Henry Carter Hull

"The fighting in the Gallipoli or Dardanelles campaign began in 1915 as a purely naval affair undertaken partly at the instigation of Winston Churchill, who, as First Lord of the Admiralty, had entertained plans of capturing the Dardanelles as early as September 1914. It was the Royal Navy that bore the brunt of the initial action, supported by the French and with minor contributions from, the Russian and Australian fleets.On 3 November 1914, Churchill...

Here is a complete record of almost fifty men who won the Victoria Cross while serving in the Royal Navy during World War I. They include the conflict's youngest and oldest winners, in operations ranging from the Atlantic to the coast of Africa, from the Straits of Otranto to the rivers of Mesopotamia. These awards were won in all manner of fighting ships, from disguised schooner to light cruiser, motor launch to submarine, and river steamer to battle...

In August 1942, the British launched Operation Pedestal in an attempt to deliver supplies to the stricken island of Malta, an Allied base which had been under Axis blockade for months. From August 9 to August 15, a convoy of some 50 ships ran the gauntlet of Axis bombers, submarines, E-boats, and minefields. Of the original 14 merchant vessels, only five reached Malta Grand Harbour. In 'I Wish I Had Your Wings', Angus Mansfield relates the experiences...

Operation Rubble, the long forgotten secret mission to steal back ball bearings from the Nazis and keep the war effort aliveIn 1940, the Nazis hoped to cripple the British war effort by blockading Swedish cargo ships containing ball bearings, steel, and tools vital for making arms and equipment. Out of desperation, the newly formed SOE was asked to rescue these badly needed supplies and a daring escapade was conjured up to sneak in under German noses...

Although the Merchant Navy suffered a higher percentage loss than any of the Armed Forces in the Second World War, few people today are aware of this or have even heard of them. Thirty-three thousand merchant seamen died, while others were severely injured both physically and mentally. This book is an attempt to dispel the ignorance and brings together a wealth of information concerning ship losses, including ships' names, captains, route lost on,...

"The Second World War saw a host of heroic raids enacted across the various theatres, all delivered valiantly in a variety of ways by British combatants; on land, by sea and from the air. Daring exploits such as the raid on Rommel, the endeavours of the Cockleshell Heroes and the Dam Busters have become legendary in the annals of warfare. All feature here, alongside details of fascinating lesser-known operations.It goes without saying that not all...

"The hunting down and sinking of the magnificent German battle cruiser Scharnhorst was one of the epic actions of World War II . . stirring" ( Work Boat ). On December 25, 1943, the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst slipped out of Altenfjord in Norway to attack Arctic convoy JW55B which was carrying vital war supplies to the Soviet Union. But British naval intelligence knew of the Scharnhorst 's mission before she sailed, and the vulnerable convoy...

The Q-ship, an ordinary merchant vessel with concealed guns, came into its own during the First World War, when the Royal Navy to trap and destroy German U-boats. Deborah Lake uses a wide range of primary and secondary source material drawn from archives in the UK, Germany and the USA to tell the compelling story of the Q-ships and their U-boat adversaries. The Q-ship operations themselves will be covered by following the careers of the eight men...

A history of Churchill's achievements in the Great War and why he was dubbed "the unsinkable politician" by the Morning Post when he returned to office in 1917Here is the story of a man unjustly vilified: Churchill in World War I. His enemies-the Tory party-censured him for Antwerp, the Dardanelles, and Gallipoli. He could do no right and was regarded as a dangerous maniac. But the true story is quite the opposite. This book tells how, as a brilliant...

On January 25, 1917, HMS Laurentic struck two German mines off the coast of Ireland and sank. The ship was carrying 44 tons of gold bullion to the still-neutral United States via Canada in order to finance the war effort for Britain and its allies. Britain desperately needed that sunken treasure, but any salvage had to be secret since the British government dared not alert the Germans to the presence of the gold. Lieutenant Commander Guybon Damant...