1939 The Second World War at Sea in Photographs

Phil Carradice

jun 2014 · Amberley Publishing Limited

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In the first of a series of books, naval expert Phil Carradice takes us through the war at sea in 1939, using previously unpublished and rare images of the battles, the ships and the people involved. The Second World War at sea began badly for the Allies. On the day that war was declared, the unarmed passenger liner Athenia was sunk off Rockall, creating an uproar on both sides of the Atlantic. The same month saw the loss of HMS Courageous, a badly needed aircraft carrier, as well as the daring raid by Gunther Prien's U-49 on HMS Royal Oak while she was berthed in the supposedly safe anchorage of Scapa Flow during October. In the meantime, German commerce raiders were creating havoc in the South Atlantic. It was only in December that the battlecruiser Graf Spee was finally cornered and scuttled off Montevideo, giving the hard-pressed Allies some good news to end the year.

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Phil Carradice is a full time writer and broadcaster. He is a graduate of Cardiff University and UWIC in Cardiff and taught for thirty years, becoming Head of a large residential Special School. He has had numerous books published including novels, history, biography and poetry. He is a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 3 & 4 and on TV programmes such as The One Show. He presents The Past Master on BBC Radio Wales. He lives in the Vale of Glamorgan.