Peter Hore – författare

An illustrated history of battleships, their origins and evolution, this meticulously researched book begins with a history of the battleship, from the first ironclad wooden-hulled ships of the 19th century to the revolutionary Dreadnoughts of World War I and the mighty battleships and battle cruisers of World War II. It includes a country-by-country directory of battleships, with details about each vessel’s history, construction, appearance and function. Featuring more than 150 ships – including Dreadnought, Hood, New Jersey, Bismarck and Nagato – specification boxes provide at-a-glance information about each ship’s country of origin, launch date, size, weight, armament, power, performance and complement, and includes facts and anecdotes about the famous battles and naval operations in which these ships played a role. Featuring over 550 photographs from naval and military sources worldwide, many rarely seen before, this is a must-have reference book for everyone interested in the battleships that have helped to make history.

The renowned Oxford Chemistry Primers series, which provides focused introductions to a range of important topics in chemistry, has been refreshed and updated to suit the needs of today's students, lecturers, and postgraduate researchers. The rigorous, yet accessible, treatment of each subject area is ideal for those wanting a primer in a given topic to prepare them for more advanced study or research. Moreover, cutting-edge examples and applications throughout the texts show the relevance of the chemistry being described to current research and industry. The learning features provided, including questions at the end of every chapter and online multiple-choice questions, encourage active learning and promote understanding. Furthermore, frequent diagrams, margin notes, and glossary definitions all help to enhance a student's understanding of these essential areas of chemistry. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance offers a concise and accessible introduction to the physical principles of liquid-state NMR, a powerful technique for probing molecular structures. Examples, applications, and exercises are provided throughout to enable beginning undergraduates to get to grips with this important analytical technique.Online ResourcesThe online resources to accompany Nuclear Magnetic Resonance feature: For registered adopters of the text:· Figures from the book available to download For students: · Multiple-choice questions for self-directed learning · Full worked solutions to the end-of-chapter exercises

The renowned Oxford Chemistry Primer series, which provides focused introductions to a range of important topics in chemistry, has been refreshed and updated to suit the needs of today's students, lecturers, and postgraduate researchers. The rigorous, yet accessible, treatment of each subject area is ideal for those wanting a primer in a given topic to prepare them for more advanced study or research. Moreover, cutting-edge examples and applications throughout the texts show the relevance of the chemistry being described to current research and industry. The learning features provided, including questions at the end of every chapter and online multiple-choice questions, encourage active learning and promote understanding. Furthermore, frequent diagrams, margin notes, further reading, and glossary definitions all help to enhance a student's understanding of these essential areas of chemistry.NMR: The Toolkit describes succinctly the range of NMR techniques commonly used in modern research to probe the structures and properties of molecules in liquids. Emphasis is placed throughout on how these experiments actually work, giving a unique perspective on this powerful experimental tool.Online ResourcesThe online resources to accompany NMR The Toolkit: How Pulse Sequences Work feature:For registered adopters of the text:· Figures from the book available to downloadFor students: · Full worked solutions to the end-of-chapter exercises

From the Middle Ages through the glorious defeat of the Armada, the triumphs of Nelson and the battles of the First and Second World Wars, this entertaining history describes how the Royal Navy turned this country into the world's foremost sea power. Based on never-before-published material from the archives of the National Maritime Museum, including letters, journals and despatches, we see life in the navy as it was experienced by commanders and ordinary seamen alike.More than just a story of battles, this book shows how changes in technology were key to the development of the navy's power, from broadside gunnery to copper-sheathed hulls, from paddle-steamers and iron Dreadnoughts to the invention of submarines and aircraft carriers. We see how the navy played a key role in exploration, from Drake's circumnavigation of the globe and Cook's voyages of discovery to Fraser's search for the North-west Passage. Filled with colourful characters - the infamous Captain Kidd, Captain Bligh, Samuel Pepys and Jackie Fisher, Blake, Beatty and Jellicoe - this is an exciting account of heroes and villains, innovators and adventurers, battles lost and won that vividly illustrates one of the most fascinating stories in British military history.

This edited volume comprises a series of essays about Patrick Maynard Stewart Blackett, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, as well as a prominent figure in the Royal Navy and British politics.

Already a decorated heroine of the First World War, British-born Mary Lindell, Comtesse de Milleville, was one of the most colourful and courageous agents of the Second World War, yet her story has almost been forgotten. Evoking the spirit of Edith Cavell, and taking the German occupation of Paris in 1940 as a personal affront, she led an escape line for patriotic Frenchmen and British soldiers. After imprisonment, escape to England, a secret return to France and another arrest, she began to witness the horrors of German-run prisons and concentration camps.In April 1945, a score of British and American women emerged from the Women’s Hell – Ravensbrück concentration camp – who had been kept alive by the willpower and the strength of one woman, Mary Lindell. She combined a passion for adventure with blunt speech and persistently displayed the greatest personal bravery in the face of great adversity. To counter German claims that they had no British or American prisoners, Mary smuggled out a plea for rescue and produced her list from her pinafore pocket, compiled in secret from the camp records. This vital list contained the names of captured women, many of whom were agents of British Military Intelligence, the Special Operations Executive or the French Resistance.Poignantly supported by first-hand testimony, Lindell’s List tells the moving story of Mary Lindell’s heroic leadership and the endurance of a group of women who defied the Nazis in the Second World War.

This edited volume comprises a series of essays about Patrick Maynard Stewart Blackett, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, as well as a prominent figure in the Royal Navy and British politics.

This edited volume comprises a series of essays about Patrick Maynard Stewart Blackett, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, as well as a prominent figure in the Royal Navy and British politics.

This edited volume comprises a series of essays about Patrick Maynard Stewart Blackett, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, as well as a prominent figure in the Royal Navy and British politics.

This edition of the journal dedicated to sailing navies of the Georgian era examines the relationship between the British and American navies. The Trafalgar Chronicle, the yearbook of The 1805 Club, is a prime source of information and the publication of choice for new research about the Georgian navy, sometimes also loosely referred to as "e;Nelson's Navy,"e; Successive editors have widened the scope to include all sailing navies of the period, but its scope reaches out to include all the sailing navies of the era. A fundamental thread running through the journal is the Trafalgar campaign and the epic battle of twenty-one October 1805 involving British, French, and Spanish ships, and some 30,000 men of a score of nations. Each volume is themed, and this new edition contains a particularly Anglo-American flavour, focussing on North America and North Americans in Nelson's Navy, with one article, for example, describing how the U.S. National anthem was composed onboard a British warship. Seventeen articles offer a wealth of information and new research covering such diverse subjects as the true appearance of Victory and the story of the little known American, Sir Isaac Coffin, who helped carry the pall at Nelson's funeral. With contributions from leading experts in the field and handsomely illustrated throughout, this yearbook casts intriguing light on that era of history which forever fascinates naval enthusiasts and historians alike.

This naval history anthology explores the world of Lord Nelson, his era and contemporaries, with expert articles and sumptuous illustrations.   An annual publication of the 1805 Club, The Trafalgar Chronicle is dedicated to new research about naval history in the Georgian Era. Its central theme is the Trafalgar campaign and the epic battle of October 21st, 1805, involving British, French and Spanish ships, and some 30,000 men of a score of nations.   This edition focuses on the friends and contemporaries of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson of the Royal Navy. It also explores technical and scientific changes that took place at the turn of the eighteenth century. Contributions include an article by former US Navy Secretary John Lehman on Stephen Decatur and another by Professor John Hattendorf on Admiral Sir John Gambier. It also includes the observations of Professor Benjamin Silliman, an American scientist who visited Britain in 1805.   Other characters who appear are ‘Jack Punch’ Perkins, the first black officer in the Royal Navy; William Pringle Green, who was so critical of the results at Trafalgar; and the two Loyalist Richard Bulkeleys, father and son, who served with Nelson at the beginning and at the end of his career. Two articles on technology in the Georgian navy address the surprising developments of the carronade and ballooning in the age of Nelson.

The Trafalgar Chronicle is a prime source of information as well as the publication of choice for new research about the Georgian navy, sometimes also loosely referred to as ‘Nelson’s Navy’, though its scope reaches out to include all the sailing navies of the period. A central theme is the Trafalgar campaign and the epic battle of 21 October 1805 involving British, French and Spanish ships, and some 30,000 men of a score of nations. The next edition, new series No 4, will be themed on the people who knew Nelson, his friends and his contemporaries, as well as technical and scientific changes which were taking place at the turn of the eighteenth century. Contributions include an article by former US Navy Secretary John Lehman on Stephen Decatur and another by Professor John Hattendorf on Admiral Sir John Gambier, and the observations of American scientist, Professor Benjamin Silliman, who visited Britain in 1805. Other characters who appear are the New York-born Westphal brothers, ‘Jack Punch’ Perkins who was the first black officer in the Royal Navy, William Pringle Green who was so critical of the results at Trafalgar, and the two Loyalist Richard Bulkeleys, father and son, who served with Nelson at the beginning and at the end of his career. Two articles on technology in the Georgian navy address the surprising developments of the carronade and ballooning in the age of Nelson. Like earlier editions of The Trafalgar Chronicle, this edition is sumptuously illustrated with some seldom-seen pictures and will appeal to naval and social historians whether they are academics, antiquarians or amateurs or the reader who is curious to learn about significant but often overlooked aspects of naval history.

The U.S. Marine Corps' four-year campaign against al Qaeda in Anbar is a fight certain to take its place next to such legendary clashes as Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Chosin, and Khe Sanh. Its success, the author contends, constituted a major turning point in the Iraq War and helped alter the course of events and set the stage for the Surge in Baghdad a year later. This book brings to light all the decisive details of how the Marines, between 2004 and 2008, adapted and improvised as they applied the hard lessons of past mistakes. In March 2004, when part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) was deployed to Anbar Province in the heart of the Sunni triangle, the Marines quickly found themselves locked in a bloody test of wills with al Qaeda, and a burgeoning violent insurgency. By the spring of 2006, according to all accounts, enemy violence was skyrocketing, while predictions for any U.S. success were plummeting. But at that same time new counterinsurgency initiatives were put in place when I MEF returned for its second tour in Anbar, and the Marines began to gain control. By September 2008 the fight was over. Richard Shultz, a well-known author and international security studies expert, has thoroughly researched this subject. His book effectively argues the case for the Marines changing the course of the war at Anbar, which is contrary to the conventional wisdom that the Surge was the turning point.

The World War II codebreaking station at Bletchley is well-known and its activities documented in detail. Its decryption capabilities were vital to the war effort, significantly aiding Allied victory. But where did the messages being deciphered come from in the first place?This is the extraordinary untold story of the Y-Service, a secret even more closely guarded than Bletchley Park. The Y-Service was the code for the chain of wireless intercept stations around Britain and all over the world. A few hundreds of wireless operators, many of them who were civilians, listened to German, Italian and Japanese radio networks and meticulously logged everything they heard. Some messages were then used tactically but most were sent on to Station X - Bletchley Park - where they were deciphered, translated and consolidated to build a comprehensive overview of the enemy's movements and intentions.Peter Hore delves into the fascinating history of the Y-service, with particular reference to the girls of the Women's Royal Naval Service: Wrens who escaped from Singapore to Colombo as the war raged, only to be torpedoed in the Atlantic on their way back to Britain; the woman who had a devastatingly true premonition that disaster would strike on her way to Gibraltar; the Australian who went from being captain of the English Women's Cricket team to a WWII Wren to the head of Abbotleigh girls school in Sydney; how the Y-service helped to hunt the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic, and how it helped to torpedo a Japanese cruiser in the Indian Ocean. Together, these incredible stories build a picture of World War II as it has never been viewed before.

A captivating history of the highly secret group of women who helped win the Second World War.The World War II codebreaking station at Bletchley is well known and its activities documented in detail. Its decryption capabilities were vital to the war effort, significantly aiding Allied victory. But where did the messages being deciphered come from in the first place?This is the extraordinary untold story of the Y-Service, a secret even more closely guarded than Bletchley Park. The Y-Service was the code for the chain of wireless intercept stations around Britain and all over the world. Hundreds of wireless operators, many of them who were civilians, listened to German, Italian and Japanese radio networks and meticulously logged everything they heard. Some messages were then used tactically but most were sent on to Station X—Bletchley Park—where they were deciphered, translated and consolidated to build a comprehensive overview of the enemy’s movements and intentions.Peter Hore delves into the fascinating history of the Y-service, with particular reference to the girls of the Women’s Royal Naval Service: Wrens who escaped from Singapore to Colombo as the war raged, only to be torpedoed in the Atlantic on their way back to Britain; the woman who had a devastatingly true premonition that disaster would strike on her way to Gibraltar; the Australian who went from being captain of the English Women’s Cricket team to a WWII Wren to the head of Abbotleigh girls school in Sydney; how the Y-service helped to hunt the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic, and how it helped to torpedo a Japanese cruiser in the Indian Ocean. Together, these incredible stories build a picture of World War II as it has never been viewed before.“We get to see how the work of individual Wrens helped in such operations as the interception and sinking of the Bismarck, the Slapton Sands disaster, several naval battles (Channel Dash, Matapan, etc.), the ongoing small warship clashes in coastal waters, convoy defense, and more. A good read for anyone interested in the naval side of the war in Europe or in the role of women in military service.” —The NYMAS Review“Will reward a patient reader with a remarkably intimate view into the lives and times of these hidden heroes.” —Naval Historical Foundation

A captivating history of the highly secret group of women who helped win the Second World War.The World War II codebreaking station at Bletchley is well known and its activities documented in detail. Its decryption capabilities were vital to the war effort, significantly aiding Allied victory. But where did the messages being deciphered come from in the first place?This is the extraordinary untold story of the Y-Service, a secret even more closely guarded than Bletchley Park. The Y-Service was the code for the chain of wireless intercept stations around Britain and all over the world. Hundreds of wireless operators, many of them who were civilians, listened to German, Italian and Japanese radio networks and meticulously logged everything they heard. Some messages were then used tactically but most were sent on to Station X—Bletchley Park—where they were deciphered, translated and consolidated to build a comprehensive overview of the enemy’s movements and intentions.Peter Hore delves into the fascinating history of the Y-service, with particular reference to the girls of the Women’s Royal Naval Service: Wrens who escaped from Singapore to Colombo as the war raged, only to be torpedoed in the Atlantic on their way back to Britain; the woman who had a devastatingly true premonition that disaster would strike on her way to Gibraltar; the Australian who went from being captain of the English Women’s Cricket team to a WWII Wren to the head of Abbotleigh girls school in Sydney; how the Y-service helped to hunt the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic, and how it helped to torpedo a Japanese cruiser in the Indian Ocean. Together, these incredible stories build a picture of World War II as it has never been viewed before.“We get to see how the work of individual Wrens helped in such operations as the interception and sinking of the Bismarck, the Slapton Sands disaster, several naval battles (Channel Dash, Matapan, etc.), the ongoing small warship clashes in coastal waters, convoy defense, and more. A good read for anyone interested in the naval side of the war in Europe or in the role of women in military service.” —The NYMAS Review“Will reward a patient reader with a remarkably intimate view into the lives and times of these hidden heroes.” —Naval Historical Foundation

The curiously named HMS Pickle was the second-smallest British ship in Nelson’s fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. She acquired enduring fame, however, as the ship that carried Lord Collingwood’s dispatch announcing the death, in the midst of battle, of Nelson.A topsail schooner and deemed too small to take part in the line of battle, Pickle and ships like it were essential in the transmission of communication. Relaying messages between admiral and Admiralty, the rapid movement of these ships pioneered an early worldwide web of information that helped secure a British victory over Napoleon.In this revised and updated edition, Captain Peter Hore describes the Pickle’s beginnings as a civilian vessel, her arming for naval use and the pivotal role she played in Admiral Cornwallis’s inshore squadron keeping watch over the French and Spanish. This full and captivating history narrates a colourful story of one small ship and the courage and resolution of her determined crew.

...It is remarkable that one man should have been involved in so much action in so few years...I commend his biography to the reader: ...by any standard he was a hero, and he tells his life's story with modesty and humour.Extract from the Foreword by Admiral Lord Boyce Captain Mervyn Wingfield was one of the last of his generation of submariners who made their reputation in the Second World War. Pre-war he had served on the China station and lived the riotous life of a young officer; in the war he commanded three submarines, Umpire, Sturgeon and Taurus, survived a collision in the North Sea, spent a winter in the Arctic, penetrated the Norwegian fjords submerged through a minefield, surfaced off St Nazaire in view of German guns to act as a navigation marker for the raiding force, fought cavalry in the northern Aegean, and later, off Penang, was the first British submariner to sink a Japanese submarine - and barely survived the subsequent, vicious counterattack after Taurus was severely damaged and became stuck in the mud at the bottom. Any one of these incidents would have merited a place for Wingfield in the history of naval warfare and the pantheon of submarine heroes.The Royal Navy's most senior submariner, Admiral Lord Boyce, notes in his Foreword that the diesel-powered submarines in which both men served were not so different, but the risks which Wingfield took in wartime were greater and Lord Boyce admired the way in which Wingfield led his crew and was loved by them. Many men were burned-out by the war, but in the postwar years Wingfield enjoyed a successful peacetime career in the Royal Navy where, finally, his personal qualities and his diplomacy were put to the test as a naval attache. In retirement Wingfield was well-known for hosting lively beef and Stilton lunches at the London Boat Show! He was also one of the last of the generations of Anglo-Irish families who served the Crown and provided officers and men for the Army and the Navy, and his story additionally gives some insights into his early days, especially with regard to being a young officer in the Royal Navy in the 1930s.

The autobiography of Tony Bentley-Buckle, a child of the Empire who was left to grow up in the care of maiden aunts. Having joined the Royal Navy before the war, he found himself on the Northern Patrol during the blockade of Germany and as a teenager in command of captured ships. When he brought a ship through the minefields into Scapa Flow, the young Midshipman Bentley-Buckle was interviewed by the famously ferocious Admirax Max Horton who recommended him for advanced promotion. In a fit of derring-do he volunteered for 'special service' without knowing what this meant and began training for one of Britain's secret navies. As a beach commando he was one of the first ashore at the Allied landings on Sicily and one of the first Allied officers to cross the Straits of Messina. On Reggio beach he became one of the few people to order General Montgomery to stop talking and not to block the exit of the beach! He was soon seconded even deeper into British secret services when he was lent to MI9, the escape and evasion agency, helping to rescue hundreds of British prisoners of war in Italy.He was captured in a fierce hand-to-hand battle with the Germans, escaped, recaptured and was badly-beaten, eventually reaching Prisoner-of-War Camp 'Marlag O'. There he helped organise one the cheekiest escapes from a prisoner-of-war camp by making the eyes for a dummy known as 'Albert RN'. Post-war he learned to fly, sailed a small boat to East Africa and founded a shipping empire and an airline. This is a remarkable and exciting true story including escape and evasion behind enemy lines in Italy, Yugoslavia and Germany; life in a prisoner-of-war camp and adventure in the Indian Ocean.

Captain Mervyn Wingfield was one of the last of his generation of submariners who made their reputation in the Second World War. Pre-war he had served on the China station and lived the riotous life of a young officer; in the war he commanded three submarines, Umpire, Sturgeon and Taurus, survived a collision in the North Sea, spent a winter in the Arctic, penetrated the Norwegian fjords submerged through a minefield, surfaced off St Nazaire in view of German guns to act as a navigation marker for the raiding force, fought cavalry in the northern Aegean, and later, off Penang, was the first British submariner to sink a Japanese submarine – and barely survived the subsequent, vicious counterattack after Taurus was severely damaged and became stuck in the mud at the bottom. Any one of these incidents would have merited a place for Wingfield in the history of naval warfare and the pantheon of submarine heroes.The Royal Navy’s most senior submariner, Admiral Lord Boyce, notes in his Foreword that the diesel-powered submarines in which both men served were not so different, but the risks which Wingfield took in wartime were greater and Lord Boyce admired the way in which Wingfield led his crew and was loved by them. Many men were burned-out by the war, but in the postwar years Wingfield enjoyed a successful peacetime career in the Royal Navy where, finally, his personal qualities and his diplomacy were put to the test as a naval attaché.In retirement Wingfield was well-known for hosting lively beef and Stilton lunches at the London Boat Show! He was also one of the last of the generations of Anglo-Irish families who served the Crown and provided officers and men for the Army and the Navy, and his story additionally gives some insights into his early days, especially with regard to being a young officer in the Royal Navy in the 1930s.

The autobiography of Tony Bentley-Buckle, a child of the Empire who was left to grow up in the care of maiden aunts. Having joined the Royal Navy before the war, he found himself on the Northern Patrol during the blockade of Germany and as a teenager in command of captured ships. When he brought a ship through the minefields into Scapa Flow, the young Midshipman Bentley-Buckle was interviewed by the famously ferocious Admirax Max Horton who recommended him for advanced promotion. In a fit of derring-do he volunteered for ‘special service’ without knowing what this meant and began training for one of Britain’s secret navies. As a beach commando he was one of the first ashore at the Allied landings on Sicily and one of the first Allied officers to cross the Straits of Messina. On Reggio beach he became one of the few people to order General Montgomery to stop talking and not to block the exit of the beach!He was soon seconded even deeper into British secret services when he was lent to MI9, the escape and evasion agency, helping to rescue hundreds of British prisoners of war in Italy. He was captured in a fierce hand-to-hand battle with the Germans, escaped, recaptured and was badly-beaten, eventually reaching Prisoner-of-War Camp ‘Marlag O’. There he helped organise one the cheekiest escapes from a prisoner-of-war camp by making the eyes for a dummy known as ‘Albert RN’. Post-war he learned to fly, sailed a small boat to East Africa and founded a shipping empire and an airline.This is a remarkable and exciting true story including escape and evasion behind enemy lines in Italy, Yugoslavia and Germany; life in a prisoner-of-war camp and adventure in the Indian Ocean.

David Balme will be forever known as the 20-year-old hero who, on 9 May 1941, boarded a German U-boat in mid-Atlantic, and captured one of the greatest secrets of the Second World War. This capture - or 'pinch' as it was known within secret, inner circles - changed the course of the Battle of the Atlantic and shortened the war itself.Balme was part of a team comprising officers and men of the Third Escort Group ably led by Commander Joe Baker Cresswell, also commander of HMS Bulldog, who shared the danger with other unsung heroes such as Lieutenant Commander George Dodds. Balme was tasked with taking the Bulldog's whaler and a small party to board the U-boat U-110 which had been disabled. However he was alone when initially boarding, entering and searching the U-boat. This put him in a vulnerable position while descending into the vessel - he risked being shot by any German submariner that may have remained or blown-up by a booby-trap device. Furthermore he could have drowned when Bulldog disappeared into the mists of the Atlantic to hunt another U-boat, as U-110 could have plummeted into the depths at any time. However, where others tried and failed or tragically lost their lives, Balme and his boarding party succeeded magnificently in capturing an entire Enigma machine, the essential rotors and months' worth of associated cipher material. This was an absolute gift to the code breakers at Bletchley Park who were able to read all the secret German naval signal traffic for some months and it enabled them to read virtually the whole of the traffic for the rest of the war and with little delay. The capture was kept so secret that few even on the British side knew about it - not even the Americans were told what had been achieved after they entered the war. Balme returned from the war and never spoke about the secret capture which he believed would be hidden forever. The story of the capture and ransack of U-110 is told for the first time in the words and letters of David Balme, his captain Joe Baker Cresswell, George Dodds and others who took part in the most important submarine capture of the whole war. Besides the capture of U-110, Balme enjoyed an astonishing variety of wartime experience including the Spanish Civil War, the Palestine Patrol, the sinking of HMS Courageous, the Battle of Convoy KJF3, the fight with the heavy cruiser Hipper, the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Battle of Convoy OB318, being sunk during Operation Harpoon, the air war in the Western Desert, the high level diplomacy of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and pioneering work as a Fighter Direction Officer in the war against Japan.

David Balme will be forever known as the 20-year-old hero who, on 9 May 1941, boarded a German U-boat in mid-Atlantic, and captured one of the greatest secrets of the Second World War. This capture – or ‘pinch’ as it was known within secret, inner circles – changed the course of the Battle of the Atlantic and shortened the war itself.Balme was part of a team comprising officers and men of the Third Escort Group ably led by Commander Joe Baker Cresswell, also commander of HMS Bulldog, who shared the danger with other unsung heroes such as Lieutenant Commander George Dodds. Balme was tasked with taking the Bulldog’s whaler and a small party to board the U-boat U-110 which had been disabled. However he was alone when initially boarding, entering and searching the U-boat. This put him in a vulnerable position while descending into the vessel - he risked being shot by any German submariner that may have remained or blown-up by a booby-trap device. Furthermore he could have drowned when Bulldog disappeared into the mists of the Atlantic to hunt another U-boat, as U-110 could have plummeted into the depths at any time. However, where others tried and failed or tragically lost their lives, Balme and his boarding party succeeded magnificently in capturing an entire Enigma machine, the essential rotors and months’ worth of associated cipher material. This was an absolute gift to the code breakers at Bletchley Park who were able to read all the secret German naval signal traffic for some months and it enabled them to read virtually the whole of the traffic for the rest of the war and with little delay. The capture was kept so secret that few even on the British side knew about it – not even the Americans were told what had been achieved after they entered the war. Balme returned from the war and never spoke about the secret capture which he believed would be hidden forever. The story of the capture and ransack of U-110 is told for the first time in the words and letters of David Balme, his captain Joe Baker Cresswell, George Dodds and others who took part in the most important submarine capture of the whole war. Besides the capture of U-110, Balme enjoyed an astonishing variety of wartime experience including the Spanish Civil War, the Palestine Patrol, the sinking of HMS Courageous, the Battle of Convoy KJF3, the fight with the heavy cruiser Hipper, the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Battle of Convoy OB318, being sunk during Operation Harpoon, the air war in the Western Desert, the high level diplomacy of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and pioneering work as a Fighter Direction Officer in the war against Japan.

No Uncertain Sound by Capt. Peter Hore is a deeply researched and authoritative biography of Admiral Sir Jock Slater, one of the most influential figures in modern Royal Navy history. Drawing on extensive archival material, personal diaries, and more than 100 interviews, the book provides a compelling insight into the leadership, strategy, and defence reforms that shaped the British armed forces during the final decades of the Cold War.Tracing Slater’s distinguished naval career through to his appointment as First Sea Lord from 1995 to 1998, the book explores pivotal moments in the evolution of British naval and air power. It reveals previously untold stories surrounding nuclear defence policy, UK–Russia relations, the development of British Maritime Doctrine, the integration of women at sea, and the ending of the ban on gay personnel in the armed forces.Rich in historical detail and personal testimony, No Uncertain Sound offers a fascinating portrait of military leadership at the highest level, while also examining Admiral Slater’s relationships with political leaders, senior defence figures, and the Royal Family.Ideal for readers interested in Royal Navy history, Cold War military strategy, British defence policy and naval leadership. This definitive biography is an essential contribution to modern maritime history and late twentieth-century British military affairs.