Read Books Online and Download eBooks, EPub, PDF, Mobi, Kindle, Text Full Free.
Beware The Grey Widow Maker
Download Beware The Grey Widow Maker full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online Beware The Grey Widow Maker ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!
Book Synopsis Beware the Grey Widow-maker by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Beware the Grey Widow-maker written by Bernard Edwards and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book follows the changing pattern of man's fortunes at sea, from the golden age of sail, through the proud years when steam reigned supreme, to the present day, when the flag of convenience rules the waves. It tells of triumphs and disasters, some recent, some long-forgotten, and illustrates how, contrary to all expectations, the fine art of seamanship has withered and died with the advent of advanced technology.
Book Synopsis Churchill's Thin Grey Line by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Churchill's Thin Grey Line written by Bernard Edwards and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The naval historian and retired merchant navy captain recounts the contributions of Britain’s civilian ships during WWII in this “cracking read” (The Bridgend & Porthcawl Gem). The first British casualties of the Second World War were not members of the Royal Navy, the army, or the Royal Air Force. They were British merchant seamen on the transatlantic passenger liner SS Athenia, torpedoed by a German U-30 submarine on September 3, 1939. For the duration of the war, Britain’s merchant fleet performed a vital role, carrying the essential supplies that kept the country running during the darkest days and made victory possible. Their achievements came at a terrible cost with 2,535 British oceangoing merchant ships being sunk and, of the 185,000 men and women serving in the British Merchant Navy at the time, 36,749 sacrificed their lives. Another 4,707 were wounded and 5,720 ended up as prisoners of war. Their casualty rate of twenty-five percent was second only to RAF Bomber Command’s. Thoroughly researched and full of fascinating true accounts, Bernard Edwards’s Churchill’s Thin Grey Line tells the inspiring story of those brave civilian volunteers who fought so gallantly to defend their ships, cargo, and country. “A cracking read which brings home to the reader how much we in [England] owe to the Merchant Navy . . . Bernard Edwards has done them proud.” —The Bridgend & Porthcawl Gem
Book Synopsis Japans Blitzkrieg by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Japans Blitzkrieg written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2006-08-30 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early on the morning of 7 December 1941, 360 Japanese carrier-borne aircraft made a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, and laid waste to the American Far East Fleet. They sank four battleships, crippled three cruisers and three destroyers, and seriously damaged two other battleships. One hundred and sixty-four planes were destroyed and 2,403 servicemen and civilians were killed. All for the loss of twenty-nine Japanese aircraft and fifty-five men. Two days later, the British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse, were sunk by Japanese torpedo bombers as they raced north to intercept an enemy invasion force heading for Malaya. In these two bold forays, the Japanese had successfully emasculated Allied naval power in the East. There now remained no big guns afloat anywhere in the Pacific and Indian oceans capable of opposing Admiral Yamamoto's ships. So began Japan's blitzkrieg. The Malay peninsular was rapidly overwhelmed, Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day, Manila went the same way on the 31st, and on 15 February 1942, in one of the most ignominious defeats in modern warfare, 85,000 British troops laid down their arms, and the vital base of Singapore was in Japanese hands. Thereafter, the rays of the Rising Sun spread ever outwards, overrunning island after island, until even Australia was threatened. The book tells how the Dutch Spice Islands, Java and Sumatra, became a last refuge for those fleeing before the Japanese whirlwind advance, and it was from here that the remaining Allied merchant ships in the area made their bid for freedom carrying hundreds of refugees. For many of these ships it was to be their last voyage
Book Synopsis Survivors of Enemy Action by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Survivors of Enemy Action written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2023-06-30 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The war years 1939 â 1945 were the most perilous in the long history of the British Merchant Navy. The figures speak for themselves. With 2,535 ships sunk and 36,749 merchant seamen lost, the proportional casualty rate was higher than any branch of the Armed Forces except for Bomber Command. The danger to the lightly armed merchant ships came from enemy air attacks, surface warships, raiders and, of course submarines. Prisoners were seldom taken so the crews of stricken vessels had to fend for themselves. Those who survived enemy action faced death by drowning, exposure and lack of food and water. Compiled mainly from experiences related direct to the author, this inspiring book draws on first-hand accounts of the lucky few who survived. With extraordinary honesty and modesty their stories describe the events leading up to the enemy attack, the actions and the aftermath. Readers will be struck by the courage and fortitude of these men who often suffered extreme hardship and privation. Too many died before reaching land or being rescued. These men are without doubt the unsung heroes of the Second World War and this fine book is an overdue recognition of their sacrifices and courage.
Download or read book The Decoys written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2012-10-30 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In November 1942, Britain and America launched Operation TORCH, the ambitious invasion of French North Africa.To convey 70,000 troops and their equipment required 600 merchant ships crossing the U-boat infested North Atlantic. The need for their protection meant withdrawing escorts from the routine convoys. Amongst those left without adequate defence were RB 1 and SC 107, both eastbound from America, and SL 125, northbound from Freetown. All three were at sea at the same time as the TORCH convoys.
Book Synopsis Running the Gauntlet by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Running the Gauntlet written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2022-04-21 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The British Merchant Navy dominated the world trade routes in the years leading up to the Second World War. The star players of the fleet were the cargo liners, faster and larger than the tramps and offering limited passenger accommodation. On the outbreak of war these cargo liners became crucial to the nation’s survival using their speed and expertise to evade Nazi warships, raiders and U-boats. Initially operating alone, but increasingly relying on Royal Navy protected convoys, these key elements of the Merchant Navy plied the oceans and seas despite mounting losses, throughout the war years. This superbly researched book describes numerous dramatic incidents. Some ended in disaster such as the New Zealand Shipping Company’s Turakina which was sunk after a running battle with the German raider Orion. Others were triumphs for example Operation Substance when six fast cargo liners succeeded against all the odds in reaching besieged Malta with vital supplies. The common denominations in all these historic voyages were the courage and skilled seamanship of the Merchant Navy crews. As Running The Gauntlet vividly illustrates, their contribution to victory, too long overlooked, cannot be overstated.
Book Synopsis Convoy Will Scatter by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Convoy Will Scatter written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-06-12 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 5 November, 1940 the eastbound convoy HX 84 of thirty-seven merchant ships, escorted by the armed merchant cruiser HMS Jervis Bay, was attacked in mid-Atlantic by the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. The Jervis Bay, commanded by Captain Edward Fegen, charged at the enemy. Hopelessly out-gunned, she was blown out of the water by the Scheer's 11-inch guns.??Meanwhile, led by HX 84's commodore ship, the Cardiff tramp Cornish City, the merchantmen scattered under the cover of a smoke screen, were picked off one by one by the radar-equipped Admiral Scheer.??Captain Hugh Pettigrew, commanding the highly armed Canadian Pacific cargo liner Beaverford, began a desperate game of hide and seek with the Scheer, which continued until Beaverford was sunk with no survivors. Thanks to this sacrifice, incredibly only four other merchantmen were sunk.??Later the neutral flag Swedish freighter Stureholm, commanded by Captain Olander, picked up survivors from the Jervis Bay. Without this brave and dangerous gesture no one would have lived to tell the tale of the death throes of the Jervis Bay, whose Captain was awarded the VC.??Sadly, the history books only mention the Beaverford and the Stureholm in passing. This thrilling book puts the record straight.
Book Synopsis From Hunter to Hunted by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book From Hunter to Hunted written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2020-03-30 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early stages of the Second World War, Donitz’s U-boats generally adhered to Prize Rules, surfacing before attacking and making every effort to preserve the lives of their victims’ crews. But, with the arming of merchantmen and greater risk of damage or worse, they increasingly attacked without warning. So successful was the U-boat campaign that Churchill saw it as the gravest threat the Nation faced. The low point was the March 1943 attack on convoys SC122 and HX229 when 44 U-boats sank 22 loaded ships. The pendulum miraculously swung with improved tactics and technology. In May 1943 out of a force of over 50 U-boats that challenged ONS5, eight were sunk and 18 were damaged, some seriously. Such losses were unsustainable and, with allied yards turning out ships at ever increasing rates, Donitz withdrew his wolf packs from the North Atlantic. Expert naval author and historian Bernard Edwards traces the course of the battle of the Atlantic through a series of thrilling engagement case studies.
Book Synopsis The Wolf Packs Gather by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book The Wolf Packs Gather written by Bernard Edwards and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The capture by the German surface raider Atlantis of the British steamer City of Baghdads secret code books in July 1940 enabled the Nazis to de-cypher Admiralty convoy plans with deadly effect. This book describes the resulting appalling Allied losses suffered by four convoys during the Autumn of 1940. Admiral Donetz, aware of the movements of the Allied convoys, marshaled as many of his U-boats as possible. The first convoy, SC2, consisting of 53 merchant men was attacked in early September by four U-boats. Due to poor weather only five ships were lost. Shortly after HX72, with 41 ships, sailing from Nova Scotia, lost eleven ships to five Type VIIC U-boats. Top Aces Otto Kretschremer and Joachim Schepke, who penetrated inside the columns, accounted for nine. No less than nine U-boats attacked SC7 in October 1940. Of 35 merchant men a staggering 20 were lost. HX79 also fared terribly despite being a fast convoy with ten escorts, losing twelve ships. In total forty-eight merchant men were sunk and seven more damaged without any U-boat losses at all. The Wolf Packs Gather is an authoritative account of the darkest hours of the War in the Atlantic. It describes not only the German tactics but the inadequacies of what few escorts there were and the heartbreaking loss of defenseless life.
Book Synopsis Beware Raiders! by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Beware Raiders! written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-07-19 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A British naval historian recounts the victories and defeats of two of the most infamous German Navy vessels during World War II. Bernard Edwards’s Beware Raiders! tells the fascinating story of two German ships and the havoc they caused amongst Allied shipping in World War II. One was the eight-inch gun cruiser Admiral Hipper—named for World War I’s German fleet Admiral Franz von Hipper—fast, powerful, and Navy-manned. The other was a converted merchant man, Hansa Line’s Kandelfels armed with a few old scavenged guns manned largely by reservists, and sailing under the nom de guerre Pinguin. The difference between the pride of the Third Reich’s Kriegsmarine’s fleet and the converted cruiser was even more evident in their commanders. Edwards emphasizes the striking contrast between the conduct of Ernst Kruder, captain of the Pinguin, who attempted to cause as little loss of life as possible, and the callous Iron Cross–decorated Wilhelm Meisel of the Admiral Hipper, who had scant regard for the lives of the men whose ships he had sunk. Contrary to all expectations, as Edwards reveals in his thrilling accounts of the missions performed by each ship, the amateur man-of-war reaped a rich harvest and went out in a blaze of glory. The purpose-built battlecruiser, on the other hand, was hard-pressed even to make her mark on the war and ended her days in ignominy.
Book Synopsis Japans Blitzkrieg by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Japans Blitzkrieg written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2006-08-30 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early on the morning of 7 December 1941, 360 Japanese carrier-borne aircraft made a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, and laid waste to the American Far East Fleet. They sank four battleships, crippled three cruisers and three destroyers, and seriously damaged two other battleships. One hundred and sixty-four planes were destroyed and 2,403 servicemen and civilians were killed. All for the loss of twenty-nine Japanese aircraft and fifty-five men. Two days later, the British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse, were sunk by Japanese torpedo bombers as they raced north to intercept an enemy invasion force heading for Malaya. In these two bold forays, the Japanese had successfully emasculated Allied naval power in the East. There now remained no big guns afloat anywhere in the Pacific and Indian oceans capable of opposing Admiral Yamamoto's ships.So began Japan's blitzkrieg. The Malay peninsular was rapidly overwhelmed, Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day, Manila went the same way on the 31st, and on 15 February 1942, in one of the most ignominious defeats in modern warfare, 85,000 British troops laid down their arms, and the vital base of Singapore was in Japanese hands. Thereafter, the rays of the Rising Sun spread ever outwards, overrunning island after island, until even Australia was threatened. The book tells how the Dutch Spice Islands, Java and Sumatra, became a last refuge for those fleeing before the Japanese whirlwind advance, and it was from here that the remaining Allied merchant ships in the area made their bid for freedom carrying hundreds of refugees. For many of these ships it was to be their last voyage
Book Synopsis Death in the Doldrums by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Death in the Doldrums written by Bernard Edwards and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2005-07-30 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With their very long range, the giant Type IX U-Cruisers gave Admiral Dnitz's U-boat fleet global reach. Initially these boats operated with considerable success off the East coast of America and in the Caribbean but their main impact was in the Gulf of Guinea 1942-43 which, due to the closure of the Suez Canal, was a vital Allied supply route. Two submarines in particular (U-68 and U-505) had a profound effect causing major panic by their hugely successful operations.
Book Synopsis War of the U-Boats by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book War of the U-Boats written by Bernard Edwards and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2007-03-27 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the earliest days of the Second World War, Hitlers U-Boats were unleashed with the mission of sinking as much Allied merchant tonnage as possible. From the sinking of the Glasgow-based ship Olivegrove by U-23, to the end of hostilities six years later officers and seamen of the Merchant Marine played a key role in winning the war by their blatant disregard of the risks from Axis forces. The most dangerous were the U-Boats working unseen but there were also surface raiders and aircraft.All too often the result was the loss of ship, cargo and, tragically, crew. But as described in this excellent book great gallantry against overwhelming odds brought rewards and surprising results.We learn of acts of both chivalry and brutal activity by the enemy.The actions described in this book are varied but always make for excellent reading.
Book Synopsis Royal Navy Versus the Slave Traders by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book Royal Navy Versus the Slave Traders written by Bernard Edwards and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2008-03-24 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The acclaimed naval historian sheds significant light on the Royal Navy’s role in fighting the African slave trade through years of bitter battle at sea. On March 16th, 1807, the British Parliament passed The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. The following year, the Royal Navy’s West African Squadron was formed for the purpose of stopping and searching ships at sea suspected of carrying enslaved people. But with typical thoroughness, the Royal Navy took the fight to the enemy, sailing boldly up uncharted rivers and creeks to attack the barracoon's where slave traders prepared their shipments. For much of its long campaign against the evil of slavery, Britain's Navy fought alone and unrecognized. Its enemies were many and formidable. Ranged against it were the African chiefs, who sold their own people into slavery, and the slave ships of the rest of the world, heavily armed, and prepared to do battle to protect their right to traffic in so-called “black ivory.”
Book Synopsis U-Boats Beyond Biscay by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book U-Boats Beyond Biscay written by Bernard Edwards and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2017-05-31 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the outbreak of war in 1939 Admiral Donitzs U-boat flotillas consisted of some thirty U-boats fully operational, with only six to eight at sea at any one time. Their activities were restricted mainly to the North Sea and British coastal waters. When France fell in the summer of 1940, the ports in the Bay of Biscay gave direct access to the Atlantic, and the ability to extend their reach even to. The Royal Navy was unable to escort convoys much beyond the Western Approaches. In a short time, the Allies were losing 500,000 tons of shipping a month, every month. Donitz now looked over the far horizons, Americas Eastern Seaboard, the coasts of Africa, and the Mediterranean, where Allied merchantmen habitually sailed alone and unprotected. There was a rich harvest to be gathered in by the long range U-boats, the silent hunter-killers, mostly operating alone. This book tells their story.
Book Synopsis A Maritime History of Long Island by : Ralph Brady
Download or read book A Maritime History of Long Island written by Ralph Brady and published by First Edition Design Pub.. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A trip into the Long Island history of ships, lighthouses, ports, shipbuilders, shipwrecks and much more. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “maritime” as, “on, near or living near the sea”, so you can see that the basic membership requirement to be a part of the story is easily satisfied. Just having an address in either Nassau or Suffolk County pretty much meets the criteria, and then the things that you do with your time can determine how big a role you play in this tale. Own a boat and fish from it? That gives you an even greater claim to being a “nautical” or “maritime” person. Go clamming in the bays, sail in regattas, help clean up a beach, be a member of a yacht club etc.? I think you get the point, and hopefully have by now come to realize that your very existence on Long Island is tied in with the pioneers who taught us how to prosper on this amazing island, and enjoy a lifestyle that is almost unique in the entire United States.
Book Synopsis The Cruel Sea Retold by : Bernard Edwards
Download or read book The Cruel Sea Retold written by Bernard Edwards and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bernard Edwards recounts the history that Nicholas Monsarrat used as the basis of his famous adventure novel, The Cruel Sea, which tells the tale of British ships trying to evade destruction by U-boat wolf packs hunting them in the North Atlantic. This work--a factual retelling--describes the actions of the three British convoys featured in the novel, first detailing the experiences of Convoy OG 71 when it attempted to sail from Liverpool to Gibraltar on 14 August 1941 with twenty-two merchantmen and eight escorts. During the trip, ten ships were lost without a single U-boat being sunk, and the convoy had to seek refuge in Lisbon. A month later, Convoy HG 73 sailed from Gibraltar with twenty-five merchantmen and thirteen escorts. Ten more ships were lost and only one U-boat was damaged. British fortunes began to improve when Convoy HG 76 sailed from Gibraltar in December with thirty-one merchantmen and a heavy escort of fifteen warships. During a six-day running battle, five U-boats were sunk and seven British ships lost.
