Fictional Warships - Novels

[Graham1973]

Another of the books I posted to the old Warships 3.0 board.

Antony Trew, The Moonraker Mutiny, 1972

Australia

HMAS Magpie
Minesweeper, class not specified
Diesel Engines.
No other details provided.

Plot summary: A drunken captains mistaken actions lead result in a ship sailing into the heart of an Indian Ocean cyclone. With the ship crippled as a result can it be found before the survivors die.

Note: While the novel was published in 1972, it is clearly set much earlier. Going by various internal references, I would say it is set somewhere between 1958 - 1963. The cover for the 1977 edition is by Paul Wright and while it does not depict a warship, it is a brilliant depiction of the plight the SS Moonraker finds herself in at the hands of Cyclone 'Alpha'. It is also one of those covers I'd love to have in poster form.

 

[Graham1973]

Clive Cussler, Night Probe, 1981

United States

USS Avarda
Amphibious Landing Transport Ship
Class not specified.
No other details provided.

Unnamed (SSN-???)
Amberjack Class (Fictional)
Length: 76m
Beam: 10.7m
Submerged displacement: 3650tons
No other details provided.

USS Phoenix (CG-?? or CGN-??)
Cruiser
No other details provided, name clash with the Los Angeles Class Submarine, USS Phoenix (SSN-702)

Canada

HMCS Huron (DDG-281)
Iroquois Class Destroyer
Real Ship, in service 1972 - 2005

Plot summary: The year is 1989 (The novel takes place between February & May 1989). With energy prices soaring the United States finds itself in a bind, while hydro-electricity from Canada is cheap, Soviet backed Quebec separatists may end up being the ones in charge of the 'on-off' switch. Then a sudden discovery points to a very unlikely solution.

Note: This is not one of my favourite novels for several reasons, but the author deserves something for trying to link his 'universe' to a very famous fictional superspy (not Austin Powers...). It should also be noted that the events of 'Deep Six' take place only about two months after this one.

 

[Graham1973]

Patrick Robinson, Nimitz Class, 1997

United States

USS Thomas Jefferson (CVN-??)
Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier
Details as per the real ships.

USS Arkansas (CGN-41)
Virginia Class Cruiser
Real Ship, in novel still in service in 2002 rather than being decomissioned in 1998.

USS Batfish (SSN-681)
Sturgeon Class
Real Ship, in novel still in service in 2002 rather than being decomissioned in 1999

USS L. Mendel Rivers (SSN-686)
Sturgeon Class
Real Ship, in novel still in service in 2002 rather than being decomissioned in 2001

United Kingdom

HMS Thermopylae
SSN, class not specified
Length: 300ft (91.44), slightly longer than a Trafalgar Class.
Displacement: 5000tons (Not clear if surfaced or submerged)
Armament: Tomahawk Missiles/Spearfish Torpedoes
No other details provided.

HMS Unseen (S41)
Upholder Class Submarine
Real ship, in novel still in British service as of 2002, rather than being paid off in 1994 before being transferred to Canada in 2000.

Iraq

K-630
(Ex-Russian) Kilo Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Crew is acting as mercenaries on behalf of Iraq, ship has not been formally comissioned into the Iraqi navy.

Plot summary: The year is 2002 (The novel takes place between May & October). A United States aircraft carrier has just exploded at sea. Was it an accident...?

Notes: The following real ships that were either decomissioned after 2002 or still in service appeared in the novel, USS Arctic (AOE-8), USS Kaufman (FFG-59), USS Ingraham (FFG-61), USS Vicksburg (CG-69), USS Port Royal (CG-73), USS O'Kane (DDG-77), USS Asheville (SSN-758), USS Springfield (SSN-761), USS Charlotte (SSN-766), USS Columbia (SSN-771), USS O'Bannon (DD-987), USS Fife (DD-991), USS Fletcher (DD-992), USS Hayler (DD-997).

 

[Graham1973]

Jeff Edwards, The Seventh Angel, 2010

United States

USS Towers (DDG-103)
Arleigh Burke Flight III Class (Fictional version)
Length: 529 ft (161.24m)
Beam: 66.5ft (20.3m)
Armament/Propulsion details as per the ships of the class being built in 2004?
Stealth design.
Stated to be the "...fourth (and last) ship..." in Flight III.
Pennant number is that of USS Truxtun (DDG-103).
Carries a Multi-purpose Autonomous Underwater System Mk. 1 ('Mouse') - UUV

USS Albert D. Kaplan (DDG-???)
Arleigh Burke Flight III Class (Fictional version?)
Same details as USS Towers?
Carries 'Sea Shrike' unmanned reconnaissance drones.
No other details provided.

United States - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Otis Barton
Research Vessel
Carries minisub Nereus
Note: Civilian vessel. Novel refers to the Otis Barton as being originally "...constructed as a Victorious Class acoustic surveillance ship..." but does not specify which of the four members of the class she was.

Russia

Kuzbass (K-419)
Akula I Class Submarine
Real Ship, sunk during the course of the novel.

Zelenograd (K-506)
Delta III Class Submarine
Real Ship, sunk during the course of the novel.

Osmotritelnyy
Sovremennyy Class Destroyer
Real ship, decomissioned 1997, still in service during the timeframe of the novel.

Boyevoy
Sovremennyy Class Destroyer
Real ship

Burnyy
Sovremennyy Class Destroyer
Real Ship

Bezboyaznennyy
Sovremennyy Class Destroyer
Real Ship

Plot summary: A Russian dissident seeking to restore the Soviet Union resorts to nuclear blackmail.

Note: Year is unspecified, action takes place between 22 February (Friday) and 21 June (Friday). Years in which this happens (After 2010, when the novel was first published.) are 2013 & 2019. Somewhat surprised to see the author making free use of real Russian warships, the more normal practice, even today is to use fictional ones.

 

[Graham1973]

Dennis Porter, The Hunt for the USS Hercules, 2015

United States

USS Hercules (SSBN-???)
Nuclear submarine, class not specified.
Length: 560ft (170m)
Weight: 18,000 tons
Armament: 16 x Trident Missiles, presumably 4 torpedo tubes if normal SSBN practice followed.
Note: Length and weight suggest that this is an Ohio Class Submarine, but she is carrying eight fewer Tridents than an Ohio.

Plot summary: A cabal of businessmen cook up a scheme to re-write the politics of the South China Sea in their favour.

Notes: Not very impressed with this one, writing feels childish, the stolen submarine is simply referred to as a "...nuclear submarine..." and an "...American nuclear submarine..." thoughout without specifying a class.

 

[Graham1973]

Hal Fishman & Barry Schiff, Flight 902 Is Down!, 1982

Russia

Eugen Onegin
Submarine (Conventional powered), class not specified
Fitted with radar and an Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) radio system.
Described as being an "...old World War II submarine..."
No other details provided.

Plot summary: Trans-American Airlines Flight 902 has disappeared just after reporting being shot at by Soviet MiG-23s, has the unthinkable happened...?

Note: This is another novel that feels like a film script that was turned into a novel when it didn't sell. The cast of passengers is straight out of the 'All Star Disaster Movie' playbook.

The plotline was likely inspired by the shooting-up and forcing down of Korean Air Lines Flight 902, which took a wrong turn flying from Paris to Seoul and wound up flying over Murmansk (Wikipedia) . The infamous KAL007 shootdown took place a year after the book came out.

 

[Graham1973]

Jeff Edwards, Sword of Shiva, 2012

United States

USS Midway (CVN-82)
Gerald R. Ford Class Aircraft Carrier
Details as per real ships.
Note: Class not mentioned in novel. Assignment is based solely on the pennant number.

USS Towers (DDG-103)
Arleigh Burke Flight III Class Destroyer (Fictional version)
Length: 529 ft (161.24m)
Beam: 66.5ft (20.3m)
Armament/Propulsion details as per the ships of the class being built in 2004?
Stealth design, including heavy use of composite materials and 'phototropic' paint.
Stated to be the "...fourth (and last) ship..." in Flight III.
Pennant number is that of USS Truxtun (DDG-103).

USS Frank W Fenno (DDG-???)
Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships

USS Donald Gerrard (DDG-???)
Arleigh Burke Flight III Class Destroyer (Fictional version)?
Described in the novel as a "...sister ship..." to the USS Towers.

USS Bowie (DDG-???)
Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer (Flight IV?)
Details as per the real ships
Named after the captain of the USS Towers, Samuel H. Bowie.
Announcement of construction appears in the novels last chapter, referred to as USS Bowie, throught the chapter.

Plot summary: Opponents to China's occupation of Tibet launch a guerrilla campaign from India, creating a situation that rapidly begins to spin out of control.

Note: All Chinese and Indian warships mentioned in the novel are real ships. Some are sunk during the course of the novel. The year is unspecified, but internal references make it clear that it takes place after 2011. The action takes place between November 18 (Tuesday) and 11 February (Tuesday) (E.g. Between one year and the next.). Dialog within the novel indicates that these events take place after those of 'The Seventh Angel'. Checking of calendar software shows that that combination of dates/days does not happen in reality. Given the possible years for the two precding novels this story probably takes place either between 2014 & 2015 or 2025 & 2026.

 

[Graham1973]

Stephen Renneberg, The Mothersea, 2016

Australia

HMAS Naturaliste (A-?)
Leewuin Class Survey Ship
Details as per the real ships.
Note: The author does not explicitly state the class but the description and details he provides best fit this class of ships.

Plot summary: Something very strange is happening in the Arafura Sea, a trawler and coastal communities have been attacked with stone age weapons, but they are not wielded by humans...

Note: This novel is a sequel to the authors earlier tale of alien invasion 'The Mothership' (2013). Dialog within the novel reveals that 10 years has passed between the two books. So the story may be set in 2023, but there is no explicit statement to that effect. The only other ship that appears in the novel is the USS Makin Island (LHD-8) which is an actual member of the Wasp Class of Amphibious Assault Ships.

 

[Graham1973]

Jack Higgins, Storm Warning, 1976

United Kingdom

HMS Guardian
T Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Name clashes with Anti-submarine net laying vessel of the same name (Wikipedia)

Germany

U-235
Type VIIC U-boat
Real ship, sunk by friendly fire in April 1945.

U-743
Type VIIC U-boat
Real ship, disappeared August 1944
In the novel, several bodies wash up from the submarine along the Scottish west coast during early September 1944.

Canada

HMCS Macmichael
Corvette, class not specified.
No other details provided.

United States

USS Carbisdale
Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided.

Plot summary: In the second half of 1944 a number of Germans in Brazil make a desperate attempt to reach Germany in the only ship they could find, a three-masted barquentine. With the Allied navies controlling the oceans, can they make it...

Note: The back cover blurb implies this is based off a real event.

 

[Graham1973]

J. E. MacDonnell, Jim Brady, Able Seaman, 1985?

Australia

HMAS Adamant
County Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships.
Sunk or badly damaged (and scuttled?), Battle of Savo Island, 8/9 August, 1942.

HMAS Wind Rode (G44)
J, K & N Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships
Note: Also appears in several other of the authors many novels. On the cover of the 1963 & 1967 editions of the novel 'Repel Borders' the ship was depicted with the pennant number G46. The pennant number in this novel belonged to the M Class Destroyer, HMS Martin which was sunk in November 1942.

New Zealand

HMNZS Achilles (70)
Leander Class Cruiser
Real ship, most well known for her role at the Battle of the River Plate in 1939.

Germany

Admiral Von Scheer
Deutschland Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships.
Note: One of the three members of the class in real life was called Admiral Scheer. Her namesake was never a 'Von'.

Plot summary: The year is 1942 and an Able Seaman aboard an Australian cruiser keeps getting on the wrong side of the officers.

Note: Dating this one is fairly straightforward. The story takes place between Operation Biting (The Bruneval Raid, 27/28 February 1942) and Operation Watchtower (Invasion of Guadalcanal, 8 August 1942). The novel itself is one of three that makes up the 'Jim Brady' trilogy, 'Jim Brady, Able Seaman', 'Gimme the boats!' and 'Subsmash'. What is somewhat trickier is dating the novel itself. The book I have is copyrighted 1985, with no earlier date of publication given and has the words 'New! First Time In Print' on the cover, which I suspect is a false claim. If my Corgi edition of 'Subsmash' is anything to go by the actual publication date was probably 1959/1960. It may mean that there is a different (Longer?) version of the story out there.

 

[Graham1973]

J. E. MacDonnell, Confirmed in Command, 1976

Australia

HMAS Wanderer
V & W Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships.
Sunk prior to the start of the novel during Operation Galvanic (20 - 23 November, 1943)
Name clash with V & W Class Destroyer HMS Wanderer (D74) which was scrapped in 1946.

HMAS Verity (D44)
J Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.
Name clash with V & W Class Destroyer HMS Verity (D63) which was scrapped in 1947. Pennant number clashes with that of HMS Imogen, an I Class Destroyer sunk in 1940 and the later Battle Class Destroyer HMS Lagos.
Note: Author specifically identifies HMAS Verity as being a member of the 'Javelin Class' (E.G. J Class). A later piece of dialog states "She's not the same as Scourge. She's Javelin-class. Not one of our N's." Which would imply that HMAS Scourge at the very least is an N Class Destroyer.

Unnamed
County Class Cruiser

Unnamed
5 Destroyers

United States

Unnamed
Destroyer.

Unnamed
Aircraft Carrier.

Japan

Simotuki
Destroyer, class not specified
Armament: 8 x 5 inch guns (Layout not specified, probably twin A,B,X & Y turrets, though other combinations are possible.), Anti-aircraft/Torpedo armament not specified.
Length: 456ft (139m)
Speed: 34 knots
Described as "...one of the largest and newest destroyers in the Imperial Navy."

I-400 (Fictional Version)
I-400 Class (Fictional Version)
Details much as the real version save she has 2 x 5 inch guns in addition to the standard torpedo/Anti-aircraft armament.

Plot summary: The former captain of HMAS Scourge has been trying to rebuild his career after being busted for being 'drunk-in-charge' (Which took place in the novel: 'Gimme the boats!'.). His last ship was sunk underneath him, but he did well enough to be given a special task, take out Japans second best admiral as he travels to rejoin his forces, will he be able to hold up under the strain...

Note: This is another one that's pretty easy to date as it takes place either shortly after or during the short Battle of Tarawa. The preceding novel, which features the authors version of that battle is now a definite target, as it will have the details that will confirm just what HMAS Wanderer is.

 

[Graham1973]

Ronald Bassett, The Tinfish Run, 1977

United Kingdom

HMS Virtue
V & W Class Destroyer
Details as per ships that have undergone Long Range Escort conversion
Not fitted with radar.

HMS Vagrant
V & W Class Destroyer
Details as per ships that have undergone Long Range Escort conversion
Not fitted with radar.

HMS Pennyroyal
Flower Class Corvette
Details as per the real ships
Fitted with radar.

HMT Truelove
Armed Trawler
4 x 20mm guns
40 crew
750 tons
11 knots

HMT Trooper
Armed Trawler
4 x 20mm guns
40 crew
750 tons
11 knots

HMS Northumberland
County Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships.
Name is that of a vessel of the class whose construction was cancelled in 1930.

Plot summary: A low level view of the Arctic convoys which follows an attempt to sneak a small convoy (Two Tankers, Two Freighters) to Russia trailing a few days behind Convoy PQ17.

 

[Rickshaw]

National Library of Australia lists it's publication date as 1985, so it appears the claim on the cover of your copy is correct.

 

[Graham1973]

National Library of Australia lists it's publication date as 1985, so it appears the claim on the cover your copy is correct.

Thanks for the correction. It looks to have been my mistake, just checked my copy of 'Subsmash' (Corgi, 1970) and the second book in the trilogy is entitled 'Jim Brady, Leading Seaman' with 'Gimme the boats!' as the first book, looks like the author added an earlier story to the sequence at a later date with a similar title.

 

[Graham1973]

Ronald Bassett, The Pierhead Jump, 1977

United Kingdom

HMS Daemon
D Class Cruiser
Built (Launched?) 1919
Details as per the real ships.
Armament adds 3 x 4 inch AA guns. "...several small-caliber weapons..." 30 depth charges.
Speed 29 knots
Has radar by 1942

HMS Swiftsure
7th Abdiel Class Minelayer
Details as per the real ships
Name clash with Minotaur Class Cruiser launched in 1943.

HMS Bullfinch
Coastal Minelayer (converted ocean-going tugboat)
1 x Oerlikon Gun (20mm)
2 x Lewis guns
12 x mines
498 tons
10 knots
Name clash with a cable layer of the same name launched in 1940

United States

Task Group 17.6 (Also referred to as TG 17.4 in my copy of the book.)

USS Peacock (CV-??)
Yorktown Class Aircraft Carrier (Referred to as Hornet Class in novel.)
Details as per the real ships.

USS Anaconda
Cruiser
No other details provided

USS Maddox
Destroyer, class not specified
Name clash with a Wickes Class Destroyer transferred to the UK in 1940 and with a Gleaves Class Destroyer launched in 1942 and sunk in July of 1943 off Sicily.

USS Bagley
Destroyer, class not specified
Name clash with a Wickes Class Destroyer (Renamed USS Doran in 1935) transferred to the UK in 1940 and with the lead ship of the Bagley Class which was scrapped in 1947 after spending the entire war in the Pacific.

USS Aaron Ward
Destroyer, class not specified
Name clash with a Wickes Class Destroyer transferred to the UK in 1940 and with a Gleaves Class Destroyer that served in the Pacific until being sunk in April of 1943.

Germany

Gruppe Markgraf

U-157
Type IXC U-boat
Details as per the real ships.
Real world: Sunk off the US East Coast in June of 1942. In novel sunk by HMS Daemon.

U-711
Type VIIC U-boat
Details as per the real ships
Real world: Sunk in May of 1945.

U-759
Type VIIC U-boat
Details as per the real ships
Real world: Sunk in the Caribbean in July of 1943. In novel sunk by HMS Bullfinch.

Italy

Gruppe Markgraf

Bruno
Marcello Class Submarine
Note: Class is not specified in the novel. There was a Marcello Class Submarine named Faa di Bruno that was sunk by the British in November of 1940. This may have been what the author had in mind when he named the submarine. A Marcello Class Submarine named Comandante Cappellini took part in the real Laconia Incident.

Plot summary: A fictionalised account of the Laconia Incident which took place in September of 1942.

Note: In the introduction the author states that all ships featured within are ficticious, as can be seen this was far from the case.

 

[Graham1973]

Philip McCutchan, Sinking Ship, 1993

United Kingdom

HMS Charger
Escort Carrier, class not specified
15,000 tons
All welded construction.

Note: The name is that of the member of the Avenger Class of escort carriers which served as HMS Charger from the 2nd to the 4th of October 1941 before reverting to the United States. The ship served as a training ship in Chesapeake Bay for the entire war. In the novel the ship is stated to have been built in the United States.

HMS Veracity
V & W Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Invergarry
I Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Class identification based on name only.

HMS Invermore
I Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Class identification based on name only.

HMS Aberfeldy
Hunt Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships
Note: Class identification based on name only.

Germany

Unnamed
U-Boat, class not specified.

Plot summary: The series hero, finds that the only way to reach his new assignment is to travel to the United States aboard an escort carrier heading there for an overhaul. When the ship is crippled in a storm, it's all hands to the pumps to keep her afloat.

Note: Not possible to date this story due to a lack of references to specific wartime events.

 

[Graham1973]

R. H. Andrews, HMS Vengeful, 2015

United Kingdom

HMS Rupert
Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided.
Name clash with HMS Rupert (K561) a Captain Class (US Buckley Class) Frigate purchased from the United States in 1943 and returned to them in 1946

HMS Barnetby
Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided.

HMS Dragonby
Destroyer, class not specified
4 inch guns (exact number not specified)
No other details provided.

HMS Vulture
V & W Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Willet
V & W Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Wolmsley
V & W Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Valmere
V & W Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships.

HMS H-29
H Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.
Name clash with a member of the class sunk in 1926 and scrapped in 1927.

HMS Vengeful (Initially an unofficial name. Later made official when the ship is commissioned into the Royal Navy)
Captured German S-Boat, former identity not given.
1 x 37mm (Bow)
2 x 20mm (Single mounts either side of bridge)
1 x 20mm (Twin mount at stern)
4 x torpedo tubes
Depth charges
Fitted with radar
40 knots
No other details provided.
Name clash with V Class Submarine HMS Vengeful (P86) launched July 1944.

HMT Dart
Armed Trawler
1 x 4 inch gun (fwd)
'Several' 40mm guns
Stern 'packed' with depth charges

Germany

Unnamed
Several U-Boats, type not specified

Unnamed
Several S-boats & Armed Trawlers

Unnamed
Several Destroyers

Unnamed
Armed Merchant Ship (Commerce Raider)
6 'heavy guns' (Presumably 5.9inch) (three a side)
No other details provided.

Plot summary: The year is 1941. Members of a torpedoed destroyers crew escape from their prison camp with the help of the Norwegian resistance, capture a S-boat from it's base and escape to freedom. Once back in the UK they and the captured S-boat are used to support the Norwegian resistance movement before being assigned to other duties as the war progresses.

Note: This self-published on Amazon book, aside from being badly formatted & poorly proof-read has the feel of an old fashioned 'Boys Own Adventure' tale from the mid-20th Century despite aparently dating to 2015. Not something I'd recommend hunting down. I certainly have no intent of reading any of the authors other books.

 

[Graham1973]

Antony Trew, Bannister's Chart, 1984

United Kingdom

HMS Amphiberon
Frigate, class not specified.
Carries a helicopter, type not specified.
No other details provided.

Russia

Unnamed
Maya Class AGI
No other details provided.

Plot summary: The year is 1983. A small Indian Ocean trading company offers 'Mystery Cruises' aboard their aeging tramp steamer. On the latest trip one of the passengers tries to interest the captain in a 'treasure map' they found, and then the fun really begins...

 

[Graham1973]

Another big one...

Alexander Fullerton, The Torch Bearers, 1983

United Kingdom

HMS Bruce
B Class Destroyer
Launched 1930
Details as per the real ships
Note: This is the inter-war B-Class not the WWI B-Class. Explicitly identified as B-Class in the novel.

HMS Goshawk
G Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships.
Note: This is the inter-war G-Class not the WWI Beagle class or the 1944 G-Class.

HMS Harbringer
H Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships, save 'Y' Gun has been landed to make room for additional depth charges.

HMS Vicious
V & W Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Watchful
V & W Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Wesley
V & W Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Aquilegia
Flower Class Corvette?
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Astilbe
Flower Class Corvette
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Explicitly identified as Flower Class in the novel.

HMS Daphne
Flower Class Corvette?
Details as per the real ships

HMS Gilliflower
Flower Class Corvette?
Details as per the real ships

HMS Iris
Flower Class Corvette?
Details as per the real ships.
Name clash with a ship renamed HMS Coriander while being built.

HMS Paeony
Flower Class Corvette
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Explicitly identified as Flower Class in the novel.

HMS Prunella
Flower Class Corvette?
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Viola
Flower Class Corvette?
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Ultra
U Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships.

HMT Gleam
Armed Trawler
1 x 4 inch gun?
Depth Charges?
No other details provided

HMT Stella
Armed Trawler
1 x 4 inch gun
Depth Charges?
No other details provided

HMT Opal
Armed Trawler
1 x 4 inch gun
Depth Charges
No other details provided

Germany

U-54
U-Boat, unspecified type.
Note: Number clashes with a Type a Type VIIB U-Boat that went missing in February of 1940, the number was not re-used.

U-102
U-Boat, unspecified type.
Note: Number clashes with a Type IXB U-Boat that was sunk in July of 1940, the number was not re-used.

U-122
TYPE VIIC U-Boat
Note: Number clashes with a Type IXB U-Boat that went missing in March of 1940, the number was not re-used.

U-187
U-Boat, unspecified type.
Note: Number clashes with a Type IXC/40 U-Boat that was sunk in February of 1943.

U-208
U-Boat, unspecified type.
Note: Number clashes with a Type VIIC U-Boat that was sunk in December of 1941, the number was not re-used.

U-580
U-Boat, unspecified type.
Note: Number clashes with a Type VIIC U-Boat that was sunk in November of 1941, the number was not re-used.

U-702
U-Boat, unspecified type.
Note: Number clashes with a Type VIIC U-Boat that was sunk in April of 1942, the number was not re-used.

Plot summary: It is October-November 1942. Three members of the Everard family face danger, one as an escapee following the St Nazaire raid. Another aboard a submarine in the Mediterranean. The last has been given a special assignment, escort a convoy from Freetown to England, one whose true purpose and objective is known only to him.

Note: The author based the convoy portion of the novel on Convoy SL-125 which was heavily attacked by U-Boats on it's way to England at the same time as the Operation Torch convoys headed for Africa, thus clearing the way for the successful Allied landings, some believe that the timing of the convoy was intentional... (Wikipedia)

 

[Graham1973]

Mike Lunnon-Wood, Let Not The Deep, 1994

United Kingdom

RFA Drumbeat
Rover Class Tanker
Details as per the real ships.

HMS Defiant
2nd Type 82 Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.

Plot summary: A brutal storm strikes the British Isles creating a situation that requires desperate acts to prevent lives being lost at sea.

 

[Graham1973]

J. E. MacDonnell, Sainsbury, VC, 1962

United Kingdom

HMS Goosewing (K44)
Flower Class Corvette?
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Class assignment is tenative based on a very limited set of details the author provides. Authors description seems to be a hybrid of first ships of the class constructed (Fitted with minesweeping equipment) and the later ones with the mast behind the bridge. The name does not fit the class, but is a nautical term used to describe fore-and-aft sails when set for running downwind.

HMS Seamew
Modified W Class Destroyer (Thornycroft)
Details as per the real ships.
Quote: "Though where in hell she gets her name from I can't say. All of the others start with W."
Note: Member of the V & W Class. In real life this would be the third 'Thornycroft Modified W', authors description leaves no doubt that this is what he had in mind.

HMAS Scimitar
J, K & N Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships.
Name clash with S Class (WWI) Destroyer HMS Scimitar which served in WWII and was scrapped in 1947.
Note: Class assignment based on the armament details provided by the author.

Germany

Unnamed
Several U-Boats

Plot summary: The novel follows the career of a West Australian member of the RAN from his training in the 1930s until the opening of the Second World War and his subsequent service initially in Royal Navy ships before returning to the Royal Australian Navy.

Note: The time frame during the war seems to be 1940-41 as events of 1939 are referred to in the past tense. As for the VC, well it was earned for something (Sinking four U-boats in a day with a single ship.) that makes me wonder if this was a case similar to Rorkes Drift, where it was given to 'encourage the others'...

 

[Rickshaw]

Note: The time frame during the war seems to be 1940-41 as events of 1939 are referred to in the past tense. As for the VC, well it was earned for something (Sinking four U-boats in a day with a single ship.) that makes me wonder if this was a case similar to Rorkes Drift, where it was given to 'encourage the others'...

There were only two or three bravery awards available to the British Army in 1879. The VC was one of them, the other two were lesser (Mention in Dispatches (MiD) and Distinguished Service Medals (DSM)). The award of a large number of VCs was unusual but not that unusual when there was such a shortage of bravery awards available. While it was the largest number awarded to a single Regiment, it was not the largest awarded to a single action. Sixteen were awarded for actions at the Battle of Inkerman, on 5 November 1854; twenty-eight were awarded as a result of the Second Relief of Lucknow, 14–22 November 1857.

 

[Graham1973]

Mike Lunnon-Wood, Long Shot, 1999

United Kingdom

HMS Beaufort
Type 23 Frigate
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Ship is the same one that appeared in the authors earlier novel 'King's Shilling', which I have covered earlier in this thread.

Belize

Unnamed
Patrol Boat, class not specified.
1 12.7mm machine gun (Mounted Fwd).
Note: Taken into Royal Navy service as 'HMS Tonka Toy', armament is augmented with an aft mounted 7.62mm machine gun.

Guatamala

Unnamed
2 Patrol Boats, class not specified.
1 x 20mm gun
No other details provided.

Unnamed
Several improvised transports
Converted merchantmen
No other details provided.

Unnamed
Barge (Improvised landing craft transport)
Armed with ten stern mounted 81mm mortars for the purpose of naval gunfire support.
No other details provided.

Unnamed
Landing craft
No other details provided.

Plot summary: The year is 1997 (Dialog in the novel indicates it takes place a year after the events of 'King's Shilling' which is set in 1996.). The government of Guatamala has decided to do unto Belize as the Argentine government did unto the Falklands in 1982, their mistake...

Note: Unlike the previous novel, HMS Beaufort has a secondary role in events which focus on the Paras and SAS fighting to hold back the Guatamalan Army long enough to allow Britain and other countries to send in additional troops.

 

[Graham1973]

Mike Lunnon-Wood, Congo Blue (Originally: Heraklion Blue), 2002(?)

United Kingdom

HMS Winchester
15th Type 42 Class Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Stated to be a member of Batch I which would make her the seventh member of that sub-group.

Plot summary: The year is 1998. The civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo is heating up. Two troops of Royal Marines have been sent overland after the 'bush telegraph' reports that a small mission station and a nearby diamond mining operation may be under threat. What they find leads to an all too familiar event, a boat heading up a river into the 'Heart of Darkness', however this time it's not a PBR or a paddle steamer...

 

[Graham1973]

Another short story, self published(?) on Amazon

Malcolm Torres, The Pirate, 2015

United States

USCGC Almayer
Coast Guard Cutter, class not specified
Surface to surface missile, type not specified. Six round box launcher, mounted forward
Helicopter, type not specified.
No other details provided.

Plot summary: A US Coast Guard cutter on a routine patrol spots a speedboat behaving oddly, what could be the cause...

 

[Graham1973]

Angela Thirkell, Trooper to the Southern Cross, 1934

United Kingdom

SS Rudolstadt
Troop Transport, ex-Liner
8000 tons

Plot summary: The First World War is over and all an Australian Officer wants is a quiet voyage home with his newly wed British wife... No one told the prisoners that...

Notes: This is an engaging period satire by Anglo-Australian writer who was one of the major female authors of the period. Allegedly the incidents therein were based on her own experiences returning to Australia with her second husband.

 

[Rickshaw]

Leslie Parker was Angela Thirkell's pen name for that novel when it was originally published.

 

[Graham1973]

Thanks Kadija_Man for your additional information. This was never intended to be a one-person listing.

 

[Graham1973]

J. E. MacDonnell, Approved to Scrap, 1968

Australia

HMAS Jackal
Destroyer, class not specified
4 x 4.7 inch guns (A,B,X & Y)
2 x Quadruple 21 inch TT
No other details provided.
Scrapped after November 6, 1944 due to battle damage.

Note: Armament details fit the pre-Tribal classes of destroyers (Eg Interwar A - I classes), final class assignment will have to wait until I can find a novel with more details, or the one where the hero of this tale transfers command from HMAS Pelican to this HMAS Jackal. There was a real HMS Jackal of the J class which was sunk in May of 1942.

Unnamed
Two Corvettes (Bathurst Class?)

HMAS Fane (ex- HMS Jutland)
Battle Class Destroyer (1943)
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Ship was gifted to Australia by the British as a stop-gap until "...our Tribals come into commission." There were three Tribal Class Destroyers built in Australia, the first two HMAS Arunta & HMAS Warramunga entered service in 1942. The last one HMAS Bataan (ex- HMAS Kurnai) did not enter service until 1945. The novel itself ends on or shortly after the 6th of November 1944.

There were actually two Battle Class Destroyers named HMS Jutland, the first was scrapped incomplete in 1957, the second started construction as HMS Malplaquet but was renamed prior to launch in 1946.

In later novels the Hero is depicted in command of a Battle Class HMAS Jackal, presumably there is one more novel that I have not yet located in which HMAS Fane is renamed HMAS Jackal.

Japan

Tatikaze
Takao Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships.

Unnamed
Takao Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships.

Tuga
Kaibōkan (Sea Defence Ship/Corvette)
170 tons (This could be a misprint, as the various classes of Kaibōkan had displacements between 750 - 950 tons.)
23 knots
2 Diesel engines (Text implies more than one, most classes of Kaibōkan except the Type D used twin diesel power-plants)
3 inch gun fwd (No splinter shield fitted.)
Depth charges
No other details provided.

Plot summary: Following a desperate and ultimately failed defense of a convoy from two Japanese cruisers, the surviving destroyer makes a slow and painful way back to safety.

Notes: This novel begins with an authors introduction where he explains that his naval action novels are not written in chronological order (Are they ever...!). This novel also throws the time-line I had started to work out into some chaos, I had placed the other novels featuring the Battle Class HMAS Jackal (Breaking Point, A Council of Captains & The Shadow) between May 1943 and September/October 1944, however this novel (Assuming that HMAS Fane, was renamed HMAS Jackal in another novel.) ends on or soon after the 6th of November 1944 implying that these stories take place after that date.

The novel is a direct sequel to one called Full Fathom Five, which will now be one to find as it may include details not included in this novel, such as the identity of the two corvettes that along with HMAS Jackal are escorting the convoy.

 

[Graham1973]

J. E. MacDonnell, Frogman, 1958

Australia

HMAS Wind Rode
J, K & N Class Destroyer?
Details as per the real ships
Note: Also appears in several other of the authors many novels.

Japan

Unnamed
Several motorized patrol boats armed with machine guns.

Plot summary: A destroyer crewman volunteers for a new RAN program to train combat frogmen, and along the way learns that the most important thing is someones character, not the color of their skin. But will the bonds thus created survive the heat of his first mission, a commando raid on a Japanese radar installation.

Note: Dating this story as with all of J. E. MacDonnells fiction is tricky but it appears to be set in the lead up to Operation Reckless the landings on Hollandia which took place on the 22nd of April 1944.

 

[Graham1973]

J. E. MacDonnell, Abandon and Destroy, 1963

Australia

HMAS Pelican
Destroyer, class not specified
4 x 4 inch guns (Two twin turrets, A & X), 6 TT (Three twin mounts), Depth charges (Port Starboard launchers on the quarterdeck, rails aft) 1 2pdr QF Mk VII (four barrelled 'Pom Pom' gun).
AA augmented with 'scrounged' SMG/MGs, 6 x Bren Guns (Mounted three a side midships), Browning mounted on motor boats forward davit.
Launched 1918
1300 tons
Machinery produces 30,000 horsepower driving twin screws (Two shafts).
300ft long
Single funnel
Single rudder
30knots
Fitted with radar and sonar.

HMAS Perth (D29)
Modified Leander Class Cruiser
Real ship, served in Mediterranean Theater between November 1940 - August 1941.

Britain

Unnamed
3 x MTBs

'Allies'

HMS (or HMAS) Curlew
'Fleet Destroyer'
4.7 inch guns
36 Knots
No other details provided.
Note: The author does not provide enough detail to specifically identify the class or even if this ship is with the RN or RAN. Most likely this is another one of his 'J,K & N Class' destroyers. In real life there was a C Class Cruiser called HMS Curlew that was sunk in 1940.

Germany

Unnamed
'Fleet Destroyer'
2000 tons
6 x 5 inch guns (Three twin turrets. A, B & X or A, X & Y. Description is unclear as to layout, see also notes.)
No other details provided.
Note: The armament details do not fit any class of German Destroyer extant in WWII (Either 5 x single 5 inch or 1 twin 6 inch + 3 single 6 inch). The turret layout is never mentioned in the novel, but the cover depicts a ship with 2x 'Bismark/Prinz Eugen' style turrets forward and presumably the third aft. More importantly the chances of a German surface warship larger than an S-boat (Other than U-Boats) reaching the Med is virtually impossible. I have attached both the cover and a close up of the illustration. If anyone is interested in figuring out what the 'German Destroyer' looks like outside what is shown on the cover (eg Bow and areas aft of the Bridge) feel free.

Unnamed
Several MT Explosive Motor Boats
Details as per the real ships.
Presumably supplied by the Italians.

Unnamed
Several S-Boats
Details as per the real ships.

Unnamed
U-Boat

Italy

Unnamed
Maiale Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (Human Torpedo)
Details as per the real ships.

Plot summary: An aging Australian destroyer is given a continual series of tasks during the Mediterranean Campaign until the accumulated damage catches up with her at the worst time possible...

Note: Dating this one is not really possible. The author mentions the damaging of HMS Illustrious (10th of January 1941) and her subsequent period under attack at Malta (10th - 23rd January 1941) as being current events over the course of the entire novel, however he refers to the crippling of HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth (19th December 1941) as past events. Similarly mention of HMAS Perth, which left the theater in August 1941 as being at Malta at the start of the novel would fit with the story being set in early 1941 rather than late 1941/early 42. But based on the timeline established in the novel First Command (1971) it is more likely that the story is meant to be set in early 1942.

Regarding the cover, it is clear that the uncredited artist is trying to depict one of the sequences from the novel where HMAS Pelican takes on a German 'Fleet Destroyer' in the confines of an Italian harbor. The ship in the background is clearly meant to be Pelican, however the forward turret is clearly a single weapon mount (not a twin.) and is depicted with two funnels rather than one funnel, which contradicts the authors description both in this book and several of the others featuring this ship. See above for my comments regarding the 'German Destroyer' in the foreground.

 

[Graham1973]

Hmmm, really scraping the depths of my memory here. A novel I think was called 'Fathom'. An optionally-manned minisub/UUV developed by the French code-named Green Dolphin. Standard techno-thriller plot: hijacked equipment, nuclear terrorism, race against time etc. Published some time in the first half of the 1980s? Google's not helping, so is anyone else's memory jogged?

It's of interest because the Green Dolphin seems to anticipate a lot of current thinking. As mentioned, it is designed for covert military operations, large enough to carry one person if required (largely during testing and development), it can operate unmanned, autonomously for long periods, it has an internal pumpjet propulsor and an anechoic coat.

I have finally managed to identify this novel. It was 'Fathom' by Marc Hammond and was published in 1978. A copy is on order. Hopefully there will be a detailed description of the minisub/UUV in there.

 

[Graham1973]

Philip McCutchan, Halfhyde to the Narrows, 1977

United Kingdom

HMS Lord Cochrane
Ironclad Monitor, class not specified.
2 turrets? (Novel simply mentions "...turrets...", however no Ironclad monitor class had more then two turrets.)
No other details provided.

4th Torpedo Boat Destroyer Flotilla

HMS Venomous
Torpedo Boat Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided
Flotilla leader

HMS Vendetta
Torpedo Boat Destroyer, class not specified
3 x 12 pdr guns
2 x TT
Four funnels
Displacement: 240 tons
27 knots

HMS Venus
Torpedo Boat Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided

HMS Vortex
Torpedo Boat Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided

HMS Venture
Torpedo Boat Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided

Note: Presumably all these ships are members of the same fictional class (One set of '27 knotters' ordered by the Admiralty in the 1893/94 program.) and share the same details. The first four ships are mentioned at the start of Halfhyde for the Queen, the novel that immediately follows this one in the series.

Imperial Russia

Nikolayev
Heavy Cruiser, class not specified
No other details provided

Poltava
Heavy Cruiser, class not specified
No other details provided
Name clash with a Petropavlovsk Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship launched in 1894.

Mohilev
Heavy Cruiser, class not specified
No other details provided

Bariatinski
Heavy Cruiser, class not specified
No other details provided

Plot summary: It is "...some ninety years..." after the Battle of Trafalgar. Britannia rules the waves, but those Russian bounders have grabbed a British merchantmen in the Mediterranean and towed it all the way to Sebastapol. Getting the ship back is a job for the Empires best captain, with a little help from a somewhat 'unorthodox' officer returning to the service after a few years '...on the beach'.

 

[Graham1973]

J. E. MacDonnell, Point Blank, 1972

Australia

HMAS Pelican (H40)
Destroyer, class not specified
4 x 4 inch guns (Two twin turrets, A & X), 6 TT (Three twin mounts), Depth charges (Port Starboard launchers on the quarterdeck, rails aft) 1 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), Browning mounted on motor boats forward davit.
Launched 1918
1300 tons
Machinery produces 30,000 horsepower driving twin screws.
300ft long
Single funnel
Single rudder
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.

Germany

Unnamed
U-Boat, Class not specified
No other details provided

U-34
U-Boat, Class not specified
No other details provided
Sunk during the course of the novel.
The real U-34, a Type IXC was sunk in August of 1943.

U-91
U-Boat, Class not specified
No other details provided
The real U-91, a Type VIIC was sunk in February of 1944.

Italy

Unnamed
Maiale Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (Human Torpedo)
Details as per the real ships.

Plot summary: Following yet another human torpedo attack on Alexandria, one of the oldest destroyers in the RAN again finds herself assigned with the task of dealing with it, but not because she is expendable...

Note: This is the first time I've caught the author recycling material between books. There is a scene in this one where a diver is sent down from the Pelican after a human torpedo attack to discover a dead body wrapped around the rudder which also appears in the earlier 'Abandon and Destroy' (1963). From the internal references the story takes place sometime in 1942, before the Battle of Gazala.

 

[Graham1973]

R. H. Andrews, Send for Admiral Bland, 2016

United Kingdom

HMS Falmouth
Escort Carrier
No other details provided
Note: Name class with the lead ship of the Falmouth Class Sloops.

HMS Genoa
Aircraft Carrier
Described as a 'Light Fleet Carrier' in the text.
No other details provided

HMS Lincoln
King George V Class Battleship?
Note: Class determination based on mention of main armament being 14 inch guns. Name clash with a Town Class Destroyer (ex-USS Yarnall).

HMS Brecon
'Heavy Cruiser'
No other details provided.
Note: Name clash with a Hunt Class Destroyer.

HMS Windrow
York Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships

HMS Steadfast
'Heavy Cruiser'
8 Inch guns

HMS New Guinea
County Class?
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Class determination based on armament (8 x 8 inch guns in twin turrets). Name does not fit class.

HMS Cardiff
C Class Cruiser
Real ship, scrapped 1946

HMS Gibbon
Destroyer, class not specified
36 knots

HMS Crosby
Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided

HMS Catesby
Destroyer, class not specified
No other details provided

HMS Hinckley
Destroyer, class not specified.
Note: Built as a Destroyer leader.
No other details provided

HMS Holdfast
Destroyer, class not specified.
No other details provided
Note: Name clash with a cable laying ship scrapped in 1952.

Germany

Magdeburg
2nd Emden Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships
Note: Class determination based on main armament being 5.9 inch guns, also states that she was used as a training ship pre-war as was the real Emden.

Admiral Gustave
'Medium Cruiser' (Leipzig Class?)
6 inch guns.
No other details provided

Gruppe Seydlitze

Seydlitze
Deutschland Class Cruiser (Modified)
Details as per the real ships, save it has two funnels.
Note: Name is a misspelling of Seydlitz

Moltzen
Hipper Class Cruiser?
Note: Class determination based on mention of the main armament being 8 inch guns.

Unnamed
6 Destroyers

Gruppe Holstein

Holstein
Hipper Class Cruiser?
Note: Class determination based on mention of the main armament being 8 inch guns.

Leopold
Hipper Class Cruiser?
Note: Class determination based on mention of the main armament being 8 inch guns.

Unnamed
5 Destroyers

Plot summary: A highly fictionalized version the latter days of WWII including a somewhat modified version of Operation Regenbogen (Rainbow) and culminating in an Allied invasion of Norway in the general vicinity of Bergen.

Note: I decided to break an earlier decision not to read any more of R. H. Andrews naval fiction. I am glad I did as it allowed me to confirm that he(?) is really not a very good author. Aside from indulging in flights of fantasy, his ship descriptions are actually inconsistent within the same book.

 

[Graham1973]

Another break from the novels, with an old comic book.

Anon., Action Stations!, published as Commando Comics Nº. 1811, 1972

United Kingdom

HMS Nimbus
Flower Class Corvette
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Illustration clearly makes the ship out to be of the Flower Class.

HMS Starfire
'Corvette' (Flower Class?)
Note: Name only mentioned, illustration not clear enough to determine class.

Germany

Unnamed
Several U-Boats

Unnamed
U-Boat supply ship
4 inch guns.
No other details.

Plot summary: A sub-lieutenant, newly attached to a corvette finds himself becoming the scapegoat for the less-than-courageous actions of the 1st lieutenant. When opportunity comes in the form of an abandoned oil tanker, will he be able to handle the task.

Note: There is no publication date for the copy I have, but a note on the first page said the comic had first been published in 1972, implying what I have is a later reprint.

I have also located a copy of the 1959 hardback printing of 'A Twist of Sand' by Geoffrey Jenkins and have attached it to the entry for that novel, I am not sure just what type of submarine is depicted on that cover, so if anyone has any idea, feel free to answer below.

 

[Graham1973]

J. E. MacDonnell, Valiant Mission, 1968

United Kingdom

HMS Teredo
T Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships

HMS Typhoon
T Class Submarine
Details as per the real ships

HMS Adamant
Submarine Depot ship
No other details provided.

Japan

Unnamed
Various cruisers and destroyers

Plot summary: A British submarine based out of Fremantle, Western Australia is sent on a dangerous mission to deliver a frogman team to the outskirts of Kure Naval Base.

Note: The author does not specify if any of the named ships are Australian or British, I have assumed British for the simple reason that during WWII Australia did not have a submarine service (Apart from one Dutch submarine 'borrowed' following the fall of the Dutch East Indies.), all submarines operating out of Australia were either British or American.

 

[Hood]

I had a whole stash of Commando comics when I was young, but alas all went long ago.

Fishing around I've found the following from a few recent releases.

Commando Comics

Operation Leviathan, No. 4393, 2011
France
Leviathan – cruiser submarine, 2x 8in guns, other details as Surcouf?

They Came by Night, No. 4407/ 2563/ 6, republished 2011
RAF Rescue Launch K20

Kondor Killer, No. 4426, 2011
Germany
U-112 - submarine

High Speed Rescue, No.4519, 2012
RAF Rescue Launch 127

The Invisible Warrior, No. 4690, 2014
Great Britain
HMS Bluefin – submarine, cover depicts a T Class submarine

Danger on Board, No. 4690, 2014
Great Britain
HMS Apollo – destroyer, 3x2 4.7in guns

Battle Carrier, No. 4761, 2014
Japan
Yamato-based hybrid carrier, 3x3 18.1in guns (A, B and Y turrets), ?x secondary and AA guns
The cover shows a ship with a badly squashed forward superstructure and funnel with a carrier aft-end and poor detailing overall but several secondary and AA mounts indicated in boxy mounts.

Aegean Attack, No. 4853, 2015
Great Britain
Kestrel – Fairmile B Class MGB, 1943

Suicide Run, No. 4840, 2015
Unnamed high-speed launches with HE warhead in bows, British

Duel to the Death, No. 4916, 2016
Germany
U-37 –submarine

Scrapper’s War, No. 4923, 2016
Great Britain
S.S. Scrapper – armed steamer, 1x 12pdr, 2x Vickers MGs, circa 1915-16

Germany
Draken [?] – torpedo boat, 2x bow TT, 3x 57mm guns (beam and one aft), circa 1915-16

Undefeated, No. 4945, 2016
HMS Undefeated – U Class Submarine

Stringbag Ace, No. 4972, 2016
HMS Adventurer - aircraft carrier

 

[Graham1973]

I had a whole stash of Commando comics when I was young, but alas all went long ago.

Much the same here, though I think I still have one or two squirreled away somewhere. Anyway on to something I found at the same second-hand bookshop I found the Commando Comic.

Eric J. Collenette, The Talisman Deception, 1992

United Kingdom

HMS Whitstable
V & W Class Destroyer?
4.7 inch guns
Note: Implied in the text to having been given a long range escort conversion. Name however would fit a Town Class destroyer.

Unnamed
Six Flower Class Corvettes

'HMS' Achilles
Modified Oil Tanker
1 x 4 inch gun at stern, plus MGs
Note: Sails under Red Ensign, crew is RN, later flies the White Ensign when going into action. The British Cruiser of the same name was in NZ Service at this point.

'HMS' Hector
Modified Oil Tanker
1 x 4 inch gun at stern, plus MGs
Note: Sails under Red Ensign, crew is RN, later flies the White Ensign when going into action. Name clash with an Armed Merchant Cruiser (HMS Hector (F45)) that was sunk in April 1942 while undergoing re-conversion back to a merchant ship.

Both tankers have been extensively modified, all available free space has been filled with buoyant material (Described as Table-Tennis Balls, Kapok, Cork, etc.). Bows have been heavily reinforced. Steering has been moved from the bridge/forward superstructure (Which has been armored with sandbags) to the emergency steering position in the afterhouse. Oil tanks have been filled with water. The author implies that this was based on an actual wartime proposal by a 'Mr Wentworth' to modify ships to act as 'torpedo sponges' and/or impromptu salvage ships. In the novels climax they sink one of the German commerce raiders by ramming.

Germany

Biteroff
Commerce raider
8 x 5.9 inch guns (four a side)
"...an assortment of other weapons, including torpedos."
Also carries Arado & Heinkel float-planes

Titurel
Commerce raider
8 x 5.9 inch guns (four a side)
"...an assortment of other weapons, including torpedos."
Also carries Arado & Heinkel float-planes.

Note: Book is inconsistent on the armament. Initially states that both ships have 6 5.9 inch guns (Eg. 12 5.9 inch guns total.) and then on the next page states that it will be 16 5.9 inch guns verses the convoys armament.

Italy

Medusa
Submarine, class not specified
No other details provided.

Plot summary: It is mid 1943 (Anachronistically mention is made of the Bethnal Green Tube disaster (3rd March 1943) in the past tense, at the time this event was kept hushed up by wartime censorship.). Convoy GZ-22, a collection of old freighters ready for the scrapheap is making it's way across the Atlantic, the cargoes are nothing of vital importance, so why are the Germans suddenly throwing everything they can scrape together at it.

Notes: Not as bad as I feared from an author I'd never heard of and a very minor publisher (Inner Circle Books), there are definitely some issues with proofreading/plotting, but nothing like the mess created by authors like John Watson and R. H. Andrews. The cover which appears to depict the convoy setting out is by Colin Sullivan.

 

[Graham1973]

Brian Callison, Trapp's War, 1974

United Kingdom

HMS Charon
Armed Merchant Cruiser (Commerce Raider)
1 x 4.7 inch gun
1x 40 mm Bofors Gun
4 x Vickers HMGs
Built c.1890s
Length: 250ft
Steam powered
8 knots

Unnamed
Submarine, class not specified

Italy

Unnamed
VAS Boat (Small anti-submarine escort craft.)
Details as per the real ships

Germany

U-149
U-boat, class not specified.
The real U-149 was a Type IID U-Boat that spent the entire war in the Baltic.

S-248
S-Boat
Details as per real ships
Note: I have not been able to locate a comprehensive list of S-Boats so I cannot confirm if the number is one actually used or not

Plot summary: The year is 1942. For Captain Edward Trapp, Arthur Daley of the sea, WWII has been a great opportunity to come up with all kinds of 'nice little earners', but his latest scam backfired. He's back in the Royal Navy thanks to some paperwork he forgot to sign back in 1918 and while they will not give him his back pay, they have fixed up his ship and given him a license to pirate, all he has to do is survive being shot at by both sides...

Note: This was the first in what I suspect was an unplanned series featuring Trapp and his 'minder' Gorbals Willie. The cover is by Paul Wright and depicts the HMS Charon shooting up a dhow (The dhow is on the back cover.). The image appears to be an accurate representation of the ship, but omits some of the armament.