The Real Cruel Sea

by Woodman, Richard; Morris, John

• ISBN13: 9780719564031
• ISBN10: 0719564034
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-10-31
• Publisher: John Murray Pubs Ltd

Summary

For the British, the Battle of the Atlantic was a fight for survival, as they depended entirely upon the safe transit of hundreds of convoys of merchant ships laden with food, raw materials and munitions from America to feed the country and to keep the war effort going. The ultimate success of these convoys is much more than the triumph of one side's naval technology over the other, or of the revelations of the enemy's encoded orders assiduously teased out by the brilliant young decrypters at Bletchley Park; it is more too than the simple assertion that victory went to the Allies because they built more ships and therefore shipped more cargoes, than the Germans could sink. A national decline had left Great Britain desperately vulnerable in 1939, when she had to mobilise her civilian ships and revive the notion of a 'merchant navy'. It was this disparate collection of private vessels which endured the onslaught of the German U-boat offensive until Allied superiority overwhelmed the enemy. In this important, moving and exciting book, drawing extensively on first-hand sources, acclaimed historian Richard Woodman establishes the importance of the British, and Allied merchant fleets to the war effort, elevating the heroic civilians who manned them to their rightful place in the history of the Second World War.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	ix
Maps and diagrams	xii
Introduction: `This nation owes these people a great deal'	1	(10)
PART ONE September 1939--July 1940: The Heart of the Matter
`We were utterly miserable'	11	(18)
`Engaged in a perilous occupation'	29	(24)
`The safety of our trade ...'	53	(21)
`The night was monstrous with threat'	74	(32)
`Quite enough disaster'	106	(31)
PART TWO July 1940-May 1941: The Leaky Bucket
`This is a thing to do now'	137	(27)
`It's only a torpedo'	164	(24)
`Rulers of the sea'	188	(35)
`One of the finest bits of seamanship'	223	(35)
`There was a terrific explosion'	258	(29)
PART THREE May 1941-December 1941: The Means of Survival
`The end was terrible and violent'	287	(35)
`We are a seafaring race'	322	(30)
`Cries for help could be heard'	352	(26)
`The sky was alight with star-shells'	378	(29)
PART FOUR January 1942-July 1942: Weakness in Defence
`Presented to us on a plate'	407	(22)
`All who were ever found'	429	(26)
`The cruel sea'	455	(30)
PART FIVE August 1942-May 1943: Grey Dawn Breaking
`It was a rare event ...'	485	(26)
`Conduct beyond the call of duty'	511	(20)
`The ... courage of ordinary people'	531	(22)
`This does not look at all good'	553	(24)
`Stay tough!'	577	(26)
`Fireflies in the water'	603	(32)
`The decisive factor'	635	(21)
`With the precision of a battle-fleet'	656	(18)
Conclusion: `Full of agonized bewilderment'	674	(8)
Notes	682	(46)
Bibliography	728	(5)
Acknowledgements	733	(2)
Index	735