by admin on August 13, 2010
Ironclads, especially the early ones, are intriguing and interesting to me. Strange ships clad in iron to protect them against enemy artillery, often floating very low, and in the early days usually not very sea-worthy. Strange creatures which were the forerunners of later generations of frigates, cruisers and battleship.
Ironclad: The Epic Battle, Calamitous Loss, and Historic Recovery of the USS Monitor, by Paul Clancy
Ironclad: The Epic Battle, tells the saga of the iconic warship USS Monitor and its salvage, one of the most complex and dangerous in history.
The Monitor is followed 
through its maiden voyage from New York to Hampton Roads, its battle with the Merrimack, and its loss off Cape Hatteras. Its one great battle in the spring of 1862 marked the obsolescence of wooden fighting ships and may have saved the Union. Its terrible end in a winter storm off Cape Hatteras condemned sixteen sailors to a watery grave. And the recovery of its 200-ton turret in August 2002 capped the largest, most complex and hazardous ocean salvage operation in history. At the same time, author Paul Clancy takes readers behind the scenes of an improbable collaboration between navy divers and cautious archaeologists working 240 feet deep.
Clancy creates a memorable, fascinating read, including fresh insights into the sinking of the Union ship and giving the answer to an intriguing forensic mystery: the identities of the two sailors whose bones were found in the Monitor’s recovered turret.
Ironclads At War: The Origin And Development Of The Armored Battleship, by Jack Greene and Alessandro Massignani
This interesting book discusses the 
Civil War ironclads in the broader context of world naval developments. Many readers will learn for the first time of the influence on both Union and Confederate observers of Crimean War and other European armor, and learn the subsequent history of many Civil War naval vessels that later saw action in Peru, Paraguay, and Japan. For people interested in how these boats emerged, the role they played in the world, and their effects on naval warfare will love this book.
It is particularily good in its coverage of those ironclads in the service of other nations beyond the Royal Navy and the United States Navy. Contains well-done sections on the Seven Weeks War at sea, the wars of the South American Pacific coast including the Huáscar, and the Japanese Civil War.
Ironclad Down: USS Merrimack-CSS Virginia from Design to Destruction, by Carl D. Park
This is an interesting 
book with a story behind it. Park’s original intent was to build an accurate model of the USS Virginia. He quickly found that examining and reconciling the conflicting and incomplete information about Virginia overwhelmed his plans. The model, he reports, was never built.
Instead he produced Ironclad Down, a very valuable contribution to naval history. It is the result of more than fifteen years of research, and a treasure trove of detailed information about one of history s most famous vessels. Describing the fascinating people – Stephen Russell Mallory, John Mercer Brooke, John Luke Porter, et al. – who conceived, designed and built one of the world’s first ironclads as well as describing the ship itself, Carl Park offers both the most thoroughly detailed, in-depth analysis to date of the actual architecture of the Virginia and a fascinating, colorful chapter of Civil War history.
Anyone interested in the Confederate Navy and the Battle of Hampton Roads will enjoy this book.
by admin on July 18, 2010
Form Line of Battle! is the tenth volume in the
Richard Bolitho saga. Alexander Kent now places Bolitho back into the thick of sea warfare, right where we want him. The year is 1793 and the revolutionary fervor sweeping France threatens to infect all of Europe. To protect her own interests, the British crown has embarked upon a tactic of containment that they hope will keep the radical anti-monarchist sentiments from contaminating the minds of the English. This is a tactic not favored by the new French Republic, and war is declared.
In June Captain Richard Bolitho takes command of the Hyperion, a seventy-four-gun ship of the line in Gibraltar. With him is his friend and coxswain, John Allday. Bolitho is eager to get back to duty against Revolutionary France. He sails to join Lord Hood in the occupation of Toulon. Beneath the Mediterranean sun, and often in sight of the enemy coast, Bolitho and his tired old ship face one conflict after another. When at last the ill-fated campaign in Toulon collapses, the Hyperion, outgunned and outnumbered, takes her rightful place in the line of battle.
It’s all here; cutting out actions, land assaults, night actions, fire ships, nasty sword play and ships of the line delivering thundering broadsides. Form Line of Battle is a classic action romance. The battle scenes are very exciting but also violent and realistic. Men die horribly or are mutilated painfully and Kent doesn’t hide it. He does not glorify the war or its deeds.
Form Line of Battle is one of the best of the books in the Richard Bolitho series. It full of fast paced action, and very interesting to read. The fleet action is splendidly described. An excellent nautical fiction novel!
by admin on July 11, 2010
The ninth novel in Patrick O’Brian’s Maturin/Aubrey saga is set in Malta following the events in The Ionian Mission. Captain Aubrey’s favorite ship, HMS Surprise, is undergoing repairs. However, Malta is swarming 
with Napoleonic agents, so that Stephen Maturin is kept very busy. And to a large extent Treason’s Harbour is a spy novel, even though there is lots of other action as well.
French agents have identified Stephen Maturin as a British intelligence agent, and try to use the wife of a captured officer in the Royal Navy, Laura Fielding, to set a trap for Maturin. Laura Fielding is an Italian beauty, and Stephen Maturin is very attracted to her, but he senses that something is not right and is able to befriend her. From this position he is able to play the French agents instead of being subjected to their game. Now he is the one setting the traps!
However, there is more to the novel then the intricate maneuverings of spies. In the midst of it all, Jack Aubrey, assisted by Stephen, carries out missions in Egypt and Algeria. The mission in Egypt involves a hunt for a French ship laden with silver. As well, in their usual fashion Jack Aubrey and his crew capture several French prizes.
Treason’s Harbour, in my opinion, is not among the very best books in the series, but even so it plays an important role in it. There is somewhat less classic naval action in the book than is normal, and even though there is some adventuring, less of that too. However, as the other books in the series, Treason’s Harbour is very enjoyable, well written, and full of irony and humor. Great nautical fiction!
by admin on June 27, 2010
Perhaps The Boat is the best historical fiction novel about submarines ever written. It is hard to say – there are several that are excellent. Run Silent, Run Deep is excellent, and so is The Hunt for Red October
. Personally, I also like Bacalao
by J. T. McDaniel and Kilo Class
by Patrick Robinson a lot. And U-859
by Arthur Baudzus, Crimson Tide
by Richard P. Henrick, and Attack of the Seawolf
by Michael DiMercurio are very good too. And I am sure there are many more that I don’t know about. Even so, it is probably fair to say that Das Boot, which is the name this novel and the movie is mostly known under, a k a The Boat (in English), is a at least one of the very best in this genre.
Das Boot was written by an 
actual survivor of Germany’s U-boat fleet. Lothar-Gunther Buchheim was born in 1918 and grew up in Saxony. When the war broke out he joined the navy and served on mine-sweepers, destroyers and submarines, and on the last as an official navy correspondent. Das Boot is a fictionalized autobiographical account, narrated by a “Leutnant Werner”. It is the best-selling German account of the Second World War, and was quickly translated into English.
The tale in Das Boot is amazing. It is the story of a patrol mission by a German submarine, U-96, into the Atlantic Ocean to attack Allied convoys.
Lother-Günter BuchheimIt is a tale full of nerve-wracking tension and suspense, where the difficult conditions and pressures of life in a submarine are described is great detail. During the missions the boat patrolled without finding anything for a long time. When they finally did, it was a well-protected convoy. Very soon the hunter – the submarine – became the target, and a long lasting, complicated game of cat and mouse began. Time over and time again the submarine was nearly wrecked by depth charges. The submarine tries everything – runs, hides at depths far beyond what it is constructed for, twists and turns. But always the destroyers – using ASDIC -finds them, and more charges follow.
The German submarine manages to get away. They even manage to find another convoy and sink a few ships, but again have to pay by suffering though hours of nightmarish depth charges down in the deep, dark ocean. The authors describes the fears of the crew, the effects of the depth charges, their hopes when they think the bombardment is over, and their disappointment when the ASDIC pings again and a new attack starts on the surface.
However, instead of returning to France after a 
very tough patrol, the U-96 received new orders to go through Gibraltar to the new submarine base at La Spezia in Italy. Thus starts an even more nerve-wrecking journey for an already battered ship and crew. In the straight the ship is damaged and they start to sink. As the depth indicator shows them descending far deeper than they have ever been, the Captain miraculously manages to set the ship down on the sand bottom deep down. But the submarine is severely damaged; it is leaking, most of the vital systems are damaged, the batteries are leaking fluid, and their oxygen is running low. Can they somehow bring the battered hull up to the surface? And if they can – what will meet them there?
The story in Das Boot, about U-96 is supremely gripping – it is a mercilessly intense story, written in a way that makes you feel and almost sense the claustrophobic and scary conditions inside the boat. The depiction of what it’s like to be locked away in the stinky metal tube they live in for weeks on end is extremely vivid and realistic. So too are the author’s descriptions of the boredom during the long intervals when nothing happens during the patrol – when the crew talk about sex, their tempers flare and morale starts to slump.
Das Boot (The Boat) is a rough and grueling read, but also very fascinating. It is excellently written, at times very suspenseful, and is without doubt one of the very finest submarine novels ever written. It is a classic of nautical fiction. (See also review of the Oscar winning movie based on this novel – Das Boot (DVD).)
Links to
Das Boot (a k a
The Boat) and
Lothar-Günther Buchheim at
Amazon US
and
Amazon UK
.
by admin on June 25, 2010
After a spell on dry land, Lord Ramage and HMS Calypso are ordered by Admiral Lord Nelson to join his fleet at Cadiz in Spain.
Ramage joins the fleet after a speedy journey from England (however, Nelson’s journey was even faster). His first mission there is to communicate with a spy on shore. He carries out his mission, and reports his findings.
Dudley Pope
Then it is back to fleet duty – watching the Franco-Spanish fleet and relaying signals to Nelson’s fleet. That is the role of frigates in major ship of the line action. But the routine is suddenly broken when a large Spanish 74 gun ship of the line comes steaming after the Calypso in hot pursuit. The Calypso cannot out sail the Spaniard, and things look very bad. But, as usual, Captain Ramage has a card up in his sleeve. Just a small one, but even so one that gives Calypso a chance.
Finally the whole Franco-Spanish combined fleet breaks out of harbor with the English fleet following them and watch their every move. Admiral Nelson is severely outnumbered, but thinks he has a good chance to beat them even so. He has devised a new naval tactic for the occasion that he has strong faith in. Overall, the reasons why Nelson is Britain’s greatest hero are made very clear in this book.
From the point where the action starts, this book is a nautical thriller. The battle is very tough, as we know from history, and it is excellently describes by Dudley Pope. And even though Ramage’s role – with a frigate in a major naval battle – is minor, he still manages to distinguish himself. This book, especially the last half of it, is a treat. The climax is grand, and – as well – Ramage at Trafalgar has a wonderfully sad ending as Ramage appears headed for another court-martial due to yet another of his valiant actions in breach of his orders. An excellent nautical fiction book in an interesting and entertaining series!
Takes over the helm from Hornblower. — Daily Mirror
by admin on June 19, 2010
There are many historical novels about 
submarines during World War II, and several which are excellent. Run Silent, Run Deep, written by Edward Latimer Beach, Jr., who was a highly-decorated United States Navy submarine officer, is one of the best ever written. This book, which was also filmed, has been referred to by some as “the Holy Grail of submarine novels”, “an American equivalent of Das Boot” and “a landmark novel”.
The book was written by 
Beach while he served as Naval Aide to President Eisenhower, and first published in 1955. It quickly became a bestseller. The current edition of this book, which includes an interesting introduction by Edward P. Stafford, is published by the Naval Institute Press as part of the Classics of Naval Literature series.
The story begins shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. An American submarine captain, Edward “Rich” Richardson is given a new boat – Walrus – with orders to destroy Japanese shipping in the Pacific. His executive officer and his former best friend, Jim Bledsoe, is resentful because Richardson had felt it necessary to fail him after Bledsoe acted in a reckless manner during his test for qualification for command, after he had made several mistakes and nearly sunk their boat.
Walrus’s first patrol is tough. Just outside of “Area Seven” (the Bungo Suido), Walrus has its first encounter with “Bungo Pete,” an elusive Japanese destroyer commander, Captain Tateo Nakame, who is responsible for a series of sinkings of American submarines and who seems to know the names of his victims. After a severe depth charge attack, Richardson is forced to abort to Midway.
After a patrol near the Aleutian Islands, Richardson learns that “Bungo Pete” has claimed three more American submarines. Walrus returns to the Bungo Suido, and conducts an amazing surface attack on a Japanese convoy during nighttime. As before, Bungo Pete arrives on the scene with his guns blazing, and Richardson is wounded and nearly killed by Japanese shellfire.
Richardson is forced to stay ashore to rehabilitate, and convinces his superiors that Jim Bledsoe now is ready for command. Accordingly, Jim is promoted to Captain of the Walrus, and goes on to become one of the most successful captains of the war.
Edward L. Beach Jr.
While rehabilitating for several months in Pearl Harbor, Richardson played a major part in an effort to correct severe reliability problems in the Mk 14 torpedo’s exploder.
In the meantime, Bungo Pete is still on the loose, and has sunk more submarines, including Jim Bledsoe’s and Richardson’s Walrus. Richardson begs to be given command and sent to Area Seven to take care of Bungo Pete. He wants revenge, and he feels that he knows Bungo Pete well enough to be able to deal with him. He is given command of the Eel, one of the most modern submarines in the US Navy, and returns to Area Seven. The battle that ensues between the Eel and Bungo Pete’s special anti-submarine warfare group is epic.
Naval fiction about submarines can hardly get better than this. It has excellent descriptions of equipment, life onboard, tactics and so forth. The characters are interesting too, and the writing is to the point and good. Run Silent, Run Deep is a very compelling and believable book, and the writing takes the reader into the minds, souls, and terror of the crew of a submarine at war. Run Silent, Run Deep really is a landmark novel, and also very entertaining and suspenseful. I loved it!
by admin on June 14, 2010
It’s now 1803 and Thomas Kydd, 
who started his career as a pressed man, now commands a brig-sloop, HMS Teazer. This is an unrated vessel too small to have a place in the line of battle. For Kydd it even so represents a giant step forward.
His duty in this book is to patrol the southern coast of England and watch for incursions by French ships and privateers.
He is also tasked with assisting in the government’s never-ending campaign to suppress smuggling. Kydd is about to discover that the most dangerous waters can be closest to home. Privateers, smugglers, perilous storms and a treacherous coastline all threaten to overcome HMS Teazer. We follow his pursuit of and repeated encounters with a privateer and its extremely skilled captain and his initially fumbling attempts to catch the Cornish smugglers in the act. Smugglers, perilous storms and a treacherous coastline all threaten to overcome HMS Teazer as her men fight to gain control of the seas around Cornwall and Devon.
However, The Admiral’s Daughter is not only a book about Thomas Kydd’s sea adventures – it is even more a book about Kydd’s first steps into “higher society”. As a commander, he starts to get invitations to social events – parties, balls – and now he must learn the social graces required of a man of his new standing. Having been promoted from the ranks for his abilities and bravery, Thomas Kydd is not, as many of his fellow officers in the Royal Navy, a noble or a man of higher learning.
Also, Kydd falls in love in this book, not once but twice, with two different women. And, as he will find out, at the wrong time and in the wrong order. High society can be just as treacherous as the high seas, it seems to Kydd.
The Admiral’s Daughter is a little too much concerned with matters ashore and has too little naval action for my taste. It is, of course, well written and nicely plotted, but it is not among the best books in the Thomas Kydd series. I recommend it primarily to followers of the series.
This 
is the sixth novel of C. Northcote Parkinson’s renowned nautical fiction series about Richard Delancey, but actually the first in terms of the chronology of the series. The Guernseyman introduces the main character and tells the strange tale of his rise from volunteer to lieutenant.
Here, Richard Delancey, the future naval hero, leaves his home in the Channel Islands. He sets out for Liverpool, where he has relatives that can give him a position in their business. The action in this book takes place in the years 1775-1777.
However, things turn out differently for young Delancey. He inadvertently becomes embroiled in labor riots in Liverpool and avoids punishment by “volunteering” for the Royal Navy. Due to his manners and education, he is promoted to clerk, and eventually he becomes a midshipman. His ship sails for New York. There he meets his American family and gets entangled in a love affair with his attractive cousin Charlotte. But this is not to be, and he is sent him back across the sea.
Back home, Delancey is instrumental in defending the Isle of Jersey against a foolish French attempt to seize the island. Then he reenters a ship, and soon finds himself in Gibraltar, where once again he takes part in defensive action, this time against a combined French/Spanish attack. We follow Delancey’s intriguing boat attack against the monstrous floating batteries that the Spanish built, as well as some other action. He displays considerable wits and courage, and is well liked. And in the end, he does achieve the King’s commission that he had been hoping for.
Even though this surely is a naval fiction book, and even a good one, most of the action takes place on land, and the focus is more military than naval. The story is very good, and certainly held my interest. It is an interesting book, a well written. And even though it is not among the best in the series, it gives background about the hero which is good to know, and is quite entertaining.
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