Product Description

There is no more vivid and poignant account than one at first hand, and Editor Ian Hawkins has drawn together numerous stories from those men who served on the 'B' class destroyers and others, weaving them seamlessly together using excerpts from books, news articles, speeches and his own authoritative notes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #200307 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 552 pages

About the Author
Ian Hawkins, of Bacton, Suffolk, became interested in the history of the Second World War as a young boy growing up surrounded by operational airfields and military installations in East Anglia. This is his fifth book about the war during which his father, a Royal Navy destroyer commander, and an uncle, a Royal Air Force squadron leader, were both killed in action. A former civil engineer, he sustained very severe head injuries in an axe attack by a crazed alcoholic shortly after arriving in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in December 1976 to work on a tunnelling project. He is now confined to a wheelchair and has had to learn to write left-handed as his right side and both legs are paralysed.

Customer Reviews

Destroyers
This is a very large compelation of first hand accounts by the people who were there. Taking each year of the war in turn it includes a very informative overview of the year by Admiral J.B.Hervey RN. A must for anyone interested in Naval history or just curious about life aboard ship. Added a personal touch to well documented history from the mess decks up. In a similar vein to Max Authur's 'Lost Voices of the Royal Navy'. Just make sure you've got plenty of time to read it, its nearly 600 pages long!