on the
river exe in Devon).
In this new account John
Barratt reconstructs the Battle against the Armada in the concise clear
campaign chronicles format, which records the action in vivid detail, day
by-day, hour-by-hour. He questions,
assumptions about the Battle, looks again at aspects of the action that have
been debated or misunderstood.
Writing as I do in Budleigh
Salterton I am reminded of the words of Sir Walter Ralegh, whose birthplace is
a short walk to the village of East Budleigh.
He said" to invade by sea upon a perilous coast, being neither in
possession of any port, nor succoured by any party, may better fit a prince
presuming on his fortune then enriched with understanding". In the author’s last paragraph he borrows
the words of a later British commander, the Armada campaign had been a very ‘
close-run thing indeed’.
If the Armada represents a
gap in your knowledge, this book would be a good buy at what is today a very
reasonable price.
Rob Jerrard
Review
Exciting new account using
the latest research available.
It is always nice to find an
author who knows his subject. In this case, John Barratt has written
extensively on 16th and 17th Century history and is an accomplished author on
the subjects of land and sea warfare from that period. More recently, however, his research has
been focused on the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and the war with Spain,
specifically, the Armada and other Spanish operations in the English Channel.
Research is the key to
producing any factual historical account and in this case the author has used
the very latest historical and archaeological research available in order to
completely reconstructed the battle - day by day and hour by hour. Unlike
previous accounts of the Armada of 1588, this carefully compiled and
well-written work, exposes many myths and misunderstandings of the battle at
sea by introducing new eyewitness and other contemporary accounts of the day.
For those who wish to know
for the first time, exactly what happened when Spain set out to invade England
and Drake decided to finish his game of Bowls (or did he?) before setting out
to see them off, this is the book for you. For those who previously thought
they knew all there was to know about that same period in history, then this is
the book to steer you through a new understanding of the events in question.
The text is well supported
with a carefully chosen selection of illustrations, portraits and maps, which
appear on each relevant page and not in a small glossy collection in the middle
of the book. In this way, each picture is relevant to the adjacent text and
does much to support one’s reading of the work.
NM
Into
the Minefields
Edition:
1st
Author:
Peter C Smith
ISBN:
1844152715
Publishers:
Pen & Sword
Price
£19.99
Publication
Date: 20thOct 2005
Press
Release
Into
the Minefields is the story of the 20th Minelaying Flotilla in WW1 and WW2.
During the early years of WW1 existing minelaying vessels were found to be far
too slow to penetrate into the strategically important waters under the cover
of darkness and survive. As a result, a flotilla of fast destroyers was created
that could be readily converted from their normal role into minelayers. Many of
the guns and torpedo tubes could be quickly disembarked and mine-rails, mines
and sinkers fitted in their place. These specialised ships were then despatched
deep into enemy waters.
Between
the wars further development took place and new minelaying classes were built
with dual capability. They were soon called into action at the outset of WW2
and laid minefields around Norway, Germany and occupied Europe and even North
Russia.
Peter
C. Smith is an accomplished naval historian and has published more than thirty
titles. Into The Minefields has been written with help from HMS Vernon the
Royal Navy's mine school, and includes many first-hand accounts written by
various members of crew who saw service with the flotilla.
REVIEW
The
author tells us that this is not a book about the mine itself but on one
particular method of delivering the weapon.
I must confess that I only had limited knowledge that destroyers had
ever been used to lay mines. Whatever
knowledge I may have must be purely historical due to my age and service.
HMS
Comet was finally refitted as a minelayer as late as 1953 and we learn (page
203) that HMS Contest carried out some of the last destroyer minelaying between
1958 - 59 in the Mediterranean. Since I
left HMS St Vincent (Boys’ training establishment) in January 1957, all of
these minelaying destroyers were either gone or on their last legs, or as Ewart
Brooks would put it “passed over the river into the shade of the trees".
However,
deep in the recess of my mind the names are familiar- Chaplet, Comet, Contest,
all around for a few years before they went between 1960 and 62.
There
have been some excellent books by Ewart Brooks on mine sweeping, “Proud
Waters" and “Glory passed them by".
We tend to forget we also laid these terrible weapons, Brooks tells us
in “Proud Waters" that the
Germans laid 126,000 mines in European
waters, sweeping them cost us 327 minesweepers, 4,600 men and officers. I wonder how many we laid?
This
is the story of the fast surface minelaying which the author describes as
always secret with achievements little known outside a restricted circle and
(until now) ignored by historians recording the main sweep of Royal Navy
operations. Little record remains
anywhere of their operational methods -- he hopes that this first complete
account of their actions will finally set things straight.
I
note on page 202 he was unable to verify whether HMS Chieftain was ever fully
converted for minelaying capabilities.
Accepting the challenge I consulted my library of Maritime and Naval
books without positive result. The Ian
Alan ABC of British Warships by HM Le Fleming, 1956 and 1957 editions (two
shillings and sixpence, those were the days) have (LM) meaning, fitted as
destroyer leader and fitted as a minelayer.
She is also listed as such in “The British Destroyer” by T D Manning,
Godfrey Cave Associates 1979 edition.
This is a facsimile edition of the original published in 1961. Here it says, “Chaplet, Chieftain, Comet and
Contest are also fitted for minelaying".
The
book contains 47 black and white photographs including Contest, Comet and
Chaplet. There isn't a photograph of
Chieftain which has obviously proved difficult. I found one on an Internet site, however it was taken in 1948
which does not help solve the problem of whether she was fully converted.
This
is obviously a very specialised area, but it fills the gap in my Maritime
library and is very welcome.
Rob
Jerrard
Nelson’s
Trafalgar Captains & Their Battles
Edition:
1st
Author:
T A Heathcote
ISBN:
1844151824
Publishers:
Pen & Sword
Price
£19.99
Publication
Date: 15th Sept 2005
Press
Release
Under
Admiral Lord Nelson's command at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805
were two flag officers and the captains of twenty-seven battleships, four
frigates and two minor combatant vessels. In this unique and original work, the
Author has recorded the backgrounds and naval careers of these thirty-five men
who were so instrumental in giving Nelson his final and greatest victory and
securing Britannia's rule of the waves for the next hundred years.
While
concentrating upon the events of Trafalgar, these carefully researched
biographies provide an invaluable insight into the history and social structure
of the Royal Navy during the period in which they served. Collingwood, Nelson's
second-in-command and successor, whose austere manner contrasted to that of his
warm hearted chief, first saw action at Bunker Hill (17 June 1775), the first
major battle of the American War of Independence. Codrington, captain of the
3rd-rate Orion at Trafalgar, went on to command the multi-national fleet that
destroyed its Ottoman opponents at Navarino (20 October 1827), the last major
combat between wooden sailing ships. Other famous names include those of Thomas
Masterman Hardy, Nelson's flag captain in Victory and Thomas Fremantle, whose
teenage bride helped nurse Nelson after the disastrous attack on Sanda Cruz
where he lost his arm. Some were noblemen or playboys, like the Earl of
Northesk or Sir Eliab Harvey. Others were from more modest origins or had even
served on the lower deck. Some had fought in major battles before Trafalgar
(several in the same engagement). A number were survivors of shipwreck, fire,
or captivity. All however had been bred to the sea and first sailed in their
teens or even earlier.
Nelson's
Trafalgar Captains and their Battles places the important events of its
subjects' lives clearly in their historical, naval and political contexts. With
the entries arranged in alphabetical order, it can be used as a handy work of
reference, or simply enjoyed as an informative and entertaining read.
Preface
October
2005 is the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, a victory that
confirmed British supremacy over the Combined Fleets of Napoleon and his allies
and left the oceans of the world clear for British shipping and British trade.
At the time, most British people saw it as they had the defeat of the Spanish
Armada in 1588, or as they would the Battle of Britain in 1940 - a deliverance
from the threat of invasion by a well-trained army with a record of recent
victories. In fact, Napoleon had already despaired of gaining control of the
Channel and abandoned his invasion plans eight weeks before Trafalgar. As the
veteran Admiral St Vincent put it, it was not that the French could not come,
but that they could not do so by sea. The significance of Trafalgar was not
that it safeguarded British shores (the wooden wall of the Channel fleet and
the choppy waters of the Channel tides did that), but rather that by the
annihilation of the enemy's main fleet, it guaranteed British maritime
ascendancy across the world. For the next century, British ships were free to
carry British products to every part of the globe and return with raw materials
for British mills and food for the British population. British traders and
bankers had already created a society wealthy enough to defend itself and to
subsidize its allies. Nelson's triumph ensured that the expanding British
Empire and its financial heart, the City of London, would flourish under the
unchallenged protection of the Royal Navy for another 100 years.
Most
of the works, published or republished in connection with this occasion, are
about Nelson himself, on the battle and its preceding campaign, or on the
general history of the Navy in the Georgian period. This book is an account of
the lives of all the men who commanded at Trafalgar under Nelson. Often treated
as extras in the biographies of their great commander, they are here collected
together as a group in their own right. Some already have their own
biographers. Others well deserve them, and many led lives that bear comparison,
in terms of incident and adventure, with fictional counterparts such Aubrey, Bolitho, Hornblower or Ramage. The book is
intended for anyone, whether academic or general reader, seafarer or landsman,
who has an interest in the history of the Royal Navy and a liking for tales of
ships and the sea. It is intended also as a tribute to all who fought at
Trafalgar, including those of the French and Spanish Navies, whose modern
successors, now British allies in NATO and the European Union, also commemorate
the courage and chivalry shown by both sides.
Review
If
you served in the Royal Navy you will know some of the more well known names
because you cannot fail to recall the ships with their names that you either
served in or were aware of. Ships have
been named, inter alia, Nelson, Collingwood, Blackwood, Dundas, Hardy, Pellew,
then there are the Battles, St Vincent, Copenhagen, Trafalgar, and St Kitts
come to mind, all the names of Battle Class Destroyers. I served in HMS Aisne, the difference here
being named after a place of a battle.
It
is certainly an opportune time for us to look into the lives of other persons present
at Trafalgar. However this is certainly
not the first book to be written about Nelson and his captains. Indeed a book was published by that title in
1911, viz, Nelson and his Captains Sketches of Famous Seaman by W H Fitchett,
where he examines the lives of Sir Edward Berry, Captain Edward Riou, Sir Henry
Blackwood, Sir Thomas Trowbridge, Sir Benjamin Hallowell, Sir Alexander Ball,
Sir James Saumarez, Sir William Parker, Sir Edward Pellew, (Lord Exmouth), Sir
Thomas Foley and finally Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, Nelson's Flag
Captain. This was not a book about the
Trafalgar Captains but rather a discussion as to whether such a concept existed
as Nelson's School, and these were allegedly the men of that School.
No
review can cover all the officers mentioned in this book. Some of the well-known seem more interesting
for having read more of their lives; I think I know now where Ewart Brookes got
his idea that, "only Englishman have the faith to plant acorns", (see
Proud Waters Jarrolds
1953.) It seems that one of the habits
of Vice-Admiral Collingwood in later years was to carry acorns in his pocket
and to plant them as he travelled about his native land, so that the Navy would
never be short of oak for its ships.
They, or their descendants, survive as his living Memorials.
Captain
Cooke of Bellerophon was killed in action.
This is one of the ships’ names that survived until comparatively
recently. I served in HMS Bellerophon
in 1967 when it was the name for reserve ships Portsmouth, and in fact I served
in HMS Belfast, albeit the cap-tally said Bellerophon. The lower
deck called Bellerophon Billy Ruffian.
As is their way, ships are often given nicknames.
Also
killed was Captain Duff of Mars. One
aspect of this book I found particularly interesting is the coverage it gives
to some of the more minor characters who fought at Trafalgar, e.g. when Captain
Duff was killed, his headless body lay where it fell cover by an ensign until
the end of the Battle. In the meantime
his First Lieutenant (Hannah) had taken command and Villeneuve having been
taken prisoner when his command ship Bucentaure surrendered to the 3rd-Rate
Conqueror (74), was brought aboard by Captain James Atcherly of her Royal
Marines, whose boat had been unable to find its way back to Conqueror through
the Battle smoke. With a no more senior
British officer present, Villeneuve gave up his sword to Hannah.
The
First Lieutenant of Bellerophon, Cumby, also took command when Captain Cooke
fell. He survived the war and died
still serving as superintendent of Pembroke dockyard in September 1837. Bellerophon is also famous for being the
ship that carried Napoleon to exile in St Helena after his defeat at Waterloo.
This
is a very good account of the lives of all the men who commanded at Trafalgar
under Nelson, as the author says they are often treated as extras in the
biographies of their great commander. Here they are collected together as a
group in their own right. It is a pity
we know so little about the careers and lives of the ordinary officers, sailors
and marines who served at Trafalgar.
Glimpses of them can be found throughout this book, which made it all
the more interesting. Highly
recommended for those seeking a deeper knowledge of this time.
Rob
Jerrard
Title: Admiral of the Blue the Life and Times of
Admiral John Child Purvis 1747-1825
Edition: 1st
Author: Iain Gordon
ISBN: 184 415 2944
Publishers: Pen and Sword Maritime
Price £19.99
Publication Date: 2005
Press Release
Admiral of the Blue is the superb naval biography
of Admiral John Child Purvis, a highly competent contemporary of Nelson. Purvis's ability as a fighting Commander was
proved in a bloody duel between his sloop-of-war and a French corvette during
the War of American Independence.
Later, as a battleship Captain, he was the first British officer to
confront Napoleon Bonaparte, muzzle to muzzle, during the Siege of Toulon.
Commanding the Princess Royal and then the London, he was involved in much
action in the Mediterranean and served under the legendary Sir john Jervis
(later Lord St. Vincent) during his establishment of the controversial
‘Mediterranean Discipline’.
Later,
he rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet as Second-in-Command, at the request of
Lord Collingwood, whom he succeeded briefly as Commander-in-Chief. The culmination of his long and
distinguished career at sea, was when it fell to his lot to undertake the extremely
difficult but vital operational and diplomatic task of saving the Spanish fleet
in Cadiz from capture by the French and preparing the city for siege. "It will require much delicacy of conduct
and skill," Lord Collingwood wrote to him, "but it cannot be in
better hands than yours. "
Thanks
to the author's gift for meticulous research, this fascinating biography
captures not just the character of its subject, but also the atmosphere and
spirit of the Royal Navy during arguably the most dramatic period of its long
and glorious history.
Review
It is a very good idea to explain, as this author
has, what he calls conventions, rather then presume the reader knows it all
from the start. The conventions before the preface are very helpful in
explaining that on 11th October 1805, 10 days before Trafalgar the Royal Naval
day was changed to be calculated from midnight and not noon as it had
previously been. We are also prepared
in advance as to what an "Admiral of the Blue" was: the Royal Navy
had three squadrons, Nelson for instance had been a Rear Admiral of the Blue
and later a Vice-Admiral of the White.
Promotions were on seniority; as Nelson wrote, he got his promotion to
Post-Captain because somebody else had been killed.
I am not sure I agree with the entire preface,
which states, " few people, other then serious writers and readers of
Naval history, will ever have heard of Admiral John Child Purvis." So far so good, "The names of the great
sea commanders of that remarkable 100
years between 1750 and 1850, when Britannia truly ruled the waves, scream from
the pages of the British Chronicle like a crescendo of boatswains’ pipes, Howe,
Jarvis, Nelson, Hood, Collingwood, Duncan, Cochrane, Cornwallis, Saumarez,
Smith, Trowbridge, Pellew, Keppel.
Their reputations are secure: their deeds are known, or should be, by
every British schoolboy."
I am glad he added "or should be,"
because it would be an interesting exercise to check this in a classroom
today. I venture to suggest, sadly very
few would get beyond Nelson, but it is very true that, "For every one of
these acknowledged and undisputed heroes there were 10,000 sea officers,
sailors and marines whose names are not remembered."
Spelling in quotations has not been altered the
author tells us and he has tried to avoid the use of sic as far as possible;
readers should be aware however that there were small contemporary differences
in spelling eg, Chase was often written as Chace. Punctuation has, to some extent, been modernised in the interests
of clarity, but the more generous and expressive use of initial capitals, which
was the style of the time, has been retained, as the author says, "who can
deny that Horrible Carnage is not the richer by the use of initial
capitals?"
When referring to the duties of an Admiral, the
sort of duties which are seldom chronicled, references is made to court
martials for such offences as mutiny on the one hand, and breaking wind in the
gunroom mess on the other. I must
confess that this is the first time I have been aware that this was ever a
court martial matter. However it is
certainly true to say, that even on the messdeck during my service in the Royal
Navy there were certain conventions complied with eg, religion and politics
were never discussed on the messdeck, and whistling was forbidden.
On Lord Collingwood's death in 1810, Vice-Admiral
Purvis became, albeit briefly, Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean.
Born in Stepney on the 13th of March 1747, he had
spent his first seven years in an Admiralty, House which came with his father's
job as a Secretary to the Sick and Wounded Board. In 1750 his father was appointed Clerk of the Cheque and
Storekeeper to the naval dockyard in Harwich, where the family spent the next
seven years until the young John went to sea as a boy in HMS Arrogance in 1761.
On the 11 February 1778, Purvis was offered a
Lieutenant’s commission in the Invincible, flagship of Commodore John Evans and
commanded by Captain Antony Parry. His
first two months aboard were spent in Portsmouth Harbour and at the beginning
of May the ship was moved out to anchorage in Spithead to be prepared for the
Royal Review.
Purvis was promoted Post-Captain 1st
September 1782.
On 10 of April 1783 with the British naval and
military withdrawal from the United States well underway, Captain Purvis laid
out the Duc de Chartres in the North River, in New York, from where she was
later sold, and took passage back to England where he was destined to remain
ashore on half pay for the next 10 years of peace.
In
1793 Captain Purvis had his own command, HMS Princess Royal; also in the fleet
at the time was the Agamemnon, 64 commanded by one of the youngest captains in
the fleet, the 35-year-old Horatio Nelson who, having had the right influence,
had made Post-Captain at the unusually early age of 21. Purvis, without such influence, had to wait
until the age of 34 for his promotion and had been extremely fortunate that his
chance had, at last come during the final stages of the previous war. Within the months of making Post, peace with
France and Spain had been signed and he, with the majority of sea officers,
including Nelson, had found himself ashore on half pay. The difference between a captain’s and a
lieutenant's half pay meant the difference between being able to lead the life
of the gentleman, albeit not without restraint, and a miserable, existence
which usually entailed a degree of dependence upon family and friends.
In
1787 Captain Purvis took a short lease on Vernon Hill house in Bishops Waltham
and the following year he moved with them to a house in Wickham, Hampshire; a
place very familiar to me since my parents lived there until my father died
last year. It is a small town north of
Portsmouth in Hampshire. After the
death of his first wife, Captain Purvis married again to Mary Longhurst Garrett
who was from the village of Southwick a name which may be familiar to many of
us ex Royal Navy if we served at HMS Dryad which was the Royal Navy training
establishment for radar situated at Southwick over the South Downs, north of
Portsmouth.
Mention
is also made in the book of Captain Purvis' brother buying a property called
the Blackbrook estate just outside Fareham in Hampshire. This particularly caught my eye since my son
was born at Blackbrook maternity home, Fareham, Hampshire in 1963. I can only presume this was part of that
original estate. I seem to recall that
a road leading round the back of the maternity home was called Blackbrook Park
Road and my sister lived there.
This
is certainly a very well researched book.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and consider it improved my knowledge of this
exciting naval period. The contents are very clearly documented, enabling you
to return to a particular period. Additionally there are very good indexes,
appendix, and maps plans etc. There are
some very nice black and white photographs including one of the grounds and
house or Blackbrook Estate, Fareham. Apparently Blackbrook cottage was retained
in the family for about 100 years ending in 1927 and then bought by the Church
Commissioners as the Bishops Palace for the diocese of Portsmouth.
Rob
Jerrard
Nelson’s
Hero - The Story of His 'Sea-Daddy' Captain William Locker
Edition
1st
Author
Victor T Sharman
ISBN
1844152669
Publishers
Pen & Sword Books Limited
Price
£19.99
Publication
Date 2005
If
you were a 15 year old Boy Seaman and spent the first year of your naval career
with the legend ‘HMS St Vincent’ proudly proclaimed across the front of your
cap, then in addition to Nelson you will also be familiar with many of the
great naval names mentioned in this book - Earl St Vincent (John Jervis) and
others, some of whom we know of as Nelson’s Band of Brothers, his Captains, Thomas,
Troubridge, Bromwich, Dundas, Poole and Macnamara amongst them. Other names are there too - Blackwood,
Berry, Hardy, Collingwood, Harvey, Hallowell, Miller, Hood and Ball.
Nelson,
like so many others started his naval career very young. We learn on page 3 that no youngster under
the age of 13 was allowed to go to sea in a Royal Naval vessel unless he was
the son of a serving officer. Nelson
was a little over 12 in 1771 but considered 11 ‘much too young’, a remark he
was heard to say to a young Midshipman who said that he was 11 at the Battle of
Cape St Vincent, which took place 14 February 1797.
This
book is about Captain William Locker of which we learn much. However, you can also learn much more about
the character of Nelson from his letters to his old Captain, for whom he had
the greatest respect and to whom he wrote,
"I
have been your scholar; it was you who taught me to board a Frenchman by your
conduct. It is you who always taught me
to lay a Frenchman close and you will beat him. My only merit in my profession is being a good scholar. Our friendship will never end but with my
life."
Indeed
throughout his career, Nelson kept up an extensive correspondence with his
mentor.
I would think we are all the same in that
respect and look back with great affection upon men, who by their conduct
showed us the way. I know for a fact
that these are the sentiments of very many St Vincent boys of whom John Jervis,
Nelson ad Locker would have spoken well, because just as much as Midshipmen,
Boy Seamen were the backbone of the Royal Navy.
Many
of Nelson’s letters reflect the written English language of the period and make
wonderful reading, eg ‘my duty to my Mother’, we would say ‘give Mother my
love’, ‘I own’ for ‘I admit’ and often signing off as ‘your most obliged and
obedient servant, Horatio Nelson’. His
letters to his old Captain are a pleasure to read.
According
to this book, Nelson also had great respect for Earl St Vincent, when St
Vincent, sixty-five years old and tiring, and decided to give up his command at
Toulon and return home to England, Nelson highly rated him, which can be seen
by the letter he sent to St Vincent on hearing this news; one cannot imagine
him addressing any other superior in this way, because he wrote to him in the
following terms,
"My
dear Lord,We have a report that you are going home. This distresses us most
exceedingly, and myself in particular; so much so, that I have serious thoughts
of returning, if that event should take place.
But for the sake of our Country, do not quit us at this serious
moment. I wish not to detract from the
merit of whoever may be your successor; but it must take a length of time,
which I hope the war will not give, to be in any manner a St Vincent. We look up to you, as we have always found
you, as to our Father, under whose fostering care we have been led to
fame. Give up not a particle of your
authority to any one; be again our St. Vincent, and we shall be happy.
Your
affectionate, NELSON"
What
isn’t mentioned is the rift between St Vincent and Nelson. However, since this is a book about Captain
Locker one would not expect that to be gone into. The rift was primarily caused by Nelson’s conduct with Emma Hamilton
and a disagreement over prize money.
On
Page 35 the term 'widow’s man 1' and 'widow’s man 2' are discussed. It seems that these were 'ghost members of
the crew' put on the payroll to provide a fund for widows of officers lost in
service. Each ship could count two per
hundred members of crew. It is
interesting to note that this fund only provided for officers lost. They of course made up the minority of the
crew. I wonder when this convention
finished? I swear there were a few
ghosts on some of the ships I served on.
We also learn that Nelson
wasn’t impressed with French Inns or the food they provided, I wonder what he
would have made of Political Correctness with the 200 Year Anniversary
re-enacted battle calling the Fleets Red and Blue. Since he had been a Rear Admiral of the Blue and a Vice Admiral
of the White, he would have had every reason to be confused. On Page 90 he is quoted as saying.
"Here
we [were] shown into an inn - they called it - I should have called it a
pig-stye:[sic] we were shown into a room with two straw beds, and with great
difficulty, they mustered up clean sheets; and gave us two pigeons for supper,
upon a dirty cloth, and wooden-handled knives.
O what a transition from happy England.
But
we laughed at the repast, and went to bed with the determination that nothing
should ruffle our tempers. Having slept
very well, we set off at daylight for Boulogne, where we breakfasted: this
place was full of English, I suppose because wine is so very cheap."
An interesting fact about
prize money is considered on Page 81.
If you took a prize within sight of the Fleet all money had to be shared
around all of the Fleet.
A thoroughly enjoyable book
about Captain William Locker, which revealed so much about Nelson and his early
development and a must for those who crave more detail of his early life.
Rob Jerrard
Some
other books of this period you might want to read 
The
Escort Carriers of World War II
Author:
David Wragg
ISBN:
1844152200
Publishers:
Pen & Sword Books Limited
Price
£19.99, Illustrated
Publication
Date: 28 July 2005
I
joined the Royal Navy too late to see any of these ships in action. By 1956 there were light carriers still
about and these too get a chapter in this book. Chapter VII discusses the Colossus Class, which were in fact
small in spite of the name. There were
10 Colossus Class and 6 Majestic Class.
Only 4 Colossus Class were ever commissioned before the war ended. These were Colossus, Glory, Venerable and
Vengeance. I remember Ocean, Theseus
and Triumph during the Indonesian Confrontation at Singapore, when Triumph
acted as a support ship. Of the
Majestic Class I remember only one, Leviathan, which I once dived upon when she
was in dock near the small chips’ canteen in Portsmouth Dockyard awaiting
disposal. This was about 1960 on a Free
Divers course.
This
book is of course mostly about Escort Carriers, CAM, and MAC ships, and it
covers their history extensively. The
author starts with a basic history of how carriers developed in the RN and US
navies.
MAC
(Merchant Aircraft Carriers) were either tankers or grain ships and carried Swordfish
aircraft and work proceeded slowly on producing them. Empire MacAlpine was not ready until April 43, by which time the
first of the mass-produced Escort Carriers were on their way. The first tanker to be converted was Rapana.
We
are told that some aircrews changed the lettering on the sides of their
aircraft from Royal Navy to Merchant Navy.
However I have never seen a photograph to prove this claim. This would be an interesting collector’s
item if it exists? They probably took
this decision because these ships were designated MV (Motor Vessel) rather than
HMS.
Part
2 goes on to Escort Carriers with our first being HMS Audacity, the first US,
who called them auxiliary carriers, was USS Long Island (ACV-1), later changed
to CVE-1. Appendix 2 tells us there
were 18 MAC ships. Appendix 3 lists 45
ships as Royal Naval Escort Carriers, all HMS.
There were of course so many different classes - Audacity, Archer, Avenger,
Activity, Attacker, and Ameer (US Bogues).
I
was not aware that HMS Victorious was at one time known as USS Robin when on
loan to the US Navy before being relieved by USS Essex. Incidentally if you want to see an Essex
Class Carrier in action watch the film ‘Bridges of Toko Ri’ and you will see
USS Oriskany (CV-34) and others.
In
the chapter on, ‘Life on Board’, there is an interesting discussion on
messing. What type of messing you
operated mattered very much to the crew of an RN ship. Food and accommodation affects you and makes
a difference to how you perform your duty.
I never served on a ship with so-called canteen messing. Of my ships, HMS Grafton, Chichester and
Aisne were general messing, and Lion and Victorious were cafeteiria, with mess
halls to eat in rather than on the actual mess deck. Victorious and Lion were very good, but overall I had nothing but
praise for RN cooking standards often performed in terrible conditions at sea.
Chapter
4 gives a Pilot’s eye-view of all the aircraft operated and explains many of
the terms.
All
in all a very well researched book, which covers inter alia,
Escorts
appearing
Life
aboard
The
aircraft
Winning
the Battle of the Atlantic
Hunter
Killer Forces
The
Arctic Convoys
Japanese
Auxiliary Carriers
After
the war
Light
carriers
Appendices
Standard
convoy air patrol codenames
MAC-ships
Royal
Naval Escort Carriers
US
Naval Escort Carriers
US
Naval Escort Carriers by pennant number
Bibliography
If
you have an interest in WW2 Carriers this book is a must.
Rob Jerrard
Yanagi
The
Secret Underwater Trade Between Germany And Japan 1942-1945
Author:
Mark Felton
ISBN:
1 84415 167 0
Publishers:
Pen & Sword
Price
£19.99 HB
Publication
Date: 16 June 2005
PUBLISHER’S
PRESS RELEASE
This
fascinating book examines the little known exchange of military technology and
raw materials by long-range submarines voyages between Germany and Japan during
the Second World War.
Given
the codename 'Yanagi', this trade was a high priority to both Axis partners. As
the Allied grip on the oceans increased, the trade in weapons, including jet
aircraft, missiles, and even atomic bomb technology, as well as raw materials
between the Germans and Japanese was forced beneath the waves. The resulting secret submarine transport
network posed an increasingly heavy but necessary burden on tight resources.
Thanks
to the Author's detailed research, this is the first full account of these
operations including descriptions of individual missions, be they by German,
Italian or Japanese submarine crews.
Even by modern standards these were of impressive duration and demanded
the highest standards of seamanship and discipline.
The
book also throws interesting light on the complex and often difficult
relationship between the two main Axis partners. For all those with an interest in submarine operations during the
Second World War this book is a must.
It will also appeal strongly to those who seek unusual and original
material on the conflict.
Introduction
from the book
The
best way to gain even a cursory insight into the lives and conditions of
service of the men of the U-boat arm of the Second World War German Navy is to
spend an afternoon roaming around one of the preserved vessels to be found
around the world. Although hardly any
examples remain of the 1,171 U-boats of all types commissioned into the German
Navy between 1935 and 1945, a little effort and travel can transport one back
to the world of the ‘Iron Coffins’: a world of fetid air, bad food, and the
constant tension of imminent attack. For those who want to experience for a
fleeting moment the claustrophobic reality of life beneath the waves, U-boats
have been preserved in Chicago and at the U-boat Memorial at Laboe in Germany. These boats are pristine museum pieces that
have been altered to accommodate modern tourists. For a truly eerie experiment in time-travel, a visit to the hulk
of U-534 in Birkenhead, near Liverpool, provides the uninitiated with an
opportunity to experience the stark reality of service aboard a U-boat, and is
testimony to the agonized deaths of hundreds of these machines at the hands of
Allied air and sea power.
U-534,
a Type IXC40 sunk in the Kattegat off Denmark in May 1945 and raised in 1996,
is of the same general type and configuration as many of the U-boats discussed
throughout this book, a workhorse of long-range hunting and transportation for
the German Navy during the Second World War because of its large fuel capacity
and extended range. Although U-534 has
no immediate connection with the German operation of U-boats and transport
links with the Indian Ocean and Far East, the configuration of the boat none
the less recommends it to all as a memorial to courage, tenacity and
desperation on the part of the men who crewed these tools of war. To stand in the forward torpedo room of
U-534, with its insides ravaged by fifty years of
contact
with salt water, one can visualize the bunks that would have been slung next to
the torpedoes suspended in their racks, the busy toing and froing of sixty plus
teenagers and men, the smell of unwashed bodies and food on the turn, stumbling
through each compartment filled to capacity with boxes and crates of every
description - everything permeated by grease, and the smell and taste of engine
oil and lubricants. Now imagine, if you
will, remaining confined within this steel tube for nearly 200 days, with no
relief from the constant fear of attack from above and the unpleasant possibility
of death by drowning or worse. It would often take some 200 days of living on
one's nerves and a rudimentary diet, never seeing the sun or having the luxury
of a wash in fresh water, before a U-boat would reach the steamy tropics,
perhaps at Penang in Malaya or Surabaya in Java, completing incredible combat
patrols whose purpose was both the interdiction of Allied commerce, and the
delivery of secret military equipment and personnel to the Japanese. On arrival in the Far East the Germans could
expect a brief respite from immediate death, the chance to repair the battered
submarine, overhaul the diesel engines and batteries, and load up all available
spaces with a cargo of raw materials bought off the Japanese, essential to the
Nazi war effort back home.
For
many of the men, the Indian Ocean was also to offer a happy killing ground for
U-boats already driven from their traditional hunting grounds in the North
Atlantic and North Sea by advances in Allied anti-submarine technology and
convoy escorting prowess. Many U-boat
skippers, often highly decorated individuals who had made their names in the
Battle of the Atlantic, and who, more often than not, proudly wore the insignia
of the Knights Cross (Nazi Germany's premier award for courageous service)
around their necks, found another chance to prove their skills in a strategic
backwater most of us do not associate with the U-boat war. The Japanese, for their part, although to
use their submarine fleet very differently from the Germans, also prowled the
Indian Ocean, and came as far as the North Atlantic to trade with Nazi Germany.
The
traditional hunting of convoys and unescorted merchant ships was conducted
alongside the requirements of both Germany and Japan for raw materials,
manufactured products, and new and advanced technology, and as Allied air and
sea power grew to become irresistible and all-powerful, such a trade between
the two nations, code-named the Yanagi trade by the Japanese, could not be
performed
openly
by surface merchant ships attempting to run British and American naval blockades. Nor could such a trade be conducted
overland, certainly not after the entry of the Soviet Union into the war in
1941. The Yanagi trade was forced
beneath the waves and was borne primarily on the shoulders of the German U-boat
service. Submarines which had not been designed to cope with the added
pressures of carrying cargo, but that retained some fighting potential were
pressed into service, alongside obsolescent Italian submarines, in order to
keep the strategically important Yanagi trade alive until the German surrender
in May 1945.
The
Germans established a network of bases and repair facilities throughout Asia
aimed at supplying the requirements of an assortment of submarines. Some of these submarines, such as the
long-range Type IX U-cruisers, were engaged in anti-commerce interdiction,
while others ran supplies from Europe to Asia and back again, or worked locally
transporting spare parts and goods between the network of German and Japanese
naval facilities that existed throughout the region. Many of these U-boats were sunk en route to or returning from the
Far East, and all boats, regardless of type or purpose, carried Yanagi trade
goods and technical or diplomatic personnel, who used the U-boats as a form of
underwater taxi to shuttle between distant parts of the globe.
The
Japanese, although only to dispatch an occasional submarine to Europe, were to
lose men and vessels as well, but the bulk of both surface blockade-running
operations conducted until 1944 and the submarine-borne trade of 1942-45 was
carried out by the Germans, who suffered the greatest losses in terms of men
and materiel. Both the Third Reich and
Imperial Japan, though not maintaining the closest of relationships as allies
and having an innate distrust of the other and markedly different war aims,
none the less received thousands of tons each of valuable Yanagi goods. The Germans prioritized the kinds of raw
materials unavailable to them in Europe, and the Japanese benefited from high
technology weaponry and other items that kept Germany at the forefront of
military technology developments until their surrender. When the war in Europe was over, the
Imperial Japanese Navy wasted no time in snatching those U-boats and former
Italian submarines lying in ports within their control, and interning their
former allies in prison camps, forcing many defeated German crewmen to instruct
Japanese submariners on the operation of their former vessels.
Standing
in the rusty and silent forward torpedo room or at the chart table in the control
room of the Type IXC40 U-534 is as close as most of us can come to
comprehending the enormous effort expended by the Germans on their U-boat
offensives, and the closest we can get to understanding the conditions on a
boat motoring its way slowly to the Far East in 1944 or 1945. Perhaps the greatest tribute to the hardy
Far --East U-boat adventurers is the fact that often after spending some 200
days cramped inside a constantly moving steel tube, they would endure a return
trip, with some commanders and boats making several forays to the Japanese
sphere of operations. But, for most of
the boats and crewmen featured in this book, there was to be no happy respite
from war. For a significant total, both
German and Japanese, the memorial to this interesting facet of the story of the
Second World War is the rusting hulks their bones still occupy on the seabed,
stretched out through a catalogue of sunken submarines from the North Atlantic
to the Strait of Malacca.
This
book is by no means the definitive work on this fascinating subject. Rather, it is a survey of the entire German
and Japanese cooperative effort at sea during the Second World War. Considerations of space make it impossible
to tell the stories of the many U-boats and Japanese submarines that appear on
these pages in exhaustive detail. Each
story is one of human struggle, endurance and sometimes tragedy, and each would
be worthy of lengthy individual service histories. But placed within the context of German-Japanese naval
cooperation, each has a story to tell as part of the geo-political, economic
and military account of two very different allies attempting to achieve a means
of supplying each other's material requirements by the unlikely employment of
submarines for the task. This was the
secret Yanagi trade.
The
Author
Born
in 1974 Mark Felton gained a BA in History and English at Anglia University,
Cambridge. He holds a Post-graduate
Certificate in Political Science and a MA in American Studies, both at the
University of Essex. He is currently a
PhD student in American History also at the University of Essex where he
teaches part-time. He is a regular
contributor to historical periodicals.
Mark lives with his wife at Colchester, Essex.
Review
Having limited knowledge of
WWII submarine activities I found this to be an extremely interesting book, but
had some difficulty digesting large sections at one sitting, and had to read it
in about 5 separate sessions. This compares with most other naval-related books
that I read, which tend to be devoured in one or two sessions!
Mark Felton included masses
of detail in the initial chapters about early submarine development by the
Reichsmarine and then, the accelerated work from 1935 when the service was
renamed Kriegsmarine The author made so many references in the first few
chapters to German/Japanese type numbers (1A, KD2, I-400, IXC, IXDII, XXIII
etc) that, in trying to digest this data, I found it difficult to settle down
to a pattern of reading – put it down to old-age!
The book focuses on the
little-known trade between Germany and Japan during the later stages of the
Second World War – when Germany was becoming desperate for raw materials and
Japan, for military technology. Initially, this was operated using surface
blockade-runners but, as the following summary for the winter of 1942/43 shows,
they suffered horrendous losses and had to abandon these surface operations.
|
Bound |
Blockade-runner |
Fate |
|
East East East East East East East East West West West West West West West West West West West West |
Annaliese
Essberger Karin Cortellazzo Germania Portland Osorno Alsterufer Himalaya Rhakotis Hohenfriedburg Doggerbank Karin Pietro
Orseolo Osorno Alsterufer Regensburg Irene Ramses Weserland Burgenland |
Intercepted, scuttled Reached Far East Sunk Intercepted, scuttled/RN
sloop Sunk Reached Far East Reached Far East Turned back Sunk by HMS Scylla Sunk by cruiser Sunk by own U-boat Scuttled/USS Eberle Reached Europe Reached the Gironde Sunk by aircraft Scuttled/HMS Glasgow Scuttled/HMS Adventure Sunk by HMAS Adelaide Sunk by USS Somers Sunk by USS Omaha &
Jouett |
In desperation they turned
to the unlikely scenario of running supplies by submarine – this, together with
the failed surface operation, was termed the Yanagi trade.
This need to trade in
weapons, including jet aircraft, missiles, and even atomic bomb technology, as
well as raw materials between the Germans and Japanese was crucial to their war
effort and the decision to move it beneath the waves placed an increasingly
heavy burden on, already tight, resources.
Japan had sent subs to the
Indian Ocean in mid-1942 to demonstrate its support for Germany and had
successfully interdicted shipping in the Mozambique Channel - even putting the
battleship Ramillies out of action for a year in a midget-submarine raid on
Diego Suarez. However, unlike the Germans, the Japanese were always more
interested in sinking Allied warships than merchantmen and this foray into the
Indian Ocean was its only really major submarine push into this theatre of war.
In mid-June, one of its
boats - the I-30 - was replenished from an auxiliary cruiser and then departed
for Europe – arriving in Lorient after a 7-week voyage that was not without
incident. She passed to the Germans mica and shellac products that were
desperately needed, together with details of a new aerial torpedo – the type
91. After a spell of sightseeing in Paris (!) the I-30 was loaded with a mass
of naval gear (including a torpedo fire-control system, G7a/G7e torpedoes, 50
Enigma machines and a new search radar). The I-30 got as far as Singapore,
unloaded ten Enigmas and then sank when leaving the base, after hitting one of
its own country’s mines! The next mission was more successful. The larger I-8
sub from its base at Kure made it through to Brest and then completed its
return trip – an amazing round trip of 30,000 miles.
By mid-1943 Germany was
ready to send its own Yanagi-craft to the Far East. As its own fleet subs were
relatively small they had converted a batch of Marconi-class subs that they had
acquired from the Italians (code named Aquila). Three out of five Aquila’s made
it to Singapore, but following the Italian surrender, the crews were seized and
imprisoned!
With the collapse of the
U-boat offensive in its traditional hunting grounds in the North Atlantic and
North Sea, due to the Allies ever-increasing air and sea superiority, the
U-boat skippers turned, in mid-1943, to prowling the Indian Ocean. In addition
to their offensive role, many of the U-boats that were transferred to the Far
East also had to take on board a proportion of specialist supplies. A small
network of bases and repair facilities were established, with the first base
being at Penang. Eventually they had two bases in Malaya, two more in Java and
one in Japan to service and supply the needs of an assortment of submarines.
The initial U-boat forays
into the Indian Ocean were quite successful but as the Allies improved their
convoy activities and strengthened their anti-submarine operations, U-boat
losses began to escalate. My overall impression of this latter phase of
operations was that it was utterly futile!
Allied anti-submarine activities had become so much more sophisticated
that may of the subs were sunk before they reached the Indian Ocean and those
that were returning to Europe were more accurately tracked as the Allies had
cracked the Axis codes and were sunk in the South/North Atlantic, as this
partial list shows.
|
Bound |
U-boat |
Fate |
|
East |
U-511 |
Safely reached Penang,
then on to Kure |
|
East/West |
U-178 |
Safely reached Penang,
then returned to Bordeaux |
|
West |
U-198 |
Safely reached France
after 201-day patrol |
|
On station |
U-197 |
Sunk by Catalinas out of
Durban |
|
West |
U-181 |
Safely reached France
after 206-day patrol |
|
East |
U-200 |
Sunk by Catalina from US
Squadron VP-84 |
|
East |
U-514 |
Sunk off Cape Finisterre
by Liberator of 224 Squadron |
|
East |
U-506 |
Sunk off Vigo by USAAF
Liberator |
|
East |
U-509 |
Sunk by Avenger-Wildcat
team from USS Santee |
|
East |
U-847 |
Sunk by Avenger-Wildcat
team from USS Card |
|
East |
U-487 |
Sunk by Avenger-Wildcat
team from USS Core |
|
East |
U-462 |
Sunk in Bay of Biscay by
Halifax of 502 Squadron |
|
East |
U-160 |
Sunk by Avenger-Wildcat
team from USS Santee |
|
East |
U-177 |
Sunk by Liberator from US
Squadron VB-107 |
|
East |
U-848 |
Sunk by Liberator and
others from US Squadron VB-107 |
|
East |
U-849 |
Sunk by Liberator from US
Squadron VB-107 |
|
East |
U-172 |
Sunk by USS Osmond Ingram
and 3 other destroyers |
|
East |
U-850 |
Sunk by aircraft from USS
Bogue |
What I found most
interesting about these heavier and heavier losses was the increased
effectiveness of Allied communications that enabled them to coordinate
operations so much more effectively. The high proportion of U-boats that were
being sunk by aircraft was particularly impressive and it was almost guaranteed
that if your boat was sunk by
aircraft you had no chance of survival. In most cases the aircraft dropped
liferafts for the survivors but, unlike those U-boats that were sunk by surface
vessels, these survivors had little chance of being picked up and faced a
lingering death - very few ever reached safety.
Summary
The overall failure of the
Yanagi underwater trade was extraordinary when the actual tonnage of material
transported at great cost (in terms of lives lost) is compared with that
transported by surface blockade-running ships.
Between 1943 and 1945
Germany received about 700 tons of raw materials, some weaponry and secret
blueprints – The reverse trade to Japan provided about 1800 tons of metals and
weapons technology. When compared with the payload of just one surface
blockade-running ship of 10,000 tons, it pales into insignificance. Even so,
the Japanese benefited immeasurably from the technology they did receive and
were able to copy this and use it to greatly assist their Pacific War
activities.
The bravery exhibited
by German submariners in attempting to carry out this trade was amazing and
even by modern standards many of the trips they completed were of impressive
duration and demanded the highest standards of seamanship and discipline.
Mike Welfare
Hit
& Run Daring Air Attacks in World War II
Author:
Robert Jackson
ISBN:
184415162x
Publishers:
Pen & Sword
Price
£19.99
Publication
Date: 2005
Publishers
Press Release
This
book describes some of the most daring air attacks of World War 11. Some were outstanding successes and some
were unmitigated disasters.
NORTH
SEA BATTLE
In
the early weeks of World War II, Britain and Germany were determined to attack
one another's warships in their respective naval bases. Both RAF and Luftwaffe learned the folly of
sending unescorted bombers into enemy territory.
FLAMES
OVER FRANCE
In
May 1940, the RAF and French Air Force launched a series of desperate
hit-and-run attacks on the German armoured columns advancing into France and
Belgium. The cost was appalling.
PRECISION
ATTACK
In
August 1940, a newly-formed Luftwaffe unit called Erprobungsgruppe 210 (Test
Group 210), equipped with bomb-carrying Messerschmitts, was assigned a mission
to wipe out British radar stations in a series of lightning low-level attacks.
CARRIER
STRIKE
In
November 1940, a force of Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bombers crippled the Italian
fleet in a daring night attack on the naval base at Taranto.
BY
DAYLIGHT TO GERMANY
In
the summer of 1941, Blenheim squadrons of No 2 Group RAF launched a series of
daring low-level attacks on power stations and naval facilities in northern
Germany. The principal target was Bremen, at the extreme limit of the bombers'
range.
MISSION
TO AUGSBURG
On
17 April, 1942, twelve of Bomber Command's new Lancasters were detailed to
attack a factory in Augsburg, which was making diesel engines for U-boats. The mission involved a round trip of 1,250
miles over occupied Europe - at low level and in broad daylight.
TARGET
TOKYO
On
18 April, 1942, Major Jimmy Doolittle led a daring attack on Tokyo, carried out
by B-25 Mitchell bombers launched from the USS Hornet.
DEAD
ON TIME
Admiral
Isoroku Yamamoto, architect of Japan's war in the Pacific, was a stickler for
punctuality. He also liked to visit
Japanese units. On 18 April, 1943, he
set off to make a flying visit to Rabaul, disregarding advice to alter his
timetable. He did not know that the
Americans had cracked the Japanese code - and that a squadron of P-38
Lightnings was waiting for his aircraft over the ocean.
EXTREME
DANGER MISSION
On
17 May, 1943, twelve B-26 bombers of the USAAF's 322nd Bombardment Group took off from Great Saling to attack a
heavily-defended target in Holland. It
was their second attack on the same target in 48 hours. The 322nd's commander pleaded for fighter
cover - but the fighters never came, and none of the B-26s returned.
THE
RAID THAT FAILED
On
1 August, 1943, five USAAF bomber groups set out from North Africa to make a
surprise low-level attack on Romanian oilfields at Ploesti. But the Americans had made a serious mistake
- all 177 crews were following one navigator in the leading aircraft. When that
went down into the Mediterranean, chaos ensued - and more than 50 bombers never
came back.
THE
ANNIVERSARY RAIDS
On
17 August, 1943, 146 American bombers tried to penetrate deep into Germany
without fighter escort to attack aircraft factories at Regensburg. Later in the day, 229 more set out to bomb
Schweinfurt. Of this combined force, 60
bombers were shot down and 100 damaged
MOSQUITO
MISSION
On
18 February, 1944, Mosquitoes of the RAF and RNZAF blasted a hole in the wall
of Amiens prison to allow condemned French resistance fighters to escape. It was one of several low-level precision
attacks that made the Mosquito famous.
THE
LUFTWAFFE'S LAST FLING
On
1 January, 1945, the Luftwaffe launched 1000 fighters and fighter-bombers in an
attack on Allied air bases in northwest Europe in support of the faltering
German offensive in the Ardennes. It
was the German Air Force's swan song.
The
Author
Robert
Jackson has written many best-selling books on the history of World War II
since retiring from a leading national newspaper where he was defence
correspondent. He lives in Darlington; his other main interest is rugby union.
Review
by Frank Spilsbury DFC
The
author has produced a truly remarkable book.
He has selected a number of air attacks, not only by the Royal Air Force
but also including raids by Luftwaffe and the Japanese Air Force. He then takes the reader on each raid, but
in doing so is not content to tell the story of the raid but leads the reader
through from conception to the operation itself.
The
amount of research by the author and information given is quite
formidable. Where bombs are carried, he
gives full details of the types of bombs, the ammunition carried, small arms
and cannons and even the amount of ammunition used. He tells us the time spent to the minute.
But
these details are not only about the RAF raids, he also gives information about
the enemy as well. He has found access
to individual pilots’ written reports on the raids and so we have the personal
reactions of some of the participants.
We
receive particular details of the American bomber daylight raids and the
dreadful casualty figures sustained.
The author tells us, with gruesome details, of the early daylight raids
by Blenheims and their heavy casualties.
Clearly
our senior officers and the Americans too, were oblivious to the enemy’s
defensive resources and the numbers of bombers that would be shot down. And yet they sent them again and again with
their results simply not justifying the casualties sustained. This book gives the facts.
It
is a very well written book with the author giving the story of selected air
raids, but with so very much more information relevant to the attacks.
FA
Spilsbury DFC
Operation
Chariot, The Raid on St Nazaire
Elite
Forces Operations Series Parachute Regiment
Author:
Jon Cooksey
ISBN:
1 84415 116 6
Publishers:
Pen & Sword Books
Price
£12.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 16 June 2005
Publishers
Press Release
By
March 1942, mainland France had been under German occupation for almost two
years.
Every
month that passed saw Germany bolster her defences against an expected allied
invasion. Every month that passed saw
Germany tighten her grip on Britain's transatlantic lifeline; menacing allied
shipping from the French west coast ports.
At
St. Nazaire on the Loire estuary, the vast Normandie dry dock was the only one
capable of holding the mighty battleship Tirpitz, still at large and free to
hunt allied ships. Something had to be
done.
Operation
Chariot was conceived; an audacious plan to mount a large-scale commando raid
on the Normandie dock using a loaded US destroyer packed with high explosive as
a battering ram. For the Germans at St.
Nazaire the invasion came earlier than expected.
In
the dead of night British commandos were landed and swarmed over the quaysides
to destroy key installations. Grit,
determination and training carried them forward to accomplish their mission at
a heavy price in dead, wounded and captured.
The award of more than eighty decorations for the raid - including five
VCs - bore witness to the ferocity of the struggle to strike the Germans in
France.
INTRODUCTION
From the Book
Commandos.
The word has captured the imagination and inspired awe and fear in equal
measure down the decades since World War Two.
It conjures up images of hard, fearless men with blackened faces - their
fighting skills honed to a razor sharp edge of combat perfection - striking
silently and swiftly at the very heart of the enemy. It conveys secrecy, ruthlessness, danger and sacrifice, and,
although they weren't officially `Commandos', in the dark and desperate days of
the summer of 1940, the actions of these men brought hope to the British people.
Amongst
the first to bring such hope were a party of 120 officers and men of a strange,
new unit called Number 11 Independent Company, led by Major Ronnie Tod. On the morning of June 25th Britons woke to
the amazing news that the previous night Tod's force had crossed the English
Channel, landed between Boulogne and Etaples and inflicted casualties on German
troops, before returning home without loss.
The news of the raid, code-named Collar, was seized eagerly by a nation
frantic to feed on any crumbs of success that might otherwise supplement the
diet of `cold comfort' offered by the ‘miracle’ of Dunkirk. By late June 1940, Britain needed every
crumb of comfort she could muster, for Britain now stood alone and in mortal
danger.
The
outlook was bleak. Surely it was only a
matter of time before the Germans descended on an almost defenceless Britain to
pound her into submission? And yet,
amidst all these `black' events, Operation Collar offered the faintest of
glimmers, the most slender shaft of light to pierce the gloom. In spite of a lack of resources and
Germany's total domination of Europe, Britain had shown that she would fight
on, indeed, had shown that she could fight on.
Britain had reached beyond her shores to carry the war to occupied
Europe.
Keen
to wrest back the initiative from Germany, Churchill had already made clear his
views on Britain adopting such a policy.
Operation Collar was a very small and, as it turned out, not very well
planned enterprise and although such `pin prick' raids earned Churchill's
scorn, the concept of continued raiding was nevertheless established. There were no illusions that such raids
would bring about the imminent demise of Nazi Germany but little by little, the
raids ensured that Germany began to commit an inordinate amount of men,
material and time to the defence of its lengthy occupied coastline in northern
Europe. At home the morale boosting
benefits were vastly out of proportion to the actual damage inflicted on the
Germans in France, but it sent a clear signal to those abroad who might look
favourably on Britain's cause that if she was to go down, then she would go
down fighting. Thus had the Commandos
been born.
A
year later and the Combined Operations Directorate, an organisation set up
specifically to co-ordinate necessarily joint-Service operations, was well and
truly established with a steady stream of plans flowing in for consideration.
In
late June 1941 a meeting of the Executive Planning Staff, chaired by Captain
G.A. French, convened to consider possible ‘runners’ from the scores of raiding
schemes already submitted. Winnowing
out the more offbeat, over-complex or downright foolhardy, the meeting settled
on Operation Chess - a proposal for a reconnaissance raid - as its first choice.
Two further operations - Acid Drop and Chopper - were pencilled in for August
and September. During a lull in the
formal deliberations, Lieutenant Commander G. Gonin, the representative of the
Naval Intelligence Department, mentioned to Captain French an idea, prompted by
the sinking of the 40,000-ton German battleship Bismarck a month earlier, that
he and his colleagues had been considering.
The Bismarck - damaged by an air-launched torpedo and leaking fuel after
her encounter with the British ships HMS Hood and Prince of Wales, had been
making for the vast Normandie dock at St. Nazaire - the only dry dock on the
French Atlantic coast capable of accommodating her mighty frame - when the
British finally snared and sank her on 27th May. The Bismarck was no longer a threat but her sister ship, the
equally mighty Tirpitz, was still at large and the great fear was that she
could pay a visit to St. Nazaire and the Normandie dock at any day, with all
the attendant menace to Allied shipping that such a move might bring.
French
listened with interest as Gonin outlined an embryonic scheme for the
destruction of the Normandie dock. It
was to prove a seminal moment in the history of Combined Operations raiding. Referred for consideration, the germ of the
idea was committed to paper for the first time in the diary of Sir Roger Keyes,
the then Director of Combined Operations, later in July under its codename -
Chariot.
Thus
conceived, the plan was to endure a troubled gestation before its final
realisation. A first attempt at hatching a plot to hit St. Nazaire came on 10th
August 1941 when the Admiralty charged Sir Charles Forbes, then
Commander-in-Chief Plymouth, to Base with Combined Operations in coming up with
a suitable scheme. Two objectives had
been identified: the destruction or disabling of the lock gates and an attack
on U-Boat pens. Forbes weighed up the
pros and cons and submitted a detailed appreciation in which he highlighted the
risks of detection of a large force on a long and perilous sea voyage; the lack
of suitable craft to carry enough fuel for a return trip; the dangers of the
shoals and shallow waters on the approach up the Loire estuary and the sheer
magnitude of the task of achieving that most favoured of weapons for raiders -
surprise - by sailing a tortuous six miles up a major river whose banks
bristled with German guns. Another review and a meeting at the Admiralty on
19th September saw the plan trip over similar stumbling blocks. Keyes's representative at that meeting had
by now indicated that the Commando landing force necessary to carry out such a
job would be near the 300 mark, excluding the demolition parties. That would be some raid.
Turned
down once again in late October 1941 - just days after Mountbatten took over
the reins of Combined Operations from Sir Roger Keyes on the 27th - detailed
planning for Chariot did not get under way until three months later. The spark this time had come from Churchill
himself who, on 26th January 1942, had raised the issue of destroying the Normandie
dock again during a meeting with Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound. The next day the Admiralty asked Mountbatten
to look afresh at the implications of mounting an operation against St. Nazaire
and he, in turn, handed the problem to his team of Intelligence and Planning
‘Advisers'’at Combined Operations HQ (COHQ).
The die was cast. By any stretch
of the imagination Operation Chariot was to be the most ambitious, and
dangerous raid yet staged; an audacious plan to mount a large-scale Commando raid
on the Normandie dock using a loaned U.S. destroyer packed with high explosive
as a battering ram. Offered odds on its
success, even the most enthusiastic gambler might have been tempted to keep his
money in his wallet but nevertheless a final version of the plan was approved
on 3rd March 1942. Twenty-three days later the Chariot force set out on what
history has recorded as the ‘Greatest Raid of All’ and for the Germans
defending St. Nazaire the Allied `invasion' came much earlier than they could
ever have anticipated.
Review
by Phillip Day
"Enterprises must be
prepared with specially trained troops of the hunter class who can develop a
reign of terror down the enemy coast." Winston Churchill, 1941. So began the small units of Britain’s wartime
forces, which came to be known as 'Commandos'.
Jon Cooksey’s account of the 1942 commando raid on Nazi-held St Nazaire
takes us from the genesis of these elite units to the successful conclusion of
the large-scale operation designed to keep the German battleship Tirpitz at sea.
In Cooksey’s “Operation
Chariot: The Raid on St Nazaire”, we meet the heroes, vicariously suffer
through the foul-ups and failures and witness the beginning of the end for
Tirpitz. As these early Commandos
learned and developed their craft, there were plenty of foul-ups. Cooksey doesn’t make them super-heroes who
sprang from Churchill’s brain, already equipped physically and emotionally to
take the best of Germany’s military might.
We are allowed to see the flaws and foibles of the planners and the very
human failures of those who gave that little bit more to become a commando.
Much as these were clearly
the best of the best, Cooksey doesn’t blow their achievements out of
proportion. He shows us ordinary people
stirred to do extraordinary things during the many notable commando raids of
the early days. This is especially true
of the heroes at St. Nazaire. Operation
Chariot achieved its goal of making St Nazaire’s massive dry docks unusable,
but at a price. The hundreds of
soldiers and sailors who manned the tiny motor launches or fought hand-to-hand
with the German defenders, all gave themselves to the task with only success of
the raid in mind. They were all heroes,
those who died in the battle, the many who went into captivity and the few who
escaped and found their way back to fight again. No less than five of their number were awarded the Victoria Cross.
Easy to follow, every minute
of the plan is there for the armchair General to dissect or the supporter to
applaud. Cooksey lets us personalize
the pride of the commandos chosen for the raid and the pain of the wounded and
dead through the many photographs included in his book.
Unlike many such accounts of
wartime action, this one doesn’t romanticize the fighting and the dying. Cooksey’s ‘Operation Chariot’ tells the whole
story, minute-by-minute from the formation of the commando force to the final
coming-home of those who survived. And
he lets us be there with them by including first-person accounts of the stages
of the operation. His use of many fine
photographs of the individuals, of the
preparations and of the aftermath, ensure that this isn’t just another
dry-as-dust historical account. It is
history brought to life.
At once sad and thrilling,
this is an exciting read; it must surely be the best presentation of "The Greatest Raid of All."
Phillip
G Day
The
Last of the Cockleshell Heroes
Author:
William (Bill) Sparks & Michael Nunn
ISBN:
1844680045
Publishers:
Pen & Sword
Price
£19.95
Publication
Date: 2003
The title tells us who this
is about and uses the words that have come to be associated with number 1 Section
Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment, the cover name given to the teams of
Commandoes training for special hazardous duties. 10 of these men took part in Operation Frankton the attack on
ships in Bordeaux harbour.
The
Royal Marines who did not return deserve to be named.
Marine
James Conway
Marine
Robert Ewart
Corporal
A F Laver
Lieutenant
J W Mackinnon
Marine
W H Mills
Marine
David Moffat
Corporal
G J Sheard
Sergeant
Samuel Wallace
What is the price of
heroism? In this case £31,000, which is
what Bill Sparks got for his DSM when he was forced to sell it to secure his
retirement. Only two others got
mentioned in despatches and as usual the officer got the highest award, that of
the DSO.
What is a hero? Is it ordinary men doing extraordinary
things? Don’t we all look back at
things we did when we were young and think "I must have been mad".
"Here
dead lie we because we did not choose
To
live and shame the land from which we sprung.
Life,
to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
But
young men think it is, and we were young."
A
E Housman
I am ambivalent about the word hero. My local newspaper often talks about sporting heroes, which is
something I never agree with. However
there were men that inspired me and changed my life. There were the usual footballers like Stanley Matthews, Tom
Finney and some of the old Portsmouth stars such as Dougie Reid, Len Phillips
and Peter Harris. There were also men
like Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN and his ilk. However I didn’t want to be a footballer or a train driver when I
grew up, I wanted to be a Royal Marine frogman, a member of the SBS, who as a
Royal Marine Cadet at Eastney Barracks in the 50’s I saw training in the
swimming pool with oxygen re-breathing equipment and off Eastney beach in their
canoes.
I was a Royal Marine cadet
at Eastney when I saw part of the film being made and one of my family, a
cousin, Christopher Jerrard is in the film.
There is a part in the film when the actors run through a marching band
towards the beach holding (allegedly) a live limpet mine. The Drum Major of that band, (the cadet
band) was Christopher. I read the
obituary of one of the actors who appeared in the film, he always said to
people “I was in the Cockleshell Heroes you know”. He was one of those actors you know by sight but never remember
their names.
When I went to the
recruiting office to join the Royal Navy it was the exact opposite to Bill
Sparks. I went to join the Royal
Marines and I was persuaded to join the Navy because they said that I had much
greater chance of qualifying as a diver.
Bill Sparks went to join as RN Stoker like his Father, but was persuaded
to join the Marines.
I’m sure that most of us
have heard of the Cockleshell Heroes; although having said that, would anyone
under forty know? Would they say that
it was a football team or pop group?
This book tells us much more
about Bill Sparks and his mates. We
learn about Bill before Operation Frankton, of his time in HMS Repulse and afterwards
in the Far East and of his difficulties of settling in to civilian life.
Bill joined the London
Transport and became a garage Inspector; he also had a spell (1 year) as a
Police Officer in Malaya during the Emergency.
What it does show is, that
what is achieved in just a few short years in wartime does not necessarily
count for all you do in life, you have to make a go of the rest. Many servicemen found it difficult to settle
after war service, indeed even in peace time.
Bill eventually had to retire with ill health and was forced to sell his
medals. The book doesn’t say it, but
according to his obituary in The Telegraph (Bill died 30 November 2002 Aged 80)
the anonymous purchaser left instructions that he could wear his medals any
time that he wished.
I had the privilege to meet
Bill at Aldgate London Transport Bus Garage, we meet when I was a young police
constable in the City of London and Bill was a garage Inspector; so you see, I
got to meet one of my heroes.
The original book,
‘Cockleshell Heroes’ by C E Lucas Phillips 
is still worth reading,
however this and Bill’s other book, ‘Cockleshell Commando’, also available from
Pen & Sword
explain more of the ordinary things because he was
there.
Rob Jerrard
The
Blockade Busters, Cheating Hitler’s Reich of Vital War Supplies
Edition:
reprinted 2005
Author:
Ralph Barker
ISBN:
1844152820
Publishers:
Pen & Sword Books Limited
Price
£19.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 5th May 2005 reprint
This
is one of the greatest sea stories of World War II. It is the true account of
how George Binney, a 39 year-old civilian working in neutral Sweden when Norway
was overrun by the Germans in 1940, set about running vital cargoes of Swedish
ballbearings and special steels to Britain through the blockaded Skagerrak,
where German air strength was dominant and where the Royal Navy dare not
trespass.
Despite
Admiralty gloom and in the face of political objections that were overcome by Binney's
persistence, five ships carrying a year's supply of valuable materials for the
expanding British war industries were successfully sailed to Britain in January
1941.
A
following attempt was not as successful and ended when six ships were sunk or
scuttled. But then came the saga of the
Little Ships, the motor gunboats flying the Red Duster that operated out of the
Humber to and from the Swedish coast in the winter of 1943/44, defying the
strengthened German defences and the wrath of severe weather.
From
the Author’s Introduction
A
Man Called Binney
GEORGE
BINNEY had never quite got over the accident of birth which had caused him to
miss the First World War. Born on 23rd September 1900, he had been accepted for
a commission in the Scots Guards soon after his eighteenth birthday, but the
date of acceptance had been 11th November 19I 8-Armistice Day. Then, when he went on to university, he
found himself surrounded by young men very little older than himself who had
distinguished themselves on war service, and although he was not a person who
easily developed a sense of inferiority, the gap in his experience rankled.
Of
any healthy Englishman born in the early years of the Twentieth Century it
might be said, adapting Oscar Wilde, that to have missed one World War might be
regarded as excusable, but to have missed both looked like cowardice. This was the prospect facing George Binney
when, on the outbreak of the Second World War on 3rd September 1939, he
volunteered at once for the Navy, only to be told that he was too old to be
commissioned to go to sea.
Civilised
in the true sense of the word, and enjoying both sensual and aesthetic
pleasures, Binney played squash to keep himself fit; but nevertheless he bore
the marks of good living. Short but
well-built, he was written down by the naval authorities (so it is said) as a
man of unmilitary aspect who looked more like a stockbroker than a seafarer and
who at close-on 40 could offer them little.
But when he protested that he was fitter than many men ten years his
junior, his blue eyes sparked with such stubborn refusal to accept outright
rejection that the interviewing board recognised him as a fighter.
‘We'll
put you on the list for later consideration,' they told him. Sentimental, but with few illusions, Binney
was nothing if not resourceful. What
was he best fitted for? How could he
find some facet of the war for which he was uniquely equipped? The reaction of
the authorities, he feared, would be to find him a desk job. That was something he was determined to
avoid.
On
his seventh birthday the young George Binney had been taken by his father to
see Eton College, partly as a treat, partly to give him an appetite for the
things it offered. At that time it was
a distant prospect indeed. His father,
Rev. M. F. B. Binney, was then Vicar of Richmond, Surrey, and with four sons to
educate he couldn't afford to send George to Eton or anywhere else without a
scholarship. But he believed that a
good education, and good health, were by far the most important things any
parent could bestow on an offspring, and he encouraged the boy to try for a
King's Scholarship to Eton. In July 1914, after six years at Summerfields
School, Oxford, the young Binney was duly taken by his headmaster to Eton to
sit the scholarship examination. When
it was over he was sent home to await results.
‘On
the appointed day,' wrote George Binney many years later, ‘my father stood in
the hall in his frock coat, anxiously pacing about and peering through the
window across Richmond Green for the telegraph boy. Suddenly he shouted
"Here he comes!" Hurriedly donning his top-hat, he leapt down the
front steps, shot across the road, vaulted over the railings, and dashed across
the Green towards the slightly alarmed messenger boy who was carrying the
telegram. Snatching it from him, he
tore it open and devoured its contents.
Then he threw his top-hat into the air, danced with joy, and waved and
shouted at me in a frenzy of excitement. "George sixteenth on Eton
list," read the telegram. "Scholarship certain." ' Binney attributed his scholarship to the
luck of being set for his Latin verse paper a Walter Scott poem he had worked
on two weeks earlier.
The
boyish enthusiasm which the father had retained into his fifties was equally
characteristic of the son at 39. A
bachelor, but no misogynist, he believed in experiencing life to the
full. Allied to this were qualities of
ingenuity, tenacity, a disarming ingenuousness which was almost naivety, and
old-fashioned virtues of integrity, enterprise, self-reliance and patriotism.
Where might these qualities now best be applied?
The
book will give the answer
One
of Our Submarines
2004
reprint
Author:
Edward Young
ISBN:
1844151069
Publishers:
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Price
£7.99 RRP UK paperback
Publication
Date: 2004
Foreword
By
Admiral Sir George Creasy KCB, CBE, DSO, MVO.
I
had the honour and happiness to command the Submarine Branch of the Royal Navy
from September, 1944, to October, 1946.
In
pre-1939 days our Submarine Branch was regarded as very much the preserve of
the regular Royal Naval officer and rating. It was my distinguished
predecessor, the late Admiral Sir Max Horton, GCB., DSO., who, foreseeing the
inevitable expansion that would be required of the Branch, insisted on opening
the entry to officers of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as well as to those
of the Royal Naval Reserve. This policy
was pursued by his successor and my immediate predecessor, the late Admiral
Sir Claud Barry, KBE, CB, DSO.
Thus
when I inherited the command I found that more than half the officers of our
submarines were from the RNR and the
RNVR, the latter in the majority owing to their larger numbers. And of these a considerable number had risen
to the command of submarines.
This
book gives some idea of what these officers had to face in transforming
themselves from amateurs (and I am sure they will forgive me the term) into the
equals and, at times, the superiors of the professionals. But I think the reader will have to use his
or her imagination in reading between the lines to appreciate fully what this
great achievement really entailed.
Of
this gallant band of RNR and RNVR submarine captains the author of this
book had built up a fighting record which was second to none and he was,
indeed, one of our greatest submarine captains.
I
always enjoyed reading his Patrol Reports.
Not only did they tell of good work and of well-earned success but they
told their stories so clearly, so simply, that they always made good reading. I was not surprised when I was told that
Commander Young was, by profession, a publisher. When he came to see me, on his final return from active service,
I told him I hoped he would put his submarine experiences into book form. He was somewhat vague but implied that he
hoped to do so 'some day'. Now he has
done so, and this book tells in a simple and straightforward way the story of a
very gallant and distinguished career in submarines. The story is told with the sincerity and modesty characteristic
of the man. He has, however, included
at the end of the book a list of the ship's company of H.M. Submarine Storm
which gives the honours and awards won by himself, his officers and men. This list can well be left to tell its own
story of skill, courage and efficiency in action.
I
hope this book will be read by a wide public.
I am sure that all its readers will share the admiration and affection
of the officers and men of the Royal Navy for their brothers-in-arms of the
Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
GEORGE
CREASY Admiral
H.M.S.
Vanguard, at Portland,
22nd
May 1952
CREASY, Sir George Elvey
(1895-1972), Admiral of the Fleet
Service biography of George Creasy.
Joined RN 1908; World War I 1914-1918; Heligoland Bight 1917; Assistant
Director of Plans, Naval Staff 1936-1938; World War II 1939-1945; Commanding
HMS GRENVILLE, 1 Destroyer Flotilla 1939-1940; transferred to HMS CODRINGTON
after sinking of HMS GRENVILLE, January 1940; Dunkirk evacuation, May 1940;
Director of Anti-Submarine Warfare 1940-1942; commanding HMS DUKE OF YORK
1942-1943; Adm (Submarines) 1944-1946; Flag Officer (Air), Far East 1947; Fifth
Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Air) 1948-1949; Lord Commissioner of
the Admiralty and Vice Chief of Naval Staff 1949-1951; Commander-in-Chief Home
Fleet and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Commander-in-Chief Eastern
Atlantic 1952-1954; Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth and North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation (NATO) Allied Commander-in-Chief Channel Command 1954-1957;
retired 1957.
From
the Author’s introduction to the book.
THE
average man's almost superstitious horror of submarines is surely due to
ignorance of how they work and of what the life is like. One of my reasons for writing this book was
to try to remove that ignorance and to show what a fascinating life it is. Some
people genuinely suffer from claustrophobia; others imagine they would do so
inside a submarine, yet cheerfully travel in aeroplanes and underground trains.
It is, I suppose, a matter of temperament.
In spite of its uncomfortable moments I found wartime life in a
submarine preferable to being shelled in a trench knee-deep in mud, or being
shut up in the belly of a tank in the heat of a desert battle, or bombing Germany
night after night, or working down in the engine-room of any large surface
ship.
I
once heard a junior submarine officer, in the presence of his commanding
officer, refer to submarine pay as 'danger money'. 'DANGER? roared the CO 'Danger! What you get extra pay for, my boy, is skill
and responsibility. What the hell do
you mean, danger?'
In
times of peace submarines rarely hit the newspaper headlines unless something
goes wrong and one of them is sunk; and then every man who has never been to sea
is ready with suggestions for raising her off the bottom and getting the men
out. Unfortunately this aspect of the
submarine service has acquired a grossly exaggerated importance in the public
eye, and every time there is a disaster we hear on all sides well-meaning
people demanding more safety devices and better methods of escape. These demands never come from submariners
themselves. A submarine is a war
machine, and though reasonable safety devices are essential, and indeed are
continually being improved, they must take second place to fighting
efficiency. Fatal railway accidents
could be abolished if all trains were limited to a speed of five miles an hour,
and the safest submarine in peacetime (but not in wartime!) would be one that
could not dive at all. The submarine
service prefers to concentrate rather on making its ships and its men so
efficient that the chances of an accident are reduced to the minimum. And though submarines travel thousands of
miles every year, surfaced and submerged, fatal accidents are in fact
remarkably rare. My own story does
happen to include one of the rare disasters, but I hope the perspective of the
whole book will reveal the incident in its proper light and even help to underline
the point I am trying to make.
EY
July 1952
EPILOGUE
WE reached Portsmouth after a ten-weeks' voyage
which included a hurricane off Australia, a submerged but fruitless cruise up
the west coast of Sumatra, and short stops at Trincomalee, Aden, Port Said,
Alexandria, Malta and Gibraltar. At Gibraltar we were ordered to join a slow
convoy of merchant ships leaving three hours after our arrival. Two days before
sighting England the convoy ran into a fog so thick that we could hardly see
the ship ahead of us. This fog persisted, and gave me the most sustained period
of anxiety of the whole commission; for forty hours I was almost continuously
on the bridge. Long-buried memories of the Umpire collision rose up to make
these hours a nightmare. Once we came within yards of being rammed by one of
the merchant-ships, and it was only our radar which saved us. But we emerged
from the fog at last, and having detached from the convoy Storm passed the
Needles and entered the Solent on Sunday morning, April 8th, 1945.
We had to lie off the mouth of Portsmouth harbour
to wait until the tide was right for entering Haslar Creek. It was a lovely
Spring morning. A slight haze blurred the outline of Portsdown Hill, but Fort
Blockhouse, its windows flashing with reflected sunlight, stood out sharply on
the left of the harbour entrance. In the interval of waiting I remembered the
day when I made my first trip in a submarine, from this very place; it seemed a
long time ago, but in fact it was a month short of five years. Now, after many
adventures, I had brought my own ship safely home. It was a most satisfactory
feeling. Since leaving Cammell Laird's, Storm had travelled seventy one
thousand miles and spent over fourteen hundred hours under water - the
equivalent of sixty days and nights.
Stringbag
The Fairy Swordfish at War
Author:
David Wragg
ISBN:
1844151301
Publishers:
Pen & Sword
Price
£19.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 2004
This
is a narrative account of the operations of the Fairey Swordfish throughout
World War Two. We are reminded that the
most famous of these was the attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto, crippling
three battleships and damaging several other ships as well as the seaplane base
and an oil storage depot.
Lots
of jokes, books and poems have been written about the Swordfish, affectionately
called “The Stringbag”.
During
World War Two an American naval officer stared at a Swordfish for the first
time. 'Where did that come from?' he asked. 'Fairey's', came the reply from a
British naval officer standing nearby. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. 'That
figures', he replied.
There
are of course many books such as “War in a Stringbag” and “Bring back my
Stringbag” by Lord Kilbracken. An excellent account of what it was like to
fly the Swordfish biplanes in the fleet, Air Arm during the Second World War,
the author flew these antiquated aircraft for five years.
The
Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber, powered by a Bristol Pegasus, a fabric covered
biplane, was an unlikely candidate to be the most important airplane of the
Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during the dark days of 1939-1941.
The
author reminds us of how the Aeroplane's great cartoonist, Wren paid tribute to
the Fairey Swordfish.
Lots
of struts in all directions,
Curved
and cut-out centre-sections
Stringbag
the sailor's had his day,
But
in his own inimitable way
He's
left his mark on history's page,
The
Champion of the biplane age!
Someone wrote a song about the Swordfish, (‘Stringbag’, as it was nicknamed,) to be
sung to the tune of ‘Bring Back My Bonny’.
It soon became an FAA favourite and has been bawled out around wardroom
pianos ever since:
The Swordfish relies on her Peggy,
The modified Taurus ain't sound,
So the Swordfish flies out on her
missions,
And the Albacore stays on the ground
(Chorus)
Bring back, bring back, Oh bring back
my Stringbag to me - to me!
Bring back,
bring back, Oh bring back my Stringbag to me!
Having served in
an Aircraft Carrier I looked forward to reading this book and it has not
disappointed me. I never saw a
Swordfish land on a carrier, but it must have been quite a sight and sound,
‘Lots of struts in all directions’
The aircraft
goes back further than I realised. The
prototype was designed as far back as October 1930 with the Bristol Pegasus II
radial engine. The TSR1 first flew on
22 March 1933 taking of Fairey’s Great West Road aerodrome near Hayes.
By September
1939 Swordfish were embarked in six of the Royal Navy’s carrier Viz, Ark Royal,
Hermes, Courageous, Glorious, Furious, Eagle and Argus. These aircraft were in the front line of
fleet recognisance and anti- submarine duty and were first involved in
offensive action in the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940. Prior to this, Courageous was lost just
after the last Swordfish anti- submarine patrol of the day landed on.
The early
chapters give an insight into the beginnings of this story, the production,
flying the machines, operational training, deck landings and defensive
measures.
The book
explores the uncompromising start, when on 17 September 1939 with the war only
two weeks old, Courageous was torpedoed by U29 and sunk in 20 minutes.
Next Norway,
followed by the fall of France and many Swordfish are serving ashore operating
with Coastal Command.
Some of the
material in the ‘Learning to Fly’ is from ‘Bring Back My Stringbag’ by John
Godley who became Lord Kilbracken and he describes the admiration they had for
the Stringbag, ‘you could take nearly any liberty, fly her beyond textbook
capability…. she always saw you through, she was absolutely stable, even at
almost the lowest speeds the controls were firm and positive’.
These aircraft
were involved in so much more; such as hunting Germany’s capital ships.
This is a
well-researched book, which explains much more in the appendixes, such as
training the aircrew and maintainers, the Observers (lookers), Deck Landing
Control Officer, Telegraphist/Air Gunners (TAGS).
Appendix 3 is an
excellent record of the squadrons -when they were formed and where they
served. This could be very helpful for
anyone researching their family history for a member of the Fleet Air Arm.
In conclusion, a
well written book with some good illustrations; some of which show just how
basic the Aircraft Carriers of the Royal Navy were when WW2 broke out.
David
Wragg has written some twenty books on aviation and naval history. Nine of his
books have been published overseas and seven in the USA. His books include The
Fleet Air Arm Handbook 1939-45, described by one magazine 'As good a single
volume on the subject as your reviewer has located'; Carrier Combat and Wings
over the Sea.
Rob Jerrard
'Commando Men'
Edition:
Republished, 1st Published 1948
Author:
Bryan Samain.
ISBN:
1-84415-209
Publishers:
Pen and Sword Books
Price
£6.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 2004
The book 'Commando Men' is, without doubt, more
comprehensive in it's account of a 'D' Day operation than any similar 'war' story
I have read. It concerns the invasion
of Europe by Allied Forces against German Fortress Europe on 6th June
1944, through to the successful conclusion of the war on 7th May 1945.
It is the story of 45 Commando Royal Marines told in
meticulous detail, which would cause a serious war historian to purr like a
satisfied cat with it's accurate portrayal of the battles fought by a small,
elite unit of 400 men. It is a
fascinating insight into the vagaries of war at the sharp end. But it is unique in that
the 'sharp end' is enhanced by detailing the wider tactical conditions of
the battles. The book is calm without
histrionics, but still conveys the many emotions of life and death and
illustrates situations which are the basis of 'Commando' warfare. It displays the undoubted quality of the
elite unit.
'Commando Men' can and does unravel the complexity of
smaller local engagements and successfully ties them into the overall tactical
picture. This leaves the reader clear
of mind and able to cover the whole picture, whilst skilfully making the reader
painfully aware of the traumas, casualties and suffering of the commandos
on the ground.
The author, Bryan Samain, an intelligence officer in the unit,
writing first hand, shows the self reliance of the troops and illustrates this
characteristic which is the basis of Commando training then and now.
A subplot appears with the adventures of a 41 Commando
Officer seconded for liaison with the airborne forces, which reinforces the
'self-reliant' emphasis.
One indication of the unit’s pride and confidence, is that the
book illustrates by it's photographic content, that though the armies of both
sides were identified by the various steel helmets, commandos scorned
this protection and wore with great pride their badge of a fighter, the
Green Beret.
As a side note, the same applied years later in the Korean
War. A unit of Royal Marine Commandos
also rejected the helmet and wore the Green Beret, indicating the elite
spirit of 45 Commando.
'Commando Man' illustrates
without glorification and with admirable modesty the hard, vicious slog of the
'D Day' campaign at the 'sharp end' of war.
It is only with the occasional insertion of the details of those killed
or wounded after each skirmish, that indicates the high price the unit
paid to prevail in battle.
One only has to read between the lines to be aware of the suffering
required for military success. A success not easily achieved as the book shows
so well.
'Commando Man' is the type of military war record which will
be avidly swallowed by the serious historian but will also be read with
enthusiasm by many of those for whom commando warfare holds a
particular fascination. It is both a reference book accurately displaying the
facts of war, the tactics of battle and the personal sacrifices of
those involved.
When 'Commando Man' has been read, it will
leave in the mind of the reader an indelible impression as to the quality of
the Royal Marine Commando which has maintained by them to be admired to the
present day.
Dave Brady, Q.G.M.
Royal Marine 1943-55
Metropolitan Police (Ret)
Author 'One of the Chosin Few'
Life
at Full Throttle - From Wardroom to Boardroom
Author:
Sir John Treacher
ISBN:
1844151344
Publishers:
Pen & Sword
Price
£19.99
Publication
Date: 2004
Admiral
Sir John Treacher KCB joined the Royal Navy in 1942 and served in HMS Nelson
(in the Mediterranean), Glasgow (during the D-Day Landings) and Keppel (on Russian
convoy duties).He qualified as a pilot and flew with 800 Squadron in the Korean
War. Numerous flying, sea and staff appointments followed including Squadron
commands and from 1968-1970 he was Captain of HMS Eagle. After serving as Flag
Officer Carriers and Amphibious Ships and Flag Officer Naval Air Command, he
was successively Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the
Fleet, which doubled as one of the top three commands in NATO.
He
left the Navy in 1977 at the age of 52 to follow a business career, which began
with National Car Parks. He then ran
Hugh Hefner's Playboy casino interests including those in the United Kingdom
from 1981 to 1982. Initially a
non-executive director in 1978, he became Executive Deputy Chairman of the Westland
Group until 1989.
As the title implies this
book is about the Royal Navy and flying:
However, it is about someone who felt that at a particular point in his
life it was the optimum time to make a change.
In that respect Sir John and I do have something in common, we both
decided that at a similar age we either stayed in the Royal Navy until the
bitter end or got out and forged a new career.
One other similarity is we both served in HMS Victorious.
Sir John was born in Conception, Chile and educated
at St Paul’s School (London). Another
slight connection is that since I left the Royal Navy and joined the City of
London Police, my last Division was Snow Hill, which includes St Paul’s within
its Bailiwick.
The Royal Navy has always
had a good relationship with Chile, indeed with most if not all South American
countries, even Argentina. Apart from a
little matter of a recent war, which must have upset ex-matelots of my
generation who remember happier days.
I recall some wonderful
times with visits in HMS Chichester and HMS Lion between 1958-1961, the ex-pat
British community looked after us well.
Sir John joined HMS
Victorious on 21 May 1959 
landing a sea venom. I joined on 2nd April 1963 by a
slightly slower method.
We did join for the same
reason; because of aircraft. I was
involved with controlling them. On page
74 Sir John discusses 984 Radar with which Victorious was fitted. He explains that she was the first ship and
the only one of three to be fitted with the 984 3D Radar and comprehensive
display system (CDS) which revolutionised aircraft control. As an RP2 (radar plotter 2nd
class) I was an Intercept Officer’s Assistant’. We worked as a team of two on these new displays and controlled
one aircraft – a Buccaneer by my time, and we would place the aircraft in a
perfect attacking position. 984 was
certainly ahead of its time and I recall one conversation by radio with a US
Navy pilot refusing to believe we had him on radar at that distance and what’s
more we knew his exact height. It was
only after he changed height and we confirmed it that he believed us.
Sir John also refers to the
very high-class standard of catering on Victorious. He will be pleased to know this standard continued during my
commission with the cold buffet still being served at lunchtime, including
whole dressed salmon.
Sir John had previously
served in HMS Triumph in 1949 and was involved in the Korean War. After Victorious he had a spell on Indian
naval ship INS Vikrant and in 1968 was appointed Captain of HMS Eagle when he
took over from Captain Ernle Pope a name familiar to me, since during my first
year in the Royal Navy he had been the Commander at HMS St Vincent.
His obituary appeared in The Times, May 28 1998 Times Obituaries,
Vice-Admiral Sir Ernle Pope, Vice-Admiral Sir Ernle Pope, KCB, Commander Allied
Naval Forces Southern Europe, 1974-76, died on May 21 aged 76. He was born on
May 22, 1921.
Sir John 'changed course' in
1977 at the age of fifty-two and his first job was as Director of National Car
Parks and he explains how they took over Heathrow Airport and used an excellent
team of ex-Metropolitan CID men as security.
I certainly recall about that time we in the City of London Police had
an excellent relationship with the Manager of our local NCP car parks, which
makes good sense - if you have Police Officers going to and fro 24 hours of the
day you add to your security.
In June 1981 he took up a
new post as Chairman and Chief Executive of Playboy, later moving on to
Westland. In 1982 Sir John had a
By-Pass operation following an Angiogram.
Elected
a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (1973), he was knighted in 1975. A
member of the Press Council (1978 - 1981) he still has a number of business and
charitable interests in the UK and continental Europe.
This is a fascinating read
and I did enjoy it. It is of course
written by a man who started off as an officer with every advantage in
life. It is dotted with names more
familiar to his social sphere. However,
that should not preclude it from the reading list of ex-ratings, particularly
if you served on an Aircraft Carrier and I think it lives up to the title,
‘life at full throttle’.
Rob Jerrard (also proud to
say, ex-Victorious)
The
History of the British ‘U’ Class Submarine
Author:
Derek Walters
ISBN:
184415131x
Publishers:
Pen & Sword Maritime
Price
£19.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 2004
I should like to dedicate
this Review by using the words of Alistair Mars (of Unbroken) in his book
‘Submarines at War 1939-1945,’ the dedication is therefore to those Submariners
‘Still on Patrol’ and the to the living memory of submarine officers and men
lost at sea. Many served in the
British ‘U’ Class.
Original designed in 1934 as
a small simple submarine for anti-submarine training, the 'U' Class submarine's
career turned out to be far more dramatic and valuable than that. On the onset of the War it was first adapted
for patrolling home waters but, by the close of hostilities six years later,
boats of the Class had served world-wide with seven different navies. Its contribution was never more successful
than in the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean, where their operations were
a major factor in the defeat of Rommel's Afrika Corps.
Officers and men of the ‘U’
class were awarded 375 gallantry medals including the Victoria Cross awarded to
Lieutenant Commander Malcolm David Wanklyn of the Upholder; he was also awarded
three DSO’S and DSC. This VC was one of
just five won by RN submariners.
Wanklyn’s story is told in, ‘Hero of the Upholder’ by Jim Allaway
The
Author tells us that by the end of the war seventy-two ‘U’ Class submarines had
been commissioned and, of these, seventeen were lost to the enemy and three in
accidents. Of the remainder, two were
disposed of as targets, one foundered only to be salvaged and the rest were
scrapped at the end of their useful lives.
Writing of David Wanklyn,
Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Hezlet , who Commanded Trenchant and became Flag
Officer Submarines 1959-1961, "His loss affected me more than any other
incident I can recall during the war."
In pre-1939 days the
Submarine Branch was regarded as very much the preserve of the regular Royal
Naval officer and rating. Admiral Sir
Max Horton, foreseeing the inevitable expansion that would be required of the Branch,
insisted on opening the entry to officers of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
as well as to those of the Royal Naval Reserve.
Thus eventually half the
officers were from the R.N.R. and the R.N.V.R., the latter in the majority
owing to their larger numbers, and of these a considerable number had risen to
the command of submarines.
I was not a submariner, but
I have dived in a submarine and I had the privilege to be Barge Coxswain to the
Flag Officer Submarines. Whilst serving
in HMS Grafton (F51) a Blackwood Class 14 anti-submarine frigate at Portland in
early 1958 I spent a day at sea in HMS Solent (I am 90% certain it was Solent),
she was one of the last ‘S’ boats left which survived the war.
It was a very exciting day,
we dived to 100 feet and I was very nervous because water came in at a hatch -
“a small leak - nothing to worry about!”
I have no personal knowledge of British ‘U’ Class boats but I recall
having to ask on the Solent “permission to go aft, permission to go for’ard and
permission to flush the heads” - what a life!
One of the ‘S’ Class
submarines, (Storm) is well known because of the publication of the book ‘One
of Our Submarines’ by Edward Young - I like his quotation "Is it not
curious, that so vast a being as the whale should see the world through so
small an eye?" Moby Dick. I remember being allowed to see my own ship
Grafton, bow-on coming straight at us through the ‘small eye’ of the periscope.
My privilege as I said
earlier was that in 1964 as a leading-seaman RP2 I was ship’s company at Fort
Blockhouse, HMS Dolphin and was selected to be Barge Coxswain to (as he was
then) Rear Admiral - later Vice Admiral Ian McGeoch KCB DSO DSC, who in 1943
was Captain of HM Submarine Splendid. He
describes his adventures in ‘An Affair of Chances’ published by the Imperial
War Museum in 1991.
If you want to know how a
Leading Seaman RP2 came to be the Admiral’s Coxswain at Dolphin - that’s
another story.
I am glad Derek Walters has
written about the British ‘U’ Class Submarine.
It is very informative with good photographs and diagrams and could
assist family historians who are seeking relatives who received awards. Appendix 1 is the list of Gallantry medals
awarded; appendix 3 gives all the pennant numbers. It will find a good home alongside my other submarine books and
will I am sure be used for research in the future.
Rob Jerrard
Alarm
Starboard
Edition:
Republished 2004 (1st Published 1982)
Author:
Geoffrey Brooke.
ISBN:
1844152308
Publishers:
Pen & Sword Maritime
Price
£19.99
Publication
Date: 2004
First
published over 20 years ago, this is a welcome reprint of the author's wartime
experiences which, like his second work, Singapore's Dunkirk, is written in a
vivid descriptive style guaranteeing that the reader will be gripped by this
fascinating autobiography.
The
author takes us back to the pre-war Royal Navy, when he began his seagoing
career as a midshipman in the mighty battleship Nelson. We experience life in
the Gunroom as pre-war political tensions in Europe mounted. The young
Midshipmen, however, like young people of all generations, ‘lived for the
moment'. The overriding certainty of war and the atmosphere on board as the war
clouds gathered is almost palpable, as is the sudden and welcome temporary
relief which followed Chamberlain's Munich meeting with Hitler.
From
Nelson the reader is taken to the very different world of the destroyer
flotillas, and then to the legendary aircraft carrier Ark Royal, where the
author experienced at first hand flying from the deck in the famous Swordfish
(Stringbag) biplane. When war was finally declared the author was back in
Nelson at Scapa Flow. In the winter of 1.940 amid ‘four inches of snow', the
author arrived at Cammell Laird's Birkenhead shipyard where even the bitterly
cold weather did not, ‘suppress my thrill at the first sight of HMS Prince of Wales,
dark grey and menacing against the surrounding white. The tall superstructure
that loomed to my left seemed to merge with the sky as, still stiff and cold
from the night train to Birkenhead, I climbed the brow to her vast quarterdeck.
The Nelson's had been small, recently I was used to a few square yards, but the
expanse before me took an immense four-gun turret with no trouble at all.' The
author gives us an insight into life aboard Prince of Wales during the weeks
before she was recommissioned for the first time, and into the various
personalities with whom he shared the Wardroom Mess.
We
are given a first-hand account of the tragic action between Hood and Prince of
Wales, and the German men-of-war Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, which, in his role
as Spotting Officer, unfolded before him. He graphically describes the
aftermath of the battle as, wisely, with much of her main armament
malfunctioning and having suffered serious damage herself, Prince of Wales
withdrew. One fascinating fact which is not generally known is the finding by
Lieutenant Wildish, the Damage Control Officer, of one of Bismarck's unexploded
15-inch shells in one of Prince of Wales' double-bottom compartments.
Fortunately, with the ship in dry dock, it was safely removed by cutting a hole
in the ship's hull. Following the Bismarck action Prince of Wales' next major
task was to carry the Prime Minister, together with a large political,
diplomatic and military entourage, to Canada for an historic meeting with
President Roosevelt. Once again we are treated to fascinating and often amusing
memories of the round voyage, including the author's conversation with Winston
Churchill when the Prime Minister assured him that Japan would not enter the
war.
On
25 October 1941, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, Prince of
Wales sailed from the Clyde, bound for South-East Asia and the ‘impregnable'
base at Singapore. Once again the passage cast by way of Cape Town, Colombo and
Trincomalee is described in detail, as are the final days of peace in Singapore
City, with ‘stengahs at the elegant Raffles Hotel’, before the Japanese
invasion of Malaya changed the lives of the complacent European population
forever. For this reviewer, one of the highlights of the book is the first-hand
account of the loss of both Prince of Wales and Repulse. We get a feel of the
atmosphere on board the former and the feeling of disbelief as both of the
mighty capital ships were easily overwhelmed by the Japanese Navy
torpedo-bombers. The subsequent sinking of the ships and the rescue operations
by the attendant destroyers makes grim reading, but it is a true story of
courage in adversity.
As
if the ordeal of losing one's ship in such circumstances were not enough, for
the survivors of Prince of Wales and Repulse there was no respite or survivors'
leave, and the author was soon back on duty manning a requisitioned ferry on
Penang Island, with the ever-present threat of the relentless Japanese advance
and their mastery of the air over Malaya. His adventures as the British forces
retreated towards Singapore, and his hair-raising escape from the doomed island
to Colombo make compelling reading. No sooner is the author safely back behind
Allied lines than his conventional naval career, which had been so rudely
interrupted in December 1941, was resumed with an appointment to the new
cruiser Bermuda, which was fitting out on the Clyde.
The
final three chapters of the book provide an insight into naval life during the
latter half of the Second World War, the final months being spent in the fleet
carrier HMS Formidable, which formed part of the British Pacific Fleet. Once
again we have graphic first-hand accounts of some of the most brutal naval
warfare in the Pacific War, with Formidable falling victim to kamikaze attacks.
Fortunately, the armoured flight deck saved the carrier from destruction.
Finally, in November 1945, over two and a half yews after escaping from
Singapore, the author makes a brief return visit to the city where he learns of
the sad fate that befell many of his comrades-in-arms.
There
are also 51 very good black and white photographs, many of which evoke the
atmosphere of the 1940s, but the real value in this book is the highly readable
text which, once started, is hard to put down.
Without
doubt, few sailors can have experienced the variety of drama, adventure and
danger which were the lot of Geoffrey Brooke. Thanks not only to his
experiences, but also to his easy descriptive style, Alarm Starboard is
guaranteed to secure its place as a classic naval memoir of the Second World
War. It cannot be too highly recommended.
Neil
McCart
Jan
2004
Destroyer Leader – HMS Faulknor 1935-1946
Edition: 3rd 2004
Author: Peter C Smith
ISBN: 1844151212
Publishers: Pen & Sword Books Limited
Price £25 RRP UK
Publication Date: 23rd Dec 2004
To those of us who served in destroyers and I am able to use the
word ‘us’, they hold a special place in our memories, some would perhaps say
‘in their hearts’. It makes you, in a
way, a member of a particular club or clan.
My membership was issued because I served on a Battle class
destroyer HMS Aisne, one of the last survivors of the old type before the
larger Hampshire class appeared upon the scene.
I belong to the HMS St Vincent Association, an Association for
boy/junior ratings who started their Naval careers at Gosport between 1927 –
1968 when it finally closed.
It is certain that many will have served on destroyers and even on
one of the ‘F’ Class such as HMS Faulknor, which the author claims to have
been, ‘the hardest working destroyer in the fleet’, no doubt her sister ships
and others will claim such a title, eg HMS Malcolm I believe made nine or ten
trips to Dunkirk.
This is the third edition of this book, it was first published in
1967, in his acknowledgements to this edition the author laments that since he
wrote the book there has been much weeding of very valuable and irreplaceable
documents which includes, (am I really reading this) the log books of Faulknor
which he was able to view in 1967, most have been destroyed and only a few
remain thirty years later. I certainly
echo his statement, ‘it almost defies belief’.
In “Destroyer War – 
A Million miles by the Eight Flotilla” A D Divine DSM
tells us the story of HMS Firedrake
a sister ship of the ship this latest book is about.
Mr Devine's book is the story of Firedrake, the story of her days
of war from the first mobilising of the Fleet to the day when she was bombed in
the very jaws of the Sicilian channel and made her way back to Gibraltar after
a voyage of epic courage. She played
her part up and down from the Arctic Circle to the coast of Sicily. She sank
her submarines. She fought off and brought
down her aircraft. The eighth destroyer
flotilla was the first to have completed 1,000,000 miles of sea in wartime, and
during some of its most exciting and hazardous tasks Mr Divine was privileged
to live on board one of the destroyers and to learn her quality at first hand.
Firedrake went to sea with the Eighth
Flotilla a fortnight before war began.
Their flotilla leader was HMS Faulknor,
its ships were, Firedrake, Fury, Fortune, Foxhound, Foresight, Fearless,
Forrester, and Fame-ships of thirteen hundred tons, sound, well built ships,
At the end of the waiting days they came
back to Scapa Flow.
Mr Divine told his story in 1942, now it is the turn of their
Leader to have her story told, and not only told, but told in some depth, in
many more words and with many more photographs and facts.
HMS Faulknor was an F Class destroyer built as a ‘leader' or
command-ship, of a flotilla of eight destroyers. Launched in 1934, she was to survive World War II and see action
in many of the Royal Navy's most famous operations. This book gives a detailed account of the ship's history from its
conception to its demise at the hands of the scrap yard. Faulknor was one of the first ships into
action at the outset of World War II and sank the first U-boat of the conflict.
During the defence of Norway Faulknor and her flotilla were in the midst of the
action, delving into Fjiords to seek out the enemy and providing cover or
transport to embark and then disembark British forces. The ship joined Force H, based in Gibraltar,
in June 1941. The Navy was fighting the Italian and Vichy French fleets and
soon encountered the alarming power of the Luftwaffe. Their task was to secure the Gibraltar Strait and to protect
vital Allied convoys on passage to Malta or North Africa where the fighting was
at that time fierce.
During 1941 this well-travelled ship was still sailing in the
Mediterranean but also patrolling in the Bay of Biscay in foul weather to
enforce the blockade on the German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau laying in
Brest. During her last months in the
area Faulknor was engaged in convoy protection to keep the vital supply lines
open to the Desert Army and the besieged island of Malta. September 1941 saw a dramatic change in the
environment that Faulknor was fighting her sea war. From the warm climbs of
Gibraltar she was hurled into the wilds of the North East Atlantic and the
Arctic Sea. Here the danger was not
just the enemy attacking by sea and air, but also the severity of icy gales and
blizzards as the Royal Navy nurtured conveys of vital equipment to Britain's
new ally, Russia. In June 1943 Faulknor
sailed south again, this time for the invasion of Sicily, ‘Operation
Husky'. Following the successful
invasion she remained in the Mediterranean until May 1944 seeing action in the
Aegean and at the Anzio landings.
From June 1944 Faulknor played a key role in `Operation Neptune'
now known as D-Day. After the success of the landings Faulknor sailed mainly in
the English Channel and Western Approaches acting as anti-submarine escort to
the many large troop-carrying liners that were arriving and leaving for the USA.
The Author tells us, “looking through the numerous histories of
the naval war published over the last sixty years, official and unofficial, of
the hundreds of such books, only a dozen or so will really tell you about the
destroyers. In official accounts they
are too often dismissed as anonymous escorts, only mentioned when sunk. In popular books their names are often spelt
incorrectly, their actions incorrectly recounted from other secondary sources,
‘facts' are repeated, falsely, with no attempt at checking. Little improvement has been seen since the
first edition of this book, indeed some ‘reference' books on British destroyers
published since then are an absolute disgrace.
Attempts to give a fuller, truer accounts have been scorned by some
`pundits' as not worth the effort, as if any history which is researched and
presented properly, being beyond the reviewers themselves, is therefore deemed
without merit. Not so; while the
eyewitnesses still remain who served in these vessels, and the records are
finally opened to the public at long, long last; here is as full an account of
a British destroyer's war career as has yet been presented. As I wrote forty years ago, I have chosen
one typical destroyer of that period, one which served before the war, and
right through the war, in the front line.
In many ways HMS Faulknor's war service was unique, but she represents
all the destroyers of the Royal Navy of that era. Her breed should not to be casually dismissed as, `... obsolete
when built', as one worthy has done. Nor am I in any doubt of whether, a
destroyer's war career, `... is worth a book', as in the eyes of one dreary
list compiler, or if it, `... merits full treatment', as another dull critic
would have it. Such people would dismiss six years of unique war service and
achievement as not worth retaining. On the contrary, I regard the recounting of
such facts as a proud and integral part of our naval heritage, which has to be
preserved in print as it has not been preserved in actuality. I am proud to ‘Chronicle' such history and
regard that label as an honour.
So here are the achievements of HM destroyer Faulknor in
full. She typifies all the other
British destroyers, her story is their story, and, in this book the men who
manned ‘the boats', are not forgotten”.
The Author
Peter C. Smith is an accomplished naval and aviation historian and
has more then sixty-five books to his name. Many of these have been published
in Australia, China, Germany, Italy Japan, the USA and Russia. He is a member
of the Society of Authors, London and the Paternosters Society. This book has
been written with much help from the HMS Faulknor Association and includes many
first-hand accounts written by various members of her crew.
The
Sinking of the Prince of Wales & Repulse – The End of the Battleship Era
Authors:
Martin Middlebrook and Patrick Mahoney
ISBN:
1844150755
Publishers:
Leo Cooper and Imprint of Pen & Sword Books Limited.
Price
£10.95 PB RRP UK
Publication
Date: 2004
The
book’s Introduction gives us an insight into the events that the book is
concerned with. On the 10th
of December 1941 Japanese aircraft sighted two large warships escorted by three
destroyers steaming on an easterly course some fifty miles off the coast of
Malaya. There was no sign of any
aircraft protecting the warships. The two larger ships were the battleship HMS
Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Repulse. Two of the escorting destroyers were also Royal Navy ships, but
the third was Australian. It was only
the third day of the war that Japan had started in the Far East. The weather was fine and clear. The Japanese attacked.
We
are told correctly that this is not the first book to be written about the loss
of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse, but history is a subject that takes
many years to unfold, both in the increasing availability of documents and in
the continuing repercussions of events and the gradual realization of their
implications. In particular, the
publication in 1969 by the Japanese of their Official History and the release
in 1972 of the British Second World War documents at the Public Record Office
have thrown new light on this decisive action and justify a fresh study.
The
book sets out to tell the reader not just what happened on that morning off
Malaya, but what it was like for the men involved. One hundred and ninety-three officers and men who were serving in
the warships attacked have been traced, together with others who were stationed
at Singapore or other relevant places at the time of the disaster.
As an ex HMS St Vincent boy, (HMS St Vincent was a
Boys’ Training Establishment in Gosport, Hampshire from 1927 to 1968) I should
point out that to my knowledge one of those men involved served as Captain of
HMS St Vincent, Sir John Hayes was onboard HMS Repulse as a Lieutenant (signals
Officer) and found himself swimming.
He
tells his story in, “Face the Music, A sailor’s Story published by the Pentland
Press in 1991. He was interviewed for
the book, but has since, “Passed the Bar”.
There may of course be other members of the HMS St Vincent Society who
were crewmembers of either of these great ships.
The
basic framework of the book has been formed from reliable contemporary records;
the participants in the battle provide descriptions of smaller incidents never
included in the official records and, perhaps more importantly, tell of their
emotions at that dramatic time. The contributions of these men put flesh on the
bare bones of the story and bring it more to life.
REVIEW
I recall in 1957 as a
15-year-old boy seaman from HMS ST Vincent being taken on board HMS Vanguard, I
can only surmise now that the reason would have been to show us what a
Battleship looked like before it was too late.
She was the last of her breed and in reserve at Portsmouth until she was
towed away to be scrapped on 4th August 1960. She fought a different battle, and despite
five tugs ran aground near the harbour entrance.
I can imagine therefore what
an awesome sight it must have been to be drafted to join HMS Prince of Wales,
all 35,00 tons of her, or Repulse when you are a 16 year old boy. HMS Repulse and Prince of Wales carried boys
and many lost their lives. One of them
says in the book.
‘I have, during my later
years in the service, been twice over the spot where the grand old lady is
resting and each time wished I could just dive and retrieve a few things from
my locker, for I feel certain I would know exactly where I had to go to get to
it’. (Boy Seaman 1st Class C. F. T. Heydon, H.M.S. Repulse)
It has been described as a
‘needless waste of lives’, which probably sums it up correctly. Both ships lie at the bottom of the South
China Sea about 150 miles north of Singapore, they are approximately 200-245
feet down and below the level at which divers can operate with compressed
air.
There is an interesting
report in Appendix 6, page 348, this is a statement of Lieutenant Commander.
DPR Lermitte RN, who led a clearance diving team in 1966. He states that they used SDDE (surface
demand diving equipment) to reach the wreck of Prince of Wales, and on
occasions SABA (swimmer’s air breathing apparatus). I recall doing trials with SDDE in a tank, which was situated
alongside HMS Deepwater within the precincts of HMS Vernon in about 1960. I also qualified as a free diver using SABA
on FD3 course. It is understandable
that he says that they only had limited time and were further limited to 180
feet in depth. Since then other RN
divers have returned and dived on Prince of Wales using helium gas during an 8
day survey which enabled them to go down to and beyond 245 feet.
We now know that torpedoes
struck Prince of Wales below the armoured belt on the soft underbelly because
she had listed.
This is a good book which
tells the story well with the most interesting factor being eye-witness
accounts of both crews.
The British government had
the arrogance to think that two Battleships would stop Japanese aggression in
the Far East. It has to be admitted that
even ordinary sailors thought the same, you can read such statements as:-
‘The popular conception was
that Japanese were a push-over’.
‘Many
other men on Repulse, however, would say that this gloomy talk was not
prevalent and that the greater number of men on the battle cruiser were only
too anxious to see their ship in action at last and had no doubts about the
outcome.’
‘The
feelings of the British sailors about their enemy was that there was really
nothing to fear.’
‘Well,
here we come you Jap bastards. Get ready!’
‘The
popular conception was that the Japanese were pushovers’.
‘Afraid?
Not really; perhaps excited is the word. After all, this is the battle cruiser
Repulse and they are only Japs.’
‘Their
ships were supposed to be old and top-heavy, liable to rollover if they fired a
full broadside; their aircraft were even slower than our old Swordfish, so what
had we to worry about?’
‘We
talked quite a lot of sharks and jokingly said they are going to have a
beanfeast - on Japs.’
‘We
didn't really know what we were up against and just passed them off as
slant-eyed so-and-so's.’
Was this because they had
all been misinformed? Two centuries of
faith ended that day, faith in Battleships.
I have heard it said that there are no heroes in defeat. Yes there are, there were at least 840 of
them that day and we must remember them.
I shall remember that I
walked the deck of a Battleship and I have had the privilege to have been above
the spot where three of them lie, Repulse, Prince of Wales and HMS Barham, who’s
remains lie in the Mediterranean with amongst those entombed in Barham, my
uncle.
Blame?
‘Why
put the blame on anyone? We were short of ships, aircraft, soldiers because of
other campaigns. Decisions were made at
that time bearing this in mind. Thank God
decisions were taken, wrong though some of them were with hindsight, but we
might have tried to muddle through and that would have been worse’. (Paymaster Sub-Lieutenant A. F. Compton,
H.M.S. Prince of Wales)
Rob Jerrard
Blunders
& Disasters at Sea - An Anthology
Author:
David Blackmore
ISBN:
1844151174
Publishers:
Pen & Sword Books Limited
Price
£19.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 4th November 2004
The
Publishers tell us, as any sailor knows, life at sea is hazardous under even
normal conditions. In times of war with
an enemy intent on killing and sinking you it is infinitely more so.
David
Blackmore has researched a hundred extreme cases of notable mishaps over the
span of history and written graphic descriptions covering the background, the
events and the tragic consequences.
Many were the result of enemy action, others (too many) straight human
error and the remainder were caused by act of God, not least the weather.
A
superb collection of short stories, BLUNDERS & DISASTERS at SEA will be
enjoyed by all those readers looking for well researched and concise accounts
of dramatic, yet tragic, maritime incidents.
The
book is divided into periods and has a very good index.
Book’s
Prologue
Somewhere,
sometime, deep in the mists of prehistory, one can imagine a proto-human
clambering onto a piece of driftwood or floating tree trunk. After learning how to keep his balance, he
discovered he could use his hands or a leafy branch to propel his craft
forward. Delighted, he returned to his
village to tell fellow clanspeople of the remarkable find.
‘Now’,
he said, ‘now we can cross the deep river to hunt those herds we can see
grazing on the far bank! Now we can
reach that island to harvest its bounty of gulls’ eggs!’
Later,
or possibly sooner, one of them became the first mariner to blunder and
drown. Perhaps he thought he could
paddle across the deceptively slow-flowing river before being sucked into
whitewater rapids. Perhaps he was
unaware of the offshore current on the far side of the island. Whatever the reason, he had started a long
trail of waterborne stupidity and misfortune.
From
the reed boats of ancient Babylon to modern ocean giants, mankind has been
venturing onto the rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, which cover almost
three-quarters of our globe. But these waters are some of nature's most
magnificent and potent forces, demanding extreme caution and respect.
They
are highly temperamental, sometimes resting in mirror-like calm, at others
ranting and raging to throw up twenty-metre (sixty-five foot) waves. Their
natural forces are compounded in time of war because the urgency and complexity
of armed conflict frequently result in human error and miscalculation.
Because
of such hazards, maritime mistakes tend to be irreversible to an extent seldom
encountered on land. They frequently
result in the loss of a ship, together with many lives. Moreover, with every
technological advance, ships grow in size and the scale of disaster tends to
grow in proportion.
The
research is very impressive, if the name of a ship should come up when
researching your family history - this sort of book may give you a starting
point.
The
Author
David
Blackmore was born at Salisbury and traces his ancestry to R D Blackmore, the
19th century author of Lorna Doone.
During the Second World War he served in both the Merchant and Royal
Navies, in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and North Sea.
David
is a full-time writer. He lives in Toronto with his wife Paula.
