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This book consists of a series of accounts of the Second World War at sea as seen from the British and American points of view. It covers a very wide range of topics, from the major fleet actions to individual submarine attacks, attacks on convoys and the rescue ships that accompanied them, British submarines in the Mediterranean and the use of midget submarines against German and Japanese warships.
All of the chapters are well written, with many supported by a good use of eyewitness accounts. I found the less familiar chapters to be of most value, especially those on the rescue ships that accompanied convoys and had to stop in submarine infested waters for long periods of time to rescue the survivors of sunk ships. There are plenty of stories from the survivors of such sinkings, reminding us of the human cost of the adventures being recounted.
This isn't an attempt at a naval history of the war, but is instead a collection of snippets that give snapshots of different aspects of the fighting at sea in the Atlantic, on the Russian convoys, in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific. It will probably be of most interest to those with a more casual knowledge of the war, who will find a great deal of new material here.
Chapters
September-December 1939
1 - I Went Down with the Royal Oak
2 - Conquering the Magnetic Mine
3 - The Battle of the River Plate
January-December 1940
4 - One Ship and Two Men
5 - The Jervis Bay
January-December 1941
6 - Malta Submarines
7 - Pearl Harbor and After
January-May 1942
8 - The Battle of the Channel
9 - The Atlantic and the Pacific
10 - Bomb Disposal on a Submarine
11 - Enter the Rescue Ships
12 - Submarine Attack in Corfu Harbour
13 - The Battle of the Coral Sea
June-December 1942
14 - Convoy PQ17
15 - Midway
16 - A Girl Called Johnnie
17 - Invasion of the Solomons
18 - Loss of the Leedstown
19 - Guadalcanal and Tassafaronga
20 - Rescue Ships in Trouble
January-December 1943
21 - Americans in the Atlantic
22 - Yanks on Their Way Back
23 - John Kennedy and PT-109
24 - Midget Subs Versus the Tirpitz
25 - Saga of the Liscome Bay
January-December 1944
26 - The D-Day Armada
27 - The USS Rich: D-Day and After
28 - George Bush and the Flying Casket
29 - Dace, Darter and Leyte Gulf
January-August 1945
30 - Luzon and Iwo Jima
31 - Okinawa and the Kamikazes
32 - British Midget Submarine Versus Japanese Cruiser
33 - The Final Victory
Author: John Frayn Turner
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 256
Publisher: Pen & Sword
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