Books about the War at Sea

The following books are available for purchase from their author Brian Crabb. For more information about any of the books. Email Brian Crabb or write to:

Brian James Crabb,
24 Exeter Road, Portishead, Bristol, North Somerset, BS20 6YF, ENGLAND;
or telephone (0)117 9737613 (daytime) (0)1275 844229 (evenings).
The International dialling code for the UK is (44)

Book List

BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY
The loss of British Commonwealth mercantile and service women at sea during the Second World War by Brian James Crabb.
This book gives a critical account of every shipping disaster during the Second World War which involved the loss of British Commonwealth mercantile and service women. Just hours after Britain and France had declared war on Germany the Donaldson liner Athenia (4 women lost) was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in the Atlantic. The repercussions that followed ensured that mercantile movements were to be largely deployed in escorted convoys for the rest of the war. Many mercantile women decided to continue in their respective shipping companies. In four separate cases the George Medal was awarded for outstanding and unselfish bravery. Typical Convoy scene (80k)

Click on the image for enlarged view of SS Waroonga. Painted by Bristolian marine artist Robert Blackwell.

This powerful and largely unknown subject also includes the story of the City of Benares (4) which was transporting evacuee children to Canada, and the Aguila, which claimed the lives of all 22 service women on board. A chapter deals with the evacuation of Singapore; 21 women survivors of the Vyner Brooke, which was sunk by Japanese aircraft, were shot in the back in cold blood by Japanese soldiers at Muntok beach, on Bangka Island. Another 34 women were lost in the Ceramic, 11 more in the hospital ship Centaur and a staggering 77 service women, a third of the final total, in the troopship Khedive Ismail, the worst maritime disaster involving the loss of women in our entire history.

Other ships included in this extensive story are the losses of SS Yorkshire (2) MV Domala (2) MV Apapa (1) MV Rangitane (2) SS Almeda Star (2) SS Anchises (1) SS Britannia (4) SS Umona (1) SS Nerissa (2) SS St Patrick (1) SS Lady Hawkins (1) SS Kuala (6) SS Tandjong Pinang (1) SS Vyner Brooke (12) MV Manunda (1) SS Elysia (1) SS Avila Star (2) SS Gloucester Castle (1) SS Andalucia Star (1) MV Boringia (1) SS Orcades (1) MV Stentor (6) SS City of Cairo (2) SS Strathallan (4) HMS Fidelity (1) MV Amerika (2) SS Talamba (1) SS Newfoundland (6) and SS St David (2).

NB (Brackets) denote the number of mercantile/servive women lost in each ship.

The book includes many appendices, including the names and details of the 222 service/mercantile women lost at sea during the war. It also includes a list of honours and awards given to some of the women in this story and others. There are over a hundred illustrations.

Roll of Honour: Service and Mercantile women lost at sea during the Second World War were:


Dates that the ships shown below were sunk:

  • 3 September 1939 (SS Athenia)
  • 18 October 1939 (SS Yorkshire)
  • 2 March 1940 (MV Domala)
  • 17 September 1940 (SS City of Benares)
  • 15 November 1940 (MV Apapa)
  • 27 November 1940 (MV Rangitane)
  • 17 January 1941 (SS Almeda Star)
  • 27 February 1941 (SS Anchises)
  • 28 February 1941 (SS Anchises)
  • 25 March 1941 (SS Britannia)
  • 30 March 1941 (SS Umona)
  • 30 April 1941 (SS Nerissa)
  • 13 June 1941 (SS St Patrick)
  • 19 August 1941 (SS Aguila)
  • 19 January 1942 (SS Lady Hawkins)
  • 14 February 1942 (SS Kuala)
  • 14 February 1942 (MV Tandjong Pinang)
  • 15 February 1942 (SS Vyner Brooke)
  • 19 February 1942 (MV Manunda)
  • 5 June 1942 (SS Elysia)
  • 5 July 1942 (SS Avila Star)
  • 16 July 1942 (SS Gloucester Castle),
  • 6 October 1942 (SS Andalucia Star)
  • 7 October 1942 (MV Boringia)
  • 10 October 1942 (SS Orcades)
  • 27 October 1942 (MV Stentor)
  • 6 November 1942 (SS City of Cairo)
  • 21 December 1942 (SS Strathallan)
  • 30 December 1942 (HMS Fidelity)
  • 22 April 1943 (MV Amerika)
  • 14 May 1943 (MV Centaur)
  • 10 July 1943 (SS Talamba)
  • 13 September 1943 (SS Newfoundland)
  • 24 January 1944 (SS St David)
  • 12 February 1944 (SS Khedive Ismail).

ISBN 1 900289 66-0

Cased hardback (full-colour laminated), 118 illustrations, appendices, index etc., 252 x 192, 320 pages long. Launched 1 June 2006 @ £24.00p plus £4.75p postage and packing in the UK.

Review of Beyond the Call of Duty by Pat Derrick

Review of Beyond the Call of Duty by John Armstrong

 
THE FORGOTTEN TRAGEDY
The story of the loss of HMT Lancastria by Brian James Crabb
This book records the tragic story of the sinking of the troopship Lancastria, which was bombed and sunk by Junkers 88 bombers in the estuary of the River Loire, on Monday, 17 June 1940. Crammed with approximately 6,000 troops, RAF personnel, civilians and crew, a third of whom did not survive, this incident remains Britain’s worst-ever maritime disaster but, like many other shipping disasters of the Second World War, it remains little known today.

HMT Lancastria (80k)

Click on the image for enlarged view of HMT Lancastria.
Following the successful evacuation of Dunkirk only weeks before, Winston Churchill initially forbade media disclosure of the event. Over a month passed before the story eventually reached the national newspapers, via American journalists. This first in-depth study of the incident draws on many eye-witness accounts and previously unpublished papers, and includes 90 illustrations and many appendices, the first of which is a 40-page list of the names of all the men known to have been lost with the ship. The book presents pioneer research which, in addition to recording the true sequence of events in detail, attempts to establish for the first time a reliable figure of how many were lost on that day.

It has long been claimed that as many as five thousand men were lost, but Brian Crabb's research has established that the true figure is closer 2,000. Nevertheless, Lancastria’s position as Britain's worst disaster remains unchallenged.

The book is a large-format hardback of 293 pages, printed on quality paper and is beautifully illustrated with plans and photographs, including many of the actual sinking and rescue.

The Lancastria was a Cunard liner, sister to the Cameronia, built by William Beardmore and Co. of Dalmuir, Glasgow, in 1919-20. She was first named the Tyrrhenia, renamed Lancastria in 1924, and requisitioned for war service as a troop carrier in 1939.

The publication completes a trilogy of titles published by Shaun Tyas (Paul Watkins Publishing) commemorating and restoring to public attention the first-, second- and third-worst Allied mercantile disasters of the War (the loss of the Lancastria, the Laconia and the SS Khedive Ismail 1940, 1942 and 1944). A terrible co-incidence links the first-and second-worst disasters, for Lancastria’s surviving crew and captain (Rudolph Sharp) transferred to the Laconia after their rescue, thus taking part in the two most notorious Allied mercantile losses in the War.

Roll of Honour: List of casualties lost in the sinking of HMT Lancastria on 17 June 1940

Lancastria Association Scotland

The HMT Lancastria Association

Date of sinking (Lancastria) - 17 June 1940

ISBN 1 900289 50 4

Hardback with a full-colour cover, 293 pages long. Launched on 1 May 2002 at £l9.95p plus £4.00p postage and packing in the UK.

Review of the Forgotten Tragedy

 
PASSAGE TO DESTINY
The Story of the Tragic Loss of the SS Khedive Ismail by Brian James Crabb

SS Khedive Ismail (80k)

Click on the image for enlarged view of the SS Khedive Ismail.

 This book tells the untold story of the loss of the troopship SS Khedive Ismail in Convoy KR8 in February, 1944. No less than 1,297 people lost their lives in the space of the two minutes it took to sink the ship, including seventy-seven women (the single worst loss of female service personnel in the history of the British Commonwealth). Carrying 1,511 personnel from the Army and the Royal and Merchant Navies, the Khedive Ismail sank on Saturday 12 February 1944, torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-27 in the Indian Ocean. Only 208 men and 6 women survived the ordeal.
The submarine was depth-charged to the surface by the destroyers Paladin and Petard, and the book includes an account of their difficult but successful attempt to sink her, a campaign which forced the Navy to depth-charge the submarine through some of the survivors.

This compelling read draws on many eye-witness accounts and previously unpublished. Admiralty papers, many of which were not released for forty years because of their sensitivity, for the sinking of the Khedive Ismail was Britain's third worst Allied shipping disaster of the Second World War.

The book includes several appendices, including the names of the entire ship’s complement, and includes a generous fifty-three illustrations.

Roll of Honour: List of casualties lost in the sinking of SS Khedive Ismail on 12 February 1944

Includes list of Royal and Merchant Navy, Women's Royal Naval Service, Army, Maritime Regiment, Women's Territorial Service (East Africa) ex FANY, East African & Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Services and civilian personnel lost in the sinking of the SS Khedive Ismail on 12 February 1944 in the Indian Ocean.

Date of sinking (SS Khedive Ismail). - 12 February 1944

ISBN 1 900289 10 5

Hardback with a full-colour cover, 168 pages long. Launched on 6 September 1997 at £14.95p plus £2.00p postage and packing in the UK.

Review of Passage to Destiny

IN HARM’S WAY
The Story of HMS Kenya – a Second World War cruiser by Brian James Crabb
This book records the actions of the intrepid ‘Fiji’ class cruiser HMS Kenya and her many exploits throughout the Second World War and subsequent service until 1962, when she was scrapped. During the War she took part in many major events, the first of which was the pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck.

HMs Kenya (80k)

Click on the image for enlarged view of HMS Kenya.
During her convoy work she sank two enemy ships before joining in the clandestine raid on Vaagso, Norway, an operation forever known as ‘The Perfect Raid’. During the winter of 1941/2, Kenya endured the hardships of the Russian convoys and in the famous Malta convoy (Operation Pedestal) she sustained major damage to her bows. The book includes a powerful description of this heroic operation. Such was the tenacity of the enemy determination to sink the convoy, that only five supply ships out of fourteen, but one of which was the tanker Ohio, reached Valletta. This was the most bombarded convoy throughout the six years of the War, and the Royal Navy lost four of its warships in it, many others being damaged.

1945 did not spell the end of Kenya’s exploits, for she later served in the Korean War before being finally decommissioned in 1959. Her full story is here brilliantly told and beautifully complemented with a hundred and six illustrations.

Honours and Awards given to members of the crew of HMS Kenya from 1940 to 1959

Roll of Honour - HMS Kenya 1939 to 1962

ISBN 1 900289 02 4

Hardback with a full-colour cover, 250 pages long. Launched on 12 December 1998 at £19.95p plus £4.00p postage and packing in the UK.

Review of In Harm's Way

You can also contact us at Interactive Presentations Limited for further information.

Go to the top of the page | Interactive Presentations' Home Page