Ugh. I suppose author meant "Petrodvorets" ("Piotr's palace", the other name of Petergof museum complex commonly used in 1944-1997), but really, USSR did not have a habit of naming warships after museums!
P.S. Thinking about it, does any navy have a tradition of naming warships after museums?
Ugh. I suppose author meant "Petrodvorets" ("Piotr's palace", the other name of Petergof museum complex commonly used in 1944-1997), but really, USSR did not have a habit of naming warships after museums!
P.S. Thinking about it, does any navy have a tradition of naming warships after museums?
I can't think of any warships named after museums.
A lot of authors have made highly questionable name choices over the years for non-English names plucked out of thin air. If there was a lazy trope naming book for authors it would say:
For German ships stick in "von" and make sure it includes a 'k' and 'g' and ends "ff" like "von Makgraff".
For U-boats think of a digit, double it, divide by 3 and times by 5.
For Russian ships make sure it has lots of 'k' and 'v' and preferable ending in "iev" or "yy". For commie ships add "Red" but spell it horribly badly like "Krasznyy" so you end up with "Krasznyy Sovetskyyiev".
For Japanese ships make sure it starts with 'h' and ends into "oto" or "ata" so you have "Horotata".
For Chinese ships just stick two short words together like "Hung Lo" or "Wing Dings".
Its very refreshing when an author actually takes time and care to use sensible naming conventions and plausible names.
USS Valiant (CVN-85)
Nimitz Class Carrier
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Author explicitly identifies the ship as being of the Nimitz Class. The pennant number which is given in the first novel is well outside the range ultimately assigned to the Nimitz Class and clashes with one assigned to an unbuilt member of the succeeding Gerald R. Ford Class.
Certain refrences in that novel and this one indicate it was involved in one of the Gulf of Sidra incidents, of which there were three, one in 1981, one in 1986 and one in 1989 (In the previous novel, it was not clear which of the three was being referred to, details provided in this novel suggest strongly that it was the last of the three incidents.) as well as an action in the Persian Gulf. I had originally considered the 1988 Operation Praying Mantis as the most likely action but in the series third novel 'Strike Fighters: War Chariot' (1990) it's revealed that the action in the Persian Gulf took place in 1985.
USS Gulf Raider (SES-001)
Fast Attack Craft
Length: 60ft (18.3m)
Type: Sidewall Hovercraft using a twin-hull SWATH configuration.
Engines: (Lift Engines) 2 x 1400hp Pratt & Whitney ST-76 Gas Turbines driving three 41 inch diameter fans, (Propulsion Engines) 2 x 6000hp Allison 570KF Gas Turbines driving Rocketdyne PJ-24 waterjets.
Speed: 95knots (Cruise)
Armament: 1 x 2 20mm Cannon, 16 x RBS-70 AAM missiles, ? x TP.431 (Swedish designed 15.75inch ASW torpedos which entered Swedish service in 1988. Thanks to Hood for this information.)
Aircraft: 1 x gunship configured Bell OH-58 Kiowa Helicopter, the helipad is on the aft of the ship behind a wind deflector that also serves as a rudimentary hangar.
Crew: 3 (Commander, Chief Pilot (Doubles as the Kiowa Pilot), Weapons Systems Operator) + 6 troops (In the novel Navy SEALS)
Note: Stated in the novel that the ship can be broken down into three sections and loaded onto a C-130 aircraft for transportation, the entire process takes around 6 hours, three to prep the ship for transport, three to re-assemble the ship at it's destination. The only other specific given is that it's the first of a class of four such ships.
USS Defender
Submarine (SSN), class not specified
No other details provided
Note: Name does not fit the any of the naming systems used for USN Submarines (Fish & Towns) at the time the novel came out, stated to be part of the Carrier Battle Group centered around USS Valiant (CVN-85).
Fictional Electronic Equipment
'Cats's Eye'
Image intensifier googles optimised for use by fighter pilots, these enable all-weather visual night-time combat capabilities.
Plot summary: When a plane testing experimental equipment crash lands off the coast of Cuba, the search for the crew discovers an allance so dangerous only immediate and violent action can prevent disaster.
Notes: This is the second novel in a nine book action novel series about which I've been able to find out little. Published between 1990 and 1992, the series rode the boundary between action novel and techno-thriller. The striking aviation based covers used for the series were all by artist Attila Hejja, this novels cover is the only one to feature the USS Valiant (CVN-85). The first novel, 1990s 'Strike Fighters' along with the seventh book 1991s 'Strike Fighters: Blood River' are covered earlier in the thread.
The Mcguffin in this one is not well handled by the author, while characters in the novel refer to it as a 'virus' and a 'chemical weapon' interchangeably, it's effects, near instant coagulation of the blood, are clearly more akin to a chemical weapon than any virus.
Carrier Battle Group 26 (Or as referred to in the novels opening Carrier Battle Group 'Z'.)
USS Valiant (CVN-85)
Nimitz Class Carrier
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Author explicitly identifies the ship as being of the Nimitz Class. The pennant number which is given in the first novel is well outside the range ultimately assigned to the Nimitz Class and clashes with one assigned to an unbuilt member of the succeeding Gerald R. Ford Class.
Certain refrences in the early novels in the series indicate it was involved in one of the Gulf of Sidra incidents, of which there were three, one in 1981, one in 1986 and one in 1989 (Details provided in the first two novels suggest strongly that it was the last of the three incidents.) as well as an action in the Persian Gulf, which in this novel is revealed to have taken place in 1985, not as I thought based on the earlier novels, 1988.
Aside from pushing the ships history back to 1985, this novel also reveals the USS Valiant (CVN-85) was present at the 1989 Malta Summit between George Bush (The Elder) and Mikhail Gorbachev as part of the naval security force, a fictionalised version of which makes up the second chapter. Going on other events mentioned in the novel it appears that this particular book in the series is set in 1989, opening up the possiblity that the two novels that preceeded it in the series are set in the same year as well.
USS Minot
'Troop Transport', class not specified
Carries: 600 Marines
Has helipads large enough to take HH-53 'Sea Stallion' helicopters.
No other details provided.
USS Will Rogers (SSBN-659)
Benjamin Franklin Class Submarine
Real ship, details as in service (1967 - 1993)
USS California (CGN-36)
California Class Cruiser
Real ship, details as in service (1974 - 1999)
Russia
Novorossiysk
Kiev Class (Pr. 1143M) Class Carrier
Real ship, details as in service (1982 - 1993)
Plot summary: As the United States and Russia launch a joint operation to deal with an Iraqi rocket programme that threatens to destroy the stability of the Persian Gulf, another force intervenes.
Note: This is the third novel in a nine book action novel series about which I've been able to find out little. Published between 1990 and 1992, the series rode the boundary between action novel and techno-thriller. The striking aviation based covers used for the series were all by artist Attila Hejja.
This novel is closer to 'action novel' than 'techno-thriller'.
The series hero indulges in actions that would see a normal USN pilot officer facing a court marshal when he reaches out to an 'old friend' for help. This is however something that sets up a character who re-appears in the sixth book of the series 'Strike Fighters: Desert Star' (1991) which is built around the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. He get's off because the crew of the Valiant essentialy go on strike (E.g. Mutiny) until the charges are dropped.
The 'bad guys' in this novel are not the standard 'Generic Islamic Terrorists' that appear in most 'newsstand' action novels of the period. The author features an Iranian recreation of the Ismaili Assasins and the author at least manages to create something that lives up to the historic model.
And there are one or two nice scenes such as when the Navy SEALs and Russian Spetznaz share some vodka during the planning session for the strike on the Iraqi missile base.
The novels 'Strike Fighters' (1990), 'Strike Fighters: Bold Forager' (1990) and 'Strike Fighters: Blood River' (1991) have been covered earlier in the thread.
Carrier Battle Group 26 (Or as referred to in the third novels opening Carrier Battle Group 'Z', this novel reveals that the battlegroup contains 18 ships.)
USS Valiant (CVN-85)
Nimitz Class Carrier
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Author explicitly identifies the ship as being of the Nimitz Class. The pennant number which is given in the first novel is well outside the range ultimately assigned to the Nimitz Class and clashes with one assigned to an unbuilt member of the succeeding Gerald R. Ford Class.
Certain refrences in the early novels in the series indicate it was involved in one of the Gulf of Sidra incidents, of which there were three, one in 1981, one in 1986 and one in 1989 (Details provided in the first two novels suggest strongly that it was the last of the three incidents.) as well as an action in the Persian Gulf during 1985. The third novel in the series, provides dating information that suggest both it and the novels that preceeded it are all set in 1989.
USS Macon
'Troop Transport', class not specified.
No other details provided.
Note: The name was last used for a Baltimore Class Cruiser in service between (1945 - 1969)
USS California (CGN-36)
California Class Cruiser
Real ship, details as in service (1974 - 1999)
Plot summary: Three words from a dying man, they are the only clue to a plot to reshape Central America.
Note: This is the fourth novel in a nine book action novel series about which I've been able to find out little. Published between 1990 and 1992, the series rode the boundary between action novel and techno-thriller. The striking aviation based covers used for the series were all by artist Attila Hejja. (As I think this is the only time Attila Hejja did fiction covers, I am going to post all the covers in the series as I find good copies of them, not just the one that had the carrier on it.)
Like the previous novel this is more 'action novel' than 'techno-thriller', the hero again goes AWOL and is only saved from being drummed out of the service by coming up with the goods. Built around the results of the 1990 Nicaraguan General Election which saw the Sandanista's voted out of office in an election they expected to win. This suggests that this novel and the ones that succeeded it at last as far as 'Strike Fighters: Desert Star'(1991) are all set in 1990 and that this novel is set after February 1990.
The novels 'Strike Fighters' (1990), 'Strike Fighters: Bold Forager' (1990), 'Strike Fighters: War Chariot' (1990) and 'Strike Fighters: Blood River' (1991) have been covered earlier in the thread.
HMS Saraband
S Class Submarine
Details as per typical members of the third group ordered during WWII.
HMS Sittang
S Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
HMS Ellan Vannin
Submarine Depot Ship
Converted passenger ship
Note: Ex-Isle of Man Steam Packet Company ferry boat. See the entry for 'The Bonny Boy' (2019) for further background details on this ship. By the time this novel is set the fictional version of the 12th Submarine Flotilla has been disbanded to make way for the historic version and this ship has been re-assigned to support submarines out of Alexandria.
HMS Adamant (A164)
Submarine Depot Ship
Real ship, details as in service (1940 - 1966)
HMS Wuchang (F30)
Submarine Depot Ship (Converted shallow draft frieghter)
Real ship, details as in RN service (Requisitioned 1941. Commissioned 1942. Returned to original owners 1946)
XE-10
XE Class Minisub
Real Ship, details as if completed
Note: In real life this submarines construction was cancelled in 1945 and the submarine was scrapped incomplete. In the novel it is completed and forms part of the 14th Submarine Flotilla the force created to control the X-craft in the Far East.
XE-11
XE Class Minisub
Real ship, details as in service
Note: In real life this submarine was completed but sank in March 1945 during a training exercise. In the novel the accident never happens and it forms part of the 14th Submarine Flotilla the force created to control the X-craft in the Far East.
Japan
HIJMS Shosei
Kongo Class Battleship
Details as per the real ships.
Various Unnamed Warships
Plot summary: As World War II nears it's conclusion, the man who's career in submarines began under a cloud of official displeasure now find's himself bought in to take command of a submarine that's just lost almost all it's officers due to them engaging in '...conduct prejudicial to naval discipline...', will he be able to repair the damage and bring the submarine back to fighting trim.
Note: This is the last of a six part WWII series that I've covered in this thread, the other books are, 'Gone To Sea In A Bucket' (2015), ' The Skipper's Dog's Called Stalin' (2016), 'Turn Left For Gibraltar' (2017), 'The Bonny Boy' (2019) & 'See You At The Bar' (2019).
R. A. Montague, A Stirling Called Satan, first published in Commando Comics Nº. 869 (1974), republished as Commando Comics Nº. 5584 (2022)
Germany
Admiral Eisen
Deutchsland Class Cruiser(?)
Details as per the real ships.
Note: In dialog the ship is described as a 'Pocket Battleship' (e.g. Deutchsland Class Cruiser), which the name would fit.
However the one illustration of the ship in the comic shows a front-on view of a ship with two triple turrets forward, the aft cannot be seen. This would suggest the succeeding Scharnhorst Class, but to my knowledge the Scharnhorst's were never referred to as 'Pocket Battleships', but rather as 'Battleships' (Germany) or 'Battlecruisers' (UK). It's possible the artwork was changed between the two versions of the comic, but until a copy of the 1974 version can be located this cannot be confirmed.
The ship itself is depicted being trapped in an unspecified southern Italian port (Most likely the readers were meant to take this as meaning Taranto, the main Italian naval base, which means the story probably takes place no later than August 1943.), as I noted in an earlier posting on the J. E. MacDonnell novel 'Abandon and Destroy' (1963), it is impossible for any German naval unit larger than an S-Boat or a U-Boat to reach the Mediterranean during WWII.
Plot summary: Taking place somewhere between 1940 and 1943 (The year the Short Stirling was retired from bomber duties.), a crew find themselves lumbered with a 'hoodoo ship', whatever can go wrong will. Attempts to get another plane all fail and given a critical mission, will they be able to overcome the curse, or will it finally take their lives.
@Graham1973 do you have any suggestion of any novel of the last ten to twenty years that tells/desscribes what is like to be/live on an aircraft carrier?
Steel Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann seems to be what I am looking for but I would love to know your opinion.
@Graham1973 do you have any suggestion of any novel of the last ten to twenty years that tells/desscribes what is like to be/live on an aircraft carrier?
Steel Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann seems to be what I am looking for but I would love to know your opinion.
Anon., Odd Man Out, published as Commando Comics Nº.2941, 1996
United Kingdom
Unnamed
Aircraft Carrier, class not specified
Note: Illustration is clearly based off HMS Argus, the RNs first Aircraft Carrier and the ship that would probably have launched the aborted carrier strike on the High Seas Fleet planned for 1919. In the story she's being used as an aircraft ferry until the loss of another carrier due to battle damage requires her to take up a more active role.
Unnamed
Aircraft Carrier, class not specified
Note: Illustration is clearly based off HMS Hermes, the first purpose built RN Aircraft Carrier. In the story she seems to be acting as a stand in for HMS Illustrious(87) in that she takes serious damage from a German bombing strike and has to make for Malta to be repaired.
Germany
Gelsen
Light Cruiser, class not specified.
Note: The illustration shows a ship with three twin turrets (A, B & X) with the rest of the armament being too vague to guess at. As to the main armament probably 5.9inch guns as was fitted to all the German light cruisers. The ship is lost in circumstances similar to those that caused the loss of the Königsberg during the Norwegian Campaign (e,.g. Sunk by RN Dive Bombers...)
Plot summary: A Royal Marine finds himself transferred to the Fleet Air Arm.
Bill Fear, Silent Danger, published as first published in Commando Comics Nº. 1397 (1970), republished as Commando Comics Nº. 5614 (2023)
Italy
Ravenna
Freighter converted into a base for human torpedo operations.
Note: Fictional version of the Olterra, the ship that was used for the Italian human torpedo operations against Gibraltar in WWII.
Plot summary: A fictionalized retelling of the underwater duel between the Gibraltar Underwater Working Party (GUWP) and Decima Mas.
Note: These events have been used for fiction by other authors, books based on it covered in this list include Harry Chesham's 'A Tide of Chariots' (1983), Alexander Fullerton's 'Love for an Enemy' (1993) and Zach Neil's 'Silent Enemy' (2016)
HMAS Pelican (H40) (Given in this novel as D44)
Destroyer, class not specified
Crew: 150
Armament: 4 x 4 inch guns (Two twin turrets, A & Y), 6 x TT (Three twin mounts), Depth charges (Port Starboard launchers on the quarterdeck, rails aft) 1 x 2pdr QF Mk VII (four barrelled 'Pom Pom' gun, mounted abaft the funnel).
AA augmented with 'scrounged' SMG/MGs, 6 x Bren Guns (Mounted three a side midships), 1x Browning MG mounted on motor boats forward davit. This novel indicates the crew traded beer with the soldiers in Tobruk for the unauthorised armament.
Launched: 1918
Displacement: 1300 tons
Length: 300ft (91.4m)
Draught: 11ft (3.35m)
Machinery produces 30,000 horsepower driving twin screws.
Funnels: 1
Rudders: 1
Speed: 30 knots (31 knots design speed)
Fitted with radar and sonar.
Note: Pennant number clashes with that of HMS Anthony an interwar A Class Destroyer that was scrapped in 1948. The pennant given as the destroyers in this novel, D44, was used by HMS Imogen an I Class Destroyer sunk in 1940. The same pennant was also used in the authors novels 'Big Bill The Bastard' (1976) and 'Confirmed in Command' (1976), for the J Class Destroyer HMAS Verity. Described as a prototype destroyer. The implied backstory is that she was transferred to the RAN as part of the 1930s 'Gift Fleet' and was still in service when WWII broke out.
Italy
Ascari
Destroyer, class not specified
Armament: 5 x 4.7inch guns (Five single mounts, based on the historical models and information in the novel the layout is A, B, Q, X & Y), 6 x TT (Two triple mounts) 6 x 37mm AA, depth charges.
Displacement: 2000 tons
Length: 350ft (106.7m)
Beam: 38ft (11.6m) (It is assumed the author is referring to the widest part of the ship when he mentions this information.)
Machinery produces 48,000 horsepower driving twin screws.
Funnels: 1
Speed: 39 knots (Max), 35 knots (Cruise)
Fitted with Radar (Specifically described as an Italian designed system. The only Italian naval radar that entered service during WWII was the Gufo (Owl) Radar that entered service in 1941. Only 12 ships were historically fitted with the system by the time the Italian's left the war in 1943.) and sonar.
Note: Name clashes with a Soldati Class Destroyer that was sunk in 1943 after hitting mines. While the details provided do not conform to any extant Italian destroyer class, they do have some similarities to a 1939 Ansaldo proposal for an air defence destroyer (An illustration of this design created by Tzoli exists.), although the most likely starting point for the author would have been the American Fletcher Class.
Plot summary: What makes a good captain, ship handling skills, steadiness under fire and the ability think quickly in combat and take advantage of others mistakes, or is it all those and the ability to win the loyalty of your crew?
Note: The story is set some time prior to the relief of Tobruk in 1941 and after the events of the novel 'First Command' (1971). The cover is an interesting one depicting a scene from late in the story, however the artist messed up in that the ship in the foreground does not match the authors description of HMAS Pelican, although the ship in the background does more-or-less fit the description the author gives for the Ascari.
Fitted with Radar (Specifically described as an Italian designed system. The only Italian naval radar that entered service during WWII was the Gufo (Owl) Radar that entered service in 1941. Only 12 ships were historically fitted with the system by the time the Italian's left the war in 1943.)
From an early episode of a (currently 19 book long) action/adventure series set in the Florida Keys and surrounds.
Matthew Rief, Revenge In The Keys (Logan Dodge: 3), 2018
Germany (WWII)
U-3546
Type XXI U-Boat
Details as per the real ships.
Lost in a late war (1944) in an attempt to deliver a biological weapons attack on the United States, the biological weapons were contained in modified G7e torpedos.
Note: Pennant number was not used by the German Navy in WWII for any U-Boat.
Plot summary: The disturbing news that his fathers grave has been desecrated leads the series hero into a hunt for those responsible and to a truly horrendous discovery as that hunt turns into a search for his fathers killers.
There have been a couple of updates for past entries. The Corgi cover for J. E. MacDonnell's 'Gimme The Boats!' has been added to the entry for that novel. The entry for 'Mettle at Woomera' has been updated with notes regarding the discovery that the name of the author for that novel is in fact a pseudonym that was used by J. E. MacDonnell and that the novel was reprinted in the late 1970s by Horwitz under a different title.
HMAS Wind Rode (G46)
Tribal Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: The name does not fit the class. Also appears in several other of the authors many novels. In other entries in this thread I had identified this as a J, K & N Class Destroyer, which is my version of the non-descript term 'Fleet Destroyer' used by the author. This only applies for those entries where the author does not identify the ship as a V & W Class Destroyer.
HMAS Whelp
J, K & N Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships
Note: Name clash with HMS Whelp, a W Class destroyer launched in 1943, which was later transferred to South Africa and scrapped in 1976.
United Kingdom
HMS Esk
County Class Cruiser?
8 inch gun main battery
Note: Insufficient details provided to determine if a County or York Class cruiser, most likely it is a County as to date the UK/Australian 8inch cruisers that appeared in the authors fiction that are specifically identifiable were Counties. If it is a County Class Cruiser the name does not fit the class. The name also clashes with that of an E Class Destroyer in service that entered service in 1934 and was sunk in 1940.
Japan
Various Unnamed Warships
Plot summary: A ship with a proud history is given a new crew, will they be able to live up to her reputation.
Notes: J. E. MacDonnell was a prolific Australian writer of action fiction for newsstand paperbacks. Some of the novels by him covered in this thread include, 'Gimme the boats!' (1953), 'The Frogman' (1958), 'Night Encounter' (1958), 'Dive,Dive,Dive!' (1959), 'The Surgeon' (1959), 'The Secret Weapon' (1959), 'Subsmash' (1960), 'Convoy' (1960), 'The Coxswain' (1960), 'The Blind Eye' (1961), 'The Ordeal' (1961), 'The Rocky' (1961), 'Away Borders!' (1962, 'Sainsbury VC' (1962), 'U-Boat' (1962), 'Not Under Command' (1963), 'Collision Course' (1964), 'Killer Group' (1964), 'Hell Ship' (1966), 'The Snake Boats' (1967), 'Approved to Scrap' (1968), 'Full Fathom Five' (1968), 'The Hammer of God' (1968), 'Petty Officer Brady' (1968), 'Hunter-Killer' (1968), 'The Last Stand' (1970), 'Blind Into Doom' (1972), 'The Kill', (1974), 'Standoff' (1977) 'Breaking Point' (1979), 'Command Decision' (1985), 'Jim Brady, Able Seaman' (1985) & 'The Glory Hunter' (c. 1980s) . He also wrote a series of 'James Bond' style superspy thrillers featuring an agent named Mark Hood, novels in this series that have appeared in the thread are 'Come Die With Me' (1965), 'Carribean Striker' (1967) and 'Operation Octopus' (1968).
The print copy of the novel I'd found in a second hand shop was missing the concluding pages. It turned out to be one of the novels re-issued in Piccadilly Publishing's Blue Cover, 'J. E. MacDonnell R. A. N. Naval Fiction' eBook series. The true class identity of the second version of HMAS Wind Rode was an unexpected find in those missing pages. The cover for the 2024 re-issue is attached.
HMAS Jackal
Battle Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: The name clashes with that of a J Class destroyer named HMS Jackal that was sunk in May of 1942. The name also appears in the authors fiction in the form of a destroyer of indeterminate class (Research on this question is ongoing.) that is captained by the hero of this story until some time after November 6, 1944 when it is scrapped due to battle damage.
United Kingdom
Unnamed
2 x County/Kent Class Cruisers
Details as per the real ships.
Japan
I-4
Type 1 Class Submarine
Real ship, history fictionally altered.
Details as per the real ship, but amament is altered, retains both 5.5inch guns in 1944/45 adds four machine guns, type unspecified, but most likely either Type 96's or Type 99s.
Plot summary: Two captains, both professionals with the respect of their crews. Two radically different views of what's allowed in war leading to an inevitable clash.
Notes: This novel contains the most interesting portrait of a Japanese Naval Officer in the authors fiction I've yet encountered. This may in part be due to the fact that the novel uses a 'Clash of Captains' plot structure similar to 1977's 'Standoff' and 1973's 'Fire Storm'. As noted above the commander of the I-4, is an effective submarine commander who's crew trust him, his weakness, as revealed in the opening of the novel is coming to the surface to take out the crew of a sinking ship.
It leads to a discussion with his first officer in which the first officer disagrees with the practice on the grounds that it exposes the sub to unecessary danger, neither officer sees anything wrong with shooting up lifeboats and the like and ultimately the captains arguements about doing maximum damage to the enemy carry the day. If anything is being condemed at this moment it's not the characters, but the culture that produced them.
John Edwards & Denis Frost (Pen name: John Denis), The Moscow Horse, 1978
Russia
Slavyanka
Whiskey (Pr. 613) Class Submarine (Subclass not specified)
Details as per the real ships.
Has been modified into a submarine rescue vehicle by converting the escape hatches into ones capable of docking with other submarines. Not clear if the torpedo armament has been retained.
Taraco 5
Semi-Submerible Oil Rig (Modified)
Details as per typical members of it's class.
Modifications from standard include an enhanced radio fit out for electronic intelligence gathering and a submarine docking hatch at the base of one of the pylons.
Built in the West to KGB specifications, the notionally Irish based oil exploration company that operates it is in fact a KGB front.
Plot summary: The United Kingdom has developed a revolutionary missile system, one that can easily overcome present defences. For the Soviet Union, both the threat and the opportunity are obvious.
Notes: This is a novel that probably started it's life as a script outline, the pseudonym used, 'John Denis' which was used by the authors between 1978 and 1987 also appears on the covers of the first two novels ('Hostage Tower' (1980) and 'Air Force One Is Down' (1981)) in the UNACO series which originated in script outlines written by author Alistair MacLean in the late 1970s. It also very much has the feel of a 'Book One', there is an organisation, the Department of Research and Evaluation (DR & E), which in the novels conclusion is compared to a more secretive version of the CIA and a 'super spy', the Hon. Victoria Emmaline Cristal Vengan (Her full name only appears in the closing pages, she's referred to as Cristal Vengan, thoughout most of the book.) who is definitely cut from the same cloth as Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise, exotic background, intelligent, quick thinking, sexy and lethal. Both are presented in ways that suggest further stories in the same 'universe' were contemplated.
Also of interest, the Soviet strike force in the novel is made up of what the authors refer to as members of the Red Army Marine Corps's, I cannot help thinking if the book had been released a few years later they would have been referred to as Spetznaz...
HMAS Jackal
Battle Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: The name clashes with that of a J Class destroyer named HMS Jackal that was sunk in May of 1942. The name also appears in the authors fiction in the form of an R Class (WWII) Destroyer (The class is confirmed in the author's 1965 novel 'Under Secret Orders' which will be a future posting.) that is captained by the hero of this story until some time after November 6, 1944 when it is scrapped due to battle damage.
HMAS Viper
V & W Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: While the author does not specify the class name explicitly, the details provided fit the class and the backstory is clearly based on the V & W Class destroyers provided to the RAN in the years leading up to WWII. The name was never used by the RAN and in the RN the last ship with the name was the name ship of the Viper Class of Destroyers which had been sunk in 1901.
Japan
Task Force comprising the following Unnamed warships
Battleships (x 4) (Including one possible Nagato Class)
Unspecified other Cruisers and Destroyers
United States
Joint US/UK/Australian Task Force comprising the following Unnamed warships
Battleships X 3 (The flagship is identified by her statistics as a member of the North Carolina Class, the other two battleships are unidentified.)
Cruisers (Heavy) X 8
Destroyers X 16 (Two British, One Australian)
Plot summary: A series of incidents in which the Japanese seem to be unsually well informed as to Allied naval movements leads to an unescapable and unbelievable conclusion, someone aboard HMAS Jackal is a traitor, but who...
Notes: This novel can be dated, the opening fleet engagement results from an interception by the Japanese of an American attempt to bombard the island of Palawan after the Leyte Gulf landings on the 20th of October 1944. Palawan was not invaded until the 28th of February, 1945, therefore the novel is set between those two dates.
HMS Cambridge
Town Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships
Note: Class determined by ships name only. The name itself clashes with the RNs shore based gunnery training school in operation between 1956 and 2001.
Admiralty Cave
Submarine refit and repair facility constructed in a cave under Gibraltar as part of Project Sinker, a plan to establish protected submarine bases around the world.
The protagonist describes the facility as being large enough to hold 100 nuclear submarines, this may however only be the characters awed reaction to the cave when he first arrives, it's never qualified subsequently though.
Power to the base (and to the rest of Gibraltar) is supplied by nuclear fusion reactor designated AFPU One, this is a modified US made reactor that also has the capability of remanufacturing nuclear reactor power rods.
(Note: This is my interpretation of the conservation of energy violating nuclear nonsense that appears in chapter two of the novel, as to the main power reactor's origin and nature, this quote also from chapter two explains it all:
...- The States have developed a 'Buy-your-own-H-bomb' racket. It's a power unit, just about the equivalent of an H-bomb ... it costs a hell of a lot of money...
Plot summary: Sabotage has created a dangerous situation in Gibraltar as a new power station builds to explosion. The only man who knows the system well enough to attempt a safe shutdown is missing, feared kidnapped, can Simon Shard, RN find the man and save the day.
Note: This is 'Book One' for a long running 'James Bond' inspired series created by author Philip McCutchan. Another novel in the series with naval content 'Sunstrike' (1979) has also been covered in this thread.
J. R. Rain & Matthew S. Cox, Silver Quarrel (Alexis Silver: 4), 2019
United States
USS North Dakota (SSBN-774)
Ohio Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Pennant clashes with that of the lead ship of the Virgina Class Submarines, the name clashes with that of Virgina Class Submarine pennant number SSN-784.
USS Richmond (CG-74)
Ticonderoga Class Cruiser (Modified)
Details as per the real ships
Modified so the ship can be used for covert-ops support. The specific modification mentioned in the novel is the addition of a moonpool and three submersible vehicles (One six person, one single person and an ROV.)
Plot summary: When a nuclear submarine goes missing, the United States Navy turns to the CIA, the CIA turns to a very unusual form of assistance.
Note: This novel is part of a large scale 'shared world' urban fantasy setting created by J. R. Rain, this series focusses on a private investigator specializing in missing persons cases, who also happens to be a mermaid (Classical, not Disney...)
Modified so the ship can be used for covert-ops support. The specific modification mentioned in the novel is the addition of a moonpool and three submersible vehicles (One six person, one single person and an ROV.)
V. A. Stuart, Hazard 1: The Valiant Sailors (also published as: Valiant Sailors), c. 1968
United Kingdom
HMS Trojan
Steam Frigate (Screw)
"...of 31 guns and 300 horsepower..."
Built: 1851 (Not clear if this refers to the completion date or the comissioning date)
Displacement: 1,570 tons
Crew: 300 (On this voyage carrying 400, the extra 100 being drafts for ships in the Black Sea.)
Primary Propulsion: Sail
Secondary Propulsion: Auxiliary Screw (The propeller is retractable into the hull, the same arrangement is used on the Steam Battleship HMS Tenacious in Douglas Reeman's 1982 novel 'Badge of Glory', which is partly set during the Crimean War.)
Armament:
2 x 68pdr guns (In slide (trainable) mounts on the quarter deck)
? x 52 pdr (forecastle, aftercastle, at least four)
Main Deck Guns (32pdr) ("...we've landed ten of our thirty-two pounders...") ("...what, eighteen or twenty guns still aboard...")
Plot summary: A young RN officer finds himself increasingly at odds with his captain during the opening phases of the Crimean War.
Note: The copyright given for the novel is 1986 for the authors copyright and 2012 for the ebook editon. Evidence in an Internet Archive copy of the third novel ('Hazzard's Command') in the series suggests the actual publication date was around 1968.
Canada R.C.M. Montcalm
Audacious-class (?) aircraft carrier
The Montcalm is described as one of the newest units in the Canadian Navy in 1959.
Used as a test base for special aircraft and rockets.
Ex-Japanese Empire officiers secret society
Samouraï des eaux/Water samurai
Submarine aircraft carrier. Built at the end of the Second World War by Japanese engineers and hidden until 1959. Scuttled near Mindanao at the end of history.
Yves Sente & André Juillard, Le baton de Plutarque - Plutarch's Staff / 2014
United Kingdom :
HMS The Intrepid
Colossus-class aircraft carrier / trials carrier
Air Group : Seafire & Barracuda (First Bomber Sqn), used for tests of single-seat Golden Rocket fighter.
HMAS Wind Rode (G46)
Tribal Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships
Note: The name does not fit the class. Also appears in several other of the authors many novels. In other entries in this thread I had identified this as a J, K & N Class Destroyer, which is my version of the non-descript term 'Fleet Destroyer' used by the author. This only applies for those entries where the author does not identify the ship as a V & W Class Destroyer.
Flotilla Leader RAN 5th Destroyer Flotilla
HMAS Circe
'Destroyer', class not specified.
No class specifics are provided.
Note: Most likely a 'J, K & N Class Destroyer' or what the author termed a 'Fleet Destroyer'. The name clashes both with a minesweeper that entered service in 1939 and transferred to Australia as HMAS Medea in 1942 and with a minesweeper launched in 1942 and scrapped in 1967.
Japan
Unnamed
Myōkō Class Cruiser (Modified)
Details as per the real ships.
Armament has been modified.
Aft of Y turret, a construction described as a 'Tower' by the author and as tall as the top of X turret has been fitted, this construction prevents the aft two turrets from firing in an arc of 180 degrees facing directly aft. This is the warships newly fitted Z turret containing a weapon undergoing operational trials.
The man who gives the orders to the RAN 5th Destroyer Squadron to disable the cruiser so this weapon can be examined describes it as follows: "Light amplification" he said. "Stimulated by radio emissions to an unimaginable degree." The basic concept of lasers was scientifically understood by the 1940s, but the technology did not become available to make them work until the 1960s. However the author clearly had the classic 'Martian Heat Ray' in mind when he wrote the passage quoted below, one of the strongest in his literary canon.
It was thin, thin as a pencil. Yet, so incredibly bright that Bentley's eyes squinted to slits as though he was looking at the sun. Painfully he traced it back to it's source, and then knew why the Jap had turned... bringing his quarterdeck to bear.
The lance of incandescence was reaching for Circe. It was extending. Like a gun, it moved as the cruiser rolled. It touched the water. The sea roiled. Steam rose. The lance lifted. Like an evil white tenticle it grew towards the destroyer, as though feeding, growing on itself. A few yards behind her stern the steam rose. The lance lifted. It crept above her quarterdeck, growing, moving, a living thing of light. It touched the shield of X-mounting.
"Oh Jesus", Randall whispered.
A thunderclap sounded in Bentley's mind...
...
He looked at what had been Circe's X-mounting and sickness was in his guts. Now he understood...
... Bentley dragged his eyes away from Circe, stared at the rain ahead. His voice was a harsh rasp.
"Full power both engines. Tell the engine-room - everything they've got."
HMAS Jackal
R Class (WWII) Destroyer
Details as per the real ships (Armament modified)
Armament as per the real ships save the only specific AA armament mentioned is 1 x QF 2-pounder Mark V (8 barreled version) instead of 2 x QF 2-pounder Mark VII (4 barreled version).
Scrapped after November 6, 1944 due to battle damage.
Note: The author explicitly identifies it as a 'Rotherham Class Destroyer' in this novel. HMS Rotherham was the Destroyer Leader for the WWII R Class Destroyers (The class was comissioned in 1942/43). In later novels it's replaced by a Battle Class Destroyer named HMAS Fane (ex-HMS Jutland) and then by a Battle Class Desroyer named HMAS Jackal (Still trying to locate the book in which this changeover happens). There was a real HMS Jackal of the J class which was sunk in May of 1942. Name does not fit those given to other R Class (WWII) Destroyers.
United States
Various Unnamed Warships
United Kingdom
Various Unnamed Warships, including one Battle Class Destroyer.
Japan
Hayataka (Eng: Swift Falcon)
Hiyō Class Aircraft Carrier
Details as per the real ships
Note: Suggested class is based on the estimated tonnages given in the novel and the cover illustration. Thanks to Hood for the information needed to confirm the class. He also mentioned the author may have been aware of the name as the US had mistakenly believed a carrier of that name existed following the interrogation of prisoners taken during the Battle of Midway.
All other Japanese warships are Unnamed.
Plot summary: The orders were simple, sink, burn, destroy, let nothing pass....
Ex-Japanese Empire officiers secret society
Samouraï des eaux/Water samurai
Submarine aircraft carrier. Built at the end of the Second World War by Japanese engineers and hidden until 1959. Scuttled near Mindanao at the end of history.
Plot summary: The year is 1995. For those who planned it, it seemed simple, suborn the Irish republic economically, take over the country and make a simple offer, Ireland for Palestine... They should have talked to the IRA about how that might go down in Ireland...
It's probably the only way the Catholics and Protestants would agree to not shoot at each other. At least until after the (expletives deleted) were dealt with.
Note: Catching nuclear submarines in this manner is quite dangerous and can result in the loss of the fishing vessel and it's crew. Despite what the author thought it can be performed with ordinary steel fishing nets, no special equipment is required. See following list for details of real life cases: (Link - British Sea Fishing: Submarine and Trawler Collision Incidents.).
Well, then Taurus are the most likely solution. As far as I know, conventional (not anti-radiation) Talos missiles actually did not have land-attack capability; onboard ballistic computer could work only with nuclear-tipped ones for such purpose. Of course, it was theoretically possible to hit any target that reflected beams of fire control radar, but if I recall correctly, in anti-surface mode the fuze was not active (because it would react on the ground below), so... Not practical.
Yes, the nuclear tipped Talos were the usual suspect for surface attack. Apparently as part of the nuclear-specific command and control the warhead was set to detonate if the missile ever left the guidance beam.
@Graham1973 do you have any suggestion of any novel of the last ten to twenty years that tells/desscribes what is like to be/live on an aircraft carrier?
Steel Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann seems to be what I am looking for but I would love to know your opinion.
I think there was a Tom Clancy CVN book, though more non-fiction than fiction.
Also, one of Steven Coonts books, same universe as Flight of the Intruder, has a description of some journalists taking a tour of a carrier with one of them getting a picture of a sailor at the far end of a huge number of watertight doors... Final Flight?
Also, one of Steven Coonts books, same universe as Flight of the Intruder, has a description of some journalists taking a tour of a carrier with one of them getting a picture of a sailor at the far end of a huge number of watertight doors... Final Flight ?
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