Wars and ConflictsΒ permalink
Naval Novels
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Message 1.Β
Posted by jinks-cider-stash (U7847019) on Wednesday, 28th May 2008
Could anyone recommend a few good Navel novels to me for my father’s birthday?
In the past I've got him HMS Ulysses, Sharpe's Trafalgar, The Hunt for Red October and Hornblower (which he liked) and Master and Commander (which he didn't like so much).
Modern historical warfare too, if you have any suggestion i.e. Sharpe, Flashmann etc.
I used to work with a fella who championed a series of books about a German Panzer division, does anyone know what this series is called and if it any good.
Cheers
(by the way, don’t mention retailers in any replies, online or physical, as they get deleted|). -
Message 2
Posted by billy the ball (U2740765) on Wednesday, 28th May 2008
'Sharks and Little Fish' by Wolfgang Ott.
A WWII novel of U-boat warfare. -
Message 3
Posted by Casur1 (U1768220) on Wednesday, 28th May 2008
Well, anything by Ludwig Wittgenstein or Jean Paul Sartre, if you're REALLY into navel gazing, but if (as I suspect) you mean naval novels, my own favourite would be the Ramage novels by Dudley Pope.
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Message 4
Posted by George1507 (U2607963) on Wednesday, 28th May 2008
The Cruel Sea, by Nicholas Monsarrat.
It's the daddy of the genre, and you could get him the DVD to go with it. -
Message 5
Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Wednesday, 28th May 2008
Look at Douglas Reeman for the First and Second World War. (And a few after)The Ramage series for Nelsons time. Also Patrick O Brian who wrote Master and Commander, which became a film.
, -
Message 6
Posted by Greedybear (U3921547) on Wednesday, 28th May 2008
I suspect the Panzer stories may be by a chap called Sven Hassel
They are quite a good series, (but a bit samey) and loosely based on fact. Gives a variation on a German perspective though.
Hope that helps -
Message 7
Posted by OUNUPA (U2078829) on Thursday, 29th May 2008
The book of Antony Trew - 'Yashimoto's Last Dive'.
This book is about Togo Yashimoto , captain of the Japanese submarine I -357 and John Barratt , captain of HMS Restless the both were very different men whose destines were linked in the deadly game of hide-and-seek they were to play out among the islands and atolls of the Mozambique coast.
+ Gunther Lutz's book 'Panzer Platoon : Invade Russia !'. About the Brest-Litovsk fortress in June 1941.
Yes , Sven Hassel is a writer whose books I can recommend to read also. Especially his book 'Wheels Of Terror' which is a novel of atrocity - as the tanks of Hitler's Convict Regiment thunder into the inferno of the Eastern Front ( Ukraine). -
Message 8
Posted by jinks-cider-stash (U7847019) on Thursday, 29th May 2008
Thanks for all the great suggestions. Knew I could count on you guys
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Message 9
Posted by Colquhoun (U3935535) on Thursday, 29th May 2008
How about the 'Bolitho' novels by Alexander Kent (Douglas Reeman)?
Tells the story of a Cornish naval officer's progress from midshipman to full admiral starting in the American War of Independance and ending in the Napoleonic Wars.
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Message 10
Posted by Sabre-Wulf (U2142937) on Friday, 30th May 2008
I know its not a novel, but One Hundred Days by Admiral Woodward is an excellent book and very readable.
However, do not under any circumstances consider Amphibious Assault Falklands by Commodore Clapp - a truly awful book, best avoided. -
Message 11
Posted by Anglo-Norman (U1965016) on Friday, 30th May 2008
Fri, 30 May 2008 17:45 GMT, in reply to Sabre-Wulf in message 10
However, do not under any circumstances consider Amphibious Assault Falklands by Commodore Clapp - a truly awful book, best avoided.Β
Would you say it's a load of Clapp-trap?
I'll get my coat... -
Message 12
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Friday, 30th May 2008
Sabre-Wulf
What have you got against Clapp's book?
He clearly had n axe to grind, but I found it had rather interesting insights into how this sort of operation is run, and the aviators v. submariners rivalry in the RN at the time.
Much better than Sharkey's hysterical contribution.
LW -
Message 13
Posted by Mark (U2073932) on Friday, 30th May 2008
Woodward also wrote a whole series on the Drinkwater character. Yeah Bolitho, Ramage and Reeman. All good!
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Message 14
Posted by Anglo-Norman (U1965016) on Friday, 30th May 2008
Fri, 30 May 2008 21:50 GMT, in reply to redcoat in message 13
Douglas Reeman has done some WWII books, as well - it was a good few years ago when I read it, but 'The Iron Pirate', about a German heavy cruiser, was very good, as I recall. -
Message 15
Posted by Colquhoun (U3935535) on Friday, 30th May 2008
I liked his 'A ship must die'. Very loosely based on the HMAS Sydney though this time with a happy ending.
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Message 16
Posted by Triceratops (U3420301) on Friday, 30th May 2008
Jinks,
For modern military fiction you could try "Red Storm Rising",which is another Tom Clancy book,or one of the books by Harold Coyle.
There's a good book about real life naval combat in Napoleonic times, "Frigates-Sloops & Brigs" by James Henderson.
Trike. -
Message 17
Posted by Erik Lindsay (U231970) on Saturday, 31st May 2008
There's an excellent series of books (7, I believe) by Alexander Fullerton that follows the career of a British naval officer from Jutland through the remainder of WW1 to near the end of WW2.
If you're into the wooden-walls type of novels, Dewey Lambdin has written a very good series as well. -
Message 18
Posted by TrailApe (U1701496) on Monday, 2nd June 2008
Two WW2 Naval books I found interesting:
'The Ship'- CS Forester - the story of a RN light cruiser during an engageement based on the Malta convoys
and
'Very Ordinary Seaman' - J P W Mallalieu. This is the story of a hostilities only seaman on a destroyer in WW2. One of the few books that I have read based on the experiences of the ordinary matelot. -
Message 19
Posted by Stepney Boy (U1760040) on Monday, 9th June 2008
'Send Down a Dove' by Charles MacHardy. If I remember rightly the RN banned the sale of this excellent book at the NAFFI.
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Message 20
Posted by Sabre-Wulf (U2142937) on Monday, 9th June 2008
Sabre-Wulf
What have you got against Clapp's book?
He clearly had n axe to grind, but I found it had rather interesting insights into how this sort of operation is run, and the aviators v. submariners rivalry in the RN at the time.
Much better than Sharkey's hysterical contribution.
LW Β
LW,
Apologies for the delay, only just seen your message.
Leaving aside the fact that the book is just badly written and lacks any real hooks to get the reader's attention, my main complaint was his constant whining.
Credit to the man, he managed to get the guys ashore in the right place with minimal damage/losses, but we weren't exactly talking Overlord here. It was an unopposed landing by Marines (specialists in amphibious landings) and some other enthusiastic amatuers in maroon berets
on a safe beach in a secluded landing area.
It must be slightly galling for him that others get more of the credit and recognition than him (try looking him up on Wikipedia) but I felt he was trying to take too much credit for the actions of others.
According to him he should have been in charge of the whole thing, despite being outranked by Woodward.
As commander of the landing fleet he should have been personaly ordering the aircraft carriers around as soon as they left UK waters. As a former rear in a Buccanneer he was obviously an air expert, so was organising the CAPs and anti-air arrangments over the landings (look how well that turned out) and he even starts taking credit for the actions of the Marines and Paras after they land.
He mentions several times that he wanted Hermes in closer to use as a helicopter platform to help with the unloading. Now maybe having one of the two carriers in close might have extended the durability fo the SHAR CAPs and provided more helicopter support, but I agree with Woodward's reasons for keeping the carriers safe and I can't honestly belive that the Argentine air force would have not had a damn good pop at it had Hermes been in closer.
On that note, Clapp is one of the only people I've seen criticise the Argentine Air Force. Apart from the failure to arm the bombs properly (probably not even the pilots fault) they risked an awful lot and achieved notable success while suffering heavy losses, yet Clapp dismisses them in quite an insulting fashion.
So to some up, he tries to take credit for things which were nothing to do with him, presents the mistakes of others as things which he warned them against but they ignored him (possibly true, or just making the most of 20/20 hindsight) all wrapped up in a badly written book.
I've read an awful lot of stuff about the conflict, from military and non-military sources, and this is the first time I've read anything so obviously intended to glamourise the individual rather than credit the team. Throughout the book I had this mental image of a petulant child running around saying "The rule book says I should be doing this so listen to me" without taking into account the practicalities of war.
But that's just my opinion
SW -
Message 21
Posted by Grand Falcon Railroad (U3267675) on Monday, 9th June 2008
The naval segment in Red Storm Rising is supreme and although now a bit out-dated really brings the fear up the throat.
SSN by Tom Clancy is drivel and never has anything went so right for one ship in a "war" as did for that submarine. -
Message 22
Posted by jinks-cider-stash (U7847019) on Tuesday, 10th June 2008
I got him quite a variety in the end.
The first one he picked up was The Horns of the Buffalo (Simon Fonthill Series)
by John Wilcox, which hasn't put down. -
Message 23
Posted by Mark (U2073932) on Friday, 13th June 2008
Forgot, just reading a series by James Nelson (books called Blackbirder and the Guard ship).
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