Naval VCs have been won in places as far apart in time and distance as the Baltic in 1854 and Japan in 1945, in the trenches from the Crimea to the Western Front, in harbours from Dar es Salaam to Zeebrugge, from the Barents to the Java Sea, from New Zealand to the North Atlantic, and from China to the Channel. They have been won in battleships and trawlers, in submarines below the water and aircraft above it, on horseback and on foot.Age and rank meant nothing. Boy Cornwall was not seventeen at Jutland, and Frederick Parslow was in his sixtieth year when he earned his VC on board a horse transport ship. William Hall was the son of a freed slave; Charles Lucas, awarded the Royal Navys first VC, became a Rear Admiral. Neither were all the recipients of Britains highest gallantry decoration British, and men from Canada, Australia and New Zealand were included in those whose actions were recognised by the awarding of the VC. Yet every one of them had one thing in common uncommon valour.
A naval historian presents a collection of personal accounts from British naval servicemembers who contributed to victory in the Falklands. Fearing that the achievements of Britain’s Navy in the Falklands War would go unrecognized, John Winton let it be known that he was compiling a book of personal, firsthand accounts on the subject. The response was overwhelming, and Signals from the Falklands represents only a fraction of the stories, letters, journal entries, and recorded interviews he received. Here is a candid recounting of that brief but successful campaign from those who served in all ranks and trades with the Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Some of the contributors, like the aptly named Sam Salt will be familiar to many; others are not well known. All who served on board any ship which ‘went south’ in that strange nut epic endeavor in 1982 will be grateful to John Winton for this lasting tribute to their bravery, their sacrifice, and their abiding sense of humor.
In 1944 the Allies had a flotilla based in Corsica who used torpedo boats to land agents and saboteurs in enemy-occupied France, as well as to pick up those evading the Gestapo. As it became more successful, they took more risks, and this story describes their biggest and most dangerous operation.
An anthology of personal experience selected and edited by John Winton. The Second World War produced hundreds of actions and incidents at sea which were packed with drama and suspense, and which evoked the greatest heroism. Here is a generous selection of personal experience written by the men and women who were there: in the British and Commonwealth Navies, the Fleet Air Arm, the Merchant Navy, or ashore. Names which have passed into history - Narvik, Dunkirk, the River Plate, the Bismarck, the Scharnhorst, Crete, Anzio, the Battle of the Atlantic, the Russian convoys - all these and many others are reflected in these gripping eyewitness testimonies. This is the first volume in the unique Freedom's Battle trilogy, which provides intensely vivid accounts of war at sea, in the air and on land. Far better than any single narrative, the extracts build up a complete picture of the War as it was experienced by the men and women who actually fought in it.
Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima; the War in the Pacific was one of the most brutal aspects of the Second World War. This enthralling history would be perfect for fans of Ian W. Toll, James D. Hornfischer and Craig L. Symonds. On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched their surprise military attack on the US battlefleet at Pearl Harbor. After three and a half years of conflict Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and General Douglas MacArthur with representatives from the other Allies: Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, China, France, the Netherlands and Russia, accepted the unconditional surrender of Japan. It had come at the cost of hundreds of ships, thousands of aircraft and the lives of millions of men who had died far from home. In War in the Pacific John Winton tells how the Allies had been able to turn back the seemingly overwhelming Japanese forces and worked together to drive ever onwards towards Tokyo Bay. It is a remarkable account of the ferocious naval war that took place in the Pacific and uncovers the ships, the submarines and aircraft, the naval tactics and the equipment used to defeat the Japanese. Winton also provides insight into the leaders of the Allied forces, not just Admiral Nimitz but also William 'Bull' Halsey, the superb Raymond Spruance, hard-charging Arleigh 'Thirty-One Knot' Burke, 'Close In' Conolly, the fighting Marine General 'Howling Mad' Smith, the submarine ace Sam Dealey, and the pioneering carrier admiral Marc Mitscher.
The aircraft carrier Leviathan is the biggest, most powerful vessel the British Navy has ever commissioned. The showpiece of the navy, however, has limped from one crisis to another, from technical problems to dissent among her massive crew. Commander Bob Markready vows to whip it into shape.
An engrossing history of the last major naval battle in World War Two's Pacific War. Perfect for fans of Max Hastings, Walter Lord and James D. Hornfischer. In the late hours of 15th May 1945, the radar operator aboard the destroyer Venus identified a spot of light on his screen. Captain Power was in no doubt that this was the heavy cruiser, Haguro, that they had been searching for, but how could he stop this formidable enemy ship as it steamed hard for Singapore? A trap of torpedo and naval artillery was set by the 26th Destroyer Flotilla, there was no escape for the Haguro. Drawing upon ships action narratives, message files, diaries, photographs and the memories of the officers and men of the Destroyer crews, the aircrews of Avenger, Liberators and Catalinas, from submarine captains, and from one of the Haguro's own officers has allowed the author to provide thorough insight into the last major open sea battle of the Second World War. John Winton uncovers what it was like for these men in the weeks and months prior to that fateful night, how the Royal Navy had been searching for Japanese ships in the Far East and why vital inceptions from ULTRA and the code-breaking specialists was so essential to helping the Allied navy. "Winton injects the book with a colorful flavour of the personalities of the fleet - from the fleet commander to the fireroom stoker ... a very readable account" Naval War College Review
A wartime romance describing a dangerous operation carried out by a Flotilla based in Corsica during World War II, who work for the Resistance and pick-up escaped prisoners-of-war, crashed Allied aircrew and people trying to evade the Gestapo.
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