Readers of Clive Cussler, Bernard Cornwell and Wilbur Smith will love this gripping, spell-binding and unputdownable WW2 historical adventure full of vivid battle scenes and masterful characterisation from multi-million copy bestselling author Douglas Reeman. Guaranteed to have you hooked from page one... 'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' -- Sunday Times 'A wonderfully entertaining book' -- ***** Reader review 'Another brilliant story from the master of sea battles, I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish' -- ***** Reader review 'Well-paced & difficult to put down' -- ***** Reader review 'Highly rated indeed. Excellent!' -- ***** Reader review ***************************************************************************** 1941: the S.S. Benbecula is already old when she is turned into an armed merchant cruiser,. Yet even she is needed to protect the vital Atlantic sea lanes. Commander Lindsay, her new captain, has to work desperately to mould the ship's company - raw recruits and old timers - into a fighting force. And better than anyone, Lindsay knows this could be his last command, his last chance...

Memories are short on HMS Royston - they have to be. As mother ship to a battered, war-torn bunch of MTBs she must carry out her vital role whatever the conditions, whatever the risk. Sub-Lieutenant Royce is newly assigned to MTB 1991, joining a crew already seasoned by death and fear. Now with only three months' sea-experience behind him, Royce must learn the job the hard way - in the tough school of combat. ______________________________ A classic tale of naval warfare from Douglas Reeman, the all-time bestselling master of naval fiction, who served with the Royal Navy on convoy duty in the Atlantic, the Arctic and the North Sea. He has written dozens of naval books under his own name and the pseudonym Alexander Kent, including the famous Richard Bolitho books set during the Napoleonic Wars.

If you like nail-biting tension, all-guns-blazing action and high-octane drama, then this historical adventure novel from multi-million copy bestselling author Douglas Reeman is perfect for you. Fans of Clive Cussler, Bernard Cornwell and Wilbur Smith will not be disappointed. 'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' - Sunday Times 'A terrific nautical yarn from one of the best Naval authors' -- ***** Reader review 'Another romping good yarn by my favourite author. The only trouble is when I start reading, its hard to put it down :-)' -- ***** Reader review 'A must read' -- ***** Reader review *********************************************************************************** The Allies are poised for the invasion of Italy. Yet the Germans hold a vital card: a floating dock - the only one in the Adriatic large enough to take a major warship. Moored at a small port near Rimini, it is exposed, vulnerable. It must be destroyed before the Germans can tow it to a safer harbour. Air, surface and conventional submarine attacks are out of the question. Only one team can do the job and still stand a chance of surviving - the crew of HM Midget Submarine XE 51...

They were the men and women of the Royal Navy's Special Operations units... Carrying out lightening raids on hostile coasts, they became a navy within a navy - each hand picked for their individual skills, and all of them courageous. Against the backdrop of World War II they per- formed their small but deadly operations - living often beyond hope, sometimes beyond mercy. This is the dramatic story of a handful of such people...THE VOLUNTEERS

With his own boat, the motor yacht Sea Fox, former naval officer Philip Vivian had hoped to earn a living free from the petty restrictions of everyday life, close to the sea he loved. Now, however, his dream is threatened by financial difficulties. So when a profitable, if legally dubious, proposition is put to him by an old naval comrade in arms, Vivian is willing to listen. But what starts out as a harmless adventure soon turns into something altogether more sinister. And Vivian finds himself trapped in a treacherous web of violence and crime, dangerously torn between his stubborn sense of past loyalties and his duty to a society he has always despised.

HMS Wagtail is a river gunboat, a ship seemingly at the end of her useful life, lying in a Hong Kong dockyard awaiting her last summons to the breakers' yard. Commander Justin Rolfe is also seemingly at the end of his useful naval life, an embittered man, brooding and angry from a court-martial verdict. Then the offshore island of Santu is threatened with invasion from the Chinese mainland. The small British community must be brought out and Commander Rolfe and the Wagtail are ordered to the island. The job is regarded with sullen resentment by his crew, but to Rolfe, and even the ship, it is a job that offers the chance of a reprieve and a restoration of self respect.

March 1967: HMS Temeraire is Britain's latest and most advanced nuclear submarine. But when the Temeraire's trials are cut short and she is ordered to the Far East to reinforce the British fleet against a threat from Red China, Captain David Jermain knows that this is no routine exercise in flag-waving. And once in Asian waters, he and his submarine find themselves involved in a hidden, undeclared conflict beneath the sea. While the politicians on land haggle over a situation that could hold the seeds of a full-scale war, Commander Jermain must keep his faith in himself and in his new ship's potential--even when ordered to take the Temeraire to the edge of a catastrophe.

January 1944: On the vast grey waters of the Atlantic, the balance of power has shifted. For Rudolf Steiger, ace U-boat commander, there is a new sense of urgency. Dedicated, ruthless, and fanatical, he has become a legend in his own time, a symbol of Germany's greatness. But now, as he takes the U-boat flotilla Meteor out into the bitter winter seas, he faces a new and deadly enemy--his own nagging doubts about the outcome of the war. And Steiger is beginning to realize that his destiny may be to court a heroic death rather than suffer the shame of defeat.

Hong Kong, 1960s: The old submarine-chaser USS Hibiscus, refitting in a Hong Kong dockyard before being handed over to the Nationalist Chinese, is suddenly ordered to the desolate island group of Payenhau. For Captain Mark Gunnar, who is driven by the memory of his torture at the hands of Viet Cong guerillas, the new command is a chance to even the score against a ruthless, unrelenting enemy. But Payenhau is very different from his expectations, and as the weather worsens, a crisis develops that Gunnar must face alone.

December 1917: Germany opens the final, bitter round of the war with a new and deadly weapon in the struggle for the seas. When the Vulkan sails from Kiel Harbour, to all appearances she is a harmless merchant vessel. But her peaceful lines conceal a merciless firepower of guns, mines, and torpedoes that can be brought into play instantly. For the Vulkan is the last of the German commerce raiders, tasked with breaking through the British blockade and then heading west and south to the open seas. And under crack commander Felix von Steiger, her mission is to bring chaos to the Allied seaways.

With his motor yacht Sea Fox, former naval officer Philip Vivian hoped to earn a living free from the petty restrictions of everyday life, close to the sea he loved. But his dream is threatened by financial difficulties, and soon he is trapped in a web of violence and crime, torn between his past loyalties and his duty to a society he despises.

As the grim years of the Second World War go by, the destruction of Allied shipping mounts. Out of the terrible loss of men and ships, the escort carrier is born. They were typically half the length and a third the displacement of larger fleet carriers. While they were slower, carried fewer planes, and were less well armed and armored, escort carriers were cheaper and could be built quickly, which was their principal advantage. At twenty-six, fighter pilot Tim Rowan, RNVR, is already a veteran of many campaigns. Now he joins the new, American-made escort (or "jeep") carrier HMS Growler, the flagship of a task force protecting Allied convoys sailing the Arctic route to supply Soviet Russia. The service in the Arctic is harrowing, and not all of Rowan's adversaries are German. In late 1944, Growler is transferred to the Indian Ocean and faces the Kamikaze, experiencing vicious onslaughts.

This compelling nautical adventure from multi-million copy bestselling author Douglas Reeman will have readers of Clive Cussler, Bernard Cornwell and Wilbur Smith gripped with its expertly combined characterisation and vivid battle scenes. You'll feel like you are on the bridge yourself...! 'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' -- Sunday Times 'I could not put it down. I enjoyed every single page of this seafaring tale.' -- ***** Reader review 'Enthralling - just had to keep reading to the end' -- ***** Reader review 'A cracking read' -- ***** Reader review 'Exceptional' -- ***** Reader review 'Nail biting to the end' -- ***** Reader review **************************************************************************** Twenty-five years ago, HMS Terrapin was part of a crack hunter-killer group in the Battle of the Atlantic. Now she is working out her last commission in the Gulf of Thailand. To Lieutenant-Commander Standish, the frigate seems to mark the end of his hopes of a career in the Navy. Then a new captain arrives, a man driven by an old-fashioned, almost obsessive patriotism. And under his stubborn leadership, Standish and the crew discover a long-forgotten unity of purpose... She was one of the deadliest ships of the war. Her greatest heroics may still lie ahead.

Odds are long for the British destroyers assigned to escort vital northern convoys through the bitter Arctic Sea in the bloodiest days of WWII. Commander Graham Martineau, still haunted by the loss of his ship and crew to Nazi destroyers, must take on a new command: the Tribal Class destroyer Hakka.

After the murder of his father, Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Blackwood, Ross Blackwood finds himself assigned to the Far East, taking on rebels and illegal-arms dealers in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Along the way he meets another Blackwood, his cousin Steve, who has made a life for himself in the Corp, as an explosives expert. The two Blackwoods uphold the honor of their family and their chosen profession while negotiating the fallout of Britain's post-colonial politics.

It's 1943, and the seas are haunted by Hitler's deadly U-boats and cruisers. After the mysterious death of the Reliant's last captain, Guy Sherbrooke is given command of the legendary battlecruiser. A symbol of everything the Royal Navy stands for, the battlecruiser boasts the speed of a destroyer and the firepower of a battleship.

The Mediterranean, 1943. Already bloodied in the disastrous retreat from Burma, Captain Mike Balckwood-Royal Marine Commando and inheritor of the Balckwood family legacy-goes to Alexandria as part of an elite unit, poised to strike the first blows against the Nazi fortress of mainland Europe. Plagued by his own self-doubt, haunted by his father's war, Balckwood must reach deep within to find the leadership that will inspire his men to victory

Travel through Britain's military history with a proud seafaring family, the Blackwoods, and the service tradition in which they make their careers-- the Royal Marines. Captain Philip Blackwood of the Royal Marines rejoins his ship, the H.M.S. Audacious, in the summer of 1850. Sent out to Africa to eliminate the last strongholds of slavery, then on to the Crimean War.

Captain David Blackwood is ordered to Hong Kong and before long, he and his cousin, Ralf, are embroiled in the Boxer Rebellion. David is ordered to escort a beautiful German countess on a dangerous journey up the Hoshun River. In a final stand before the walls of Tientsin, Blackwood must hold on against a torrent of suicidal Chinese warriors.

HMS Temeraire: latest and most advanced of Britain's nuclear submarines. When Temraire's trials are cut short and she is ordered to the Far East to reinforce the fleet against a threat from Red China, her captain, David Jermain, knows that this is no routine exercise in flag-waving. And once in Asian waters, he and his submarine find themselves involved in a hidden undeclared conflict beneath the sea. While the politicians haggle over a situation which could hold the seeds of full-scale war, Commander Jermain must keep his faith in himself and in his new ship's potential - even when ordered to take the Temeraire to the edge of a catastrophe.

INDO-CHINA 1941Cruising somewhere off Saigon is the world's largest and most dangerous submarine - the French SoufriFre. A rich prize for the enemy, the British navy must capture her for themselves before she is used against them.For Commander Robert Ainslie, it represents the greatest challenge of his career. He must take the foreign submarine and use her against the enemy in the defence of Singapore . . .

The mine is an impartial killer, and a lethal challenge to any volunteer in the Special Countermeasures of the Royal Navy. They are brave, lonely men with something to prove or nothing left to lose. Lieutenant-Commander David Masters, haunted by a split second glimpse of the mine that destroyed his first and only command, H. M. Submarine Tornado, now defuses 'the beast' on land and teaches the same deadly science to others who too often die in the attempt. Lieutenant Chris Foley, minelaying off an enemy coast in ML366, rolls on an uneasy sea with a release bracket sheared and a lie mine jammed, and hears the menacing growl of approaching E-boats. And Sub-Lieutenant Michael Lincoln, hailed as a hero, dreads exposure as a coward even more than the unexpected booby-trap, or the gentle whirr of the activated fuse marking the last twelve seconds of his life.