1942. In the Western Ocean, at the height of battle and from the bridge of his much-loved destroyer HMS Gladiator, Lieutenant-Commander David Howard's orders were chillingly clear. There could be no mercy. To the men who fought to protect the vital, threatened Merchant Navy convoys in the Western Approaches, the Battle of the Atlantic was full-scale war. It was a relentless, savage war against an ever-present enemy and a violent sea-in an arena known only to its embittered survivors as the killing ground. HMS Gladiator was part of that war. An ordinary, hard-worked destroyer and her company of men fighting for survival in a war with no rules.
This is a fictionalized account of the Battle of the Atlantic, which spanned nearly six years and was the longest military campaign of WWII. Keeping Britain supplied for the war required imports of more than a million tons of goods per week, most of which came from North America. The Allies lost 175 warships, 3,500 merchant ships, and more than 72,000 merchant and naval seamen in this battle.
Seen through both British and German eyes the title deals with the extreme perils of war at sea and is an excellent study in leadership, with characters that ring true.
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