Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #379540 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Synopsis
The Seventh ship to bear the name, the Assault and Amphibious Headquarters Ship, HMS Fearless was commissioned in 1965. Over the next 37 years she was seldom far from the actions - military and diplomatic - in which the British Government and the armed forces were engaged world-wide.

Customer Reviews

One of the best books ever written about a ship.
In 1981 I was a serving in Gibraltar where I was employed to teach and supervise scuba diving and became recognised for carrying a large underwater camera housing (courtesy of a previous posting to Hong Kong!). One morning, I received a request from a naval commander asking me if I would photograph the bottom of HMS Intrepid as she lay alongside Coaling Island. Intrepid was the younger sister ship of HMS Fearless. During the task, I was informed that both Fearless and Intrepid were being cleaned so that they could be "mothballed." A few months later, however, Argentina invaded the Falklands and all that changed.

After a moving dedication, brief details of the previous 6 RN ships to hold the name HMS Fearless and a foreword by Lord Carrington KG, this author takes the reader skilfully through every aspect of the ship and her life - and does so in a very clever way. Commencing with one of the most "readable" introductions found in any book, we move on to an equally readable "Acknowledgements" which is memorable for not being a list of references.

Then we get down to cases. Firstly, in order to understand the ship and what happened during her 40 years as a British warship, we have to start with understanding Amphibious Warfare. This is followed by Staffing requirements and a detailed description of the Assault Ship.

Then comes the clever bit. We are then treated to a blow by blow account of the life of this great ship - as seen through the eyes of her First Senior Officer (her commissioning officer) and no fewer than 20 Commanding Officers. From the early days of a network of scaffolding in the Harland and Wolff yards of Belfast to her being decommissioned and laid up at Fareham Creek in 2005, it really is all there and when you have finished, you will think you had been on board for the entire journey.

It is a journey which has spanned wars, conflicts and extraordinary stories - hundreds of extraordinary stories.

An absorbing read and a "must" for anyone with an interest - especially anyone who once trod her decks

NM

Fine old lady
At last a ship's biography written as one would expect a human biography to be written which makes Fearless come alive as a character in her own right. This is not just a blow by blow account of one boring exercise and refit after another. Full of stories and anecdotes and - most unusually and very pleasingly - each chapter headed up by the Captain at the time which brings a lovely personal touch to each phase of the old ship's life. There are many other 'personal' stories and i particularly liked the Annexes where various people in 'special jobs' described what it was like to work in Fearless. Some of the 'dits' are very funny indeed.
It is also an historical window into life in a certain part of the RN during the last century such as we have seldom seen before in books about HM ships. In a hundred years time people should still get a feel for Jack's and Royal's living and working conditions in an assault ship in the late 1900s - and that is unusual too these days about naval ships.
Another pleasing thing is that a good few of the photographs are of ratings and NCOs (marine and navy) who are given full credit for their deeds rather than the officers. This, too, is unusual as so often books like this are about the officers. There are one or two villians - such as the Foreign Office's naive attitude to ship's visits in 'awkward places' where the locals are seldom anti the RN but are often anti the UK's government. Politicians get a hard time too as will be seen when reading the bit about Harold Wilson and Marcia William's bunk - and her dinner companion's arrogant demands .... read on!
A really refreshing attitude to ship's biographies that i wish more authors would adopt. The ship really comes alive with her own personality rather than always being protrayed as a lump of inanimate metal.
For once the ship is the heroine and not her crew who are all part of the supporting cast - well done to the author and well done to Fearless for her contribution to peace for 37 years - thanks to the tireless efforts of her crew at all levels.

Hearts of oak
One of the best: action packed - even the dull bits are interesting! A book to be dipped into or read in one go. The life in an LPD really does come alive and as another reviewer has said, lots from the lower deck perspective. This book - and the subject - deserves a far wider readership than it will probably get.
In many respects this is a most unusual book and unlike any other that this reviewer has read about a man-of-war. Each chapter headed by a Captain is a novel way of introducing each phase of the ship's life and a most effective way too.
Starting with an appraisal of amphibious warfare as seen from the British perspective we are lead, through some good and amusing writing and wonderful stories(a light but sure touch keeps it readable - even the technical bits)via a beach in Aden, the Malayan jungle, Marcia Williams's bunk to the Bogside area of Londonderry, to the Falkands War and finally to the Afghan war via just about every other point of the compass...and what about all those girls on the Greek beach and the 'log-legged, long-haired Foreign Office Third Secretaries and even the non-existant millionaire daughters of the local rum-distilliary owner...Well, what about them? You will have to read for yourself!
It really should appeal to even the most un-nautical of us as a wonderfull essay on life at sea in the Royal Navy in recent years.