The Real Cruel Sea: The Merchant Navy In The Battle Of The Atlantic 1939-1943

By Richard Woodman

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0719564034
• ISBN13: 9780719564031
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: John Murray Pubs Ltd
• Length: 781 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 2.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Very happy

My book arrived well before the estimated time. It was in excellent condition. Hastle free.

The Other Cruel Sea

We hear and see a lot of WWII as an important part of our history. A lot of very good men and women lost their lives in those action filled years. The numbers of people, planes, ships tanks and everything was enormous. What we forget about is the part the merchant marines played in the total war effort. They were attempting to cross t he Atlantic to supply England with war materials for a couple of years before we entered the war. The number of merchant ships and men lost is staggering. We pride ourselves with our ability to make new "Victory ships" but we need to remember that they were replacing ships that went down with everything and everybody. The Other Cruel Sea is the right title for this book. It chronicals so very well the merchant marine struggles. For example, can you imagine a one hundred ship convoy with ships that burn coal and wood trying to keep up with more modern ships that were themselves so very slow. It was a shooting heyday for the German wolf packs...not dissimilar to the pac games on the computer, except these were real ships and real men. This is not a work of fiction. But the fact is, the real story is a vibrant one and makes for good reading...and an important collection of real life and death chapters.