First Victory: The Hunt for the German Raider Emden
Oct 2013 · Sold by Random House Australia
4.5star
2 reviews
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496
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About this ebook
HMAS Sydney's hunt for the German raider, Emden.
When the ships of the new Royal Australian Navy made their grand entry into Sydney Harbour in October 1913, a young nation was at peace.
Under a year later Australia had gone to war in what was seen as a noble fight for king, country and Empire. Thousands of young men joined up for the adventure of having ‘a crack at the Kaiser’. And indeed the German threat to Australia was real, and very near – in the Pacific islands to our north, and in the Indian Ocean.
In the opening months of the war, a German raider, Emden, wreaked havoc on the maritime trade of the British Empire. Its battle against the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney, when it finally came, was short and bloody – an emphatic first victory at sea for the fledgling Royal Australian Navy.
This is the stirring story of the perilous opening months of the Great War and the bloody sea battle that destroyed the Emden in a triumph for Australia that resounded around the world.
In the century since, many writers have been there before Mike Carlton. Most were German, some of them survivors of the battle, others later historians, and they have generally told the story well. British accounts vary in quality, from good to nonsense, and there have been some patchwork American attempts as well. Curiously, there has been very little written from an Australian point of view. This book is – in part – an attempt to remedy that, with new facts and perspectives brought into the light of day.
When the ships of the new Royal Australian Navy made their grand entry into Sydney Harbour in October 1913, a young nation was at peace.
Under a year later Australia had gone to war in what was seen as a noble fight for king, country and Empire. Thousands of young men joined up for the adventure of having ‘a crack at the Kaiser’. And indeed the German threat to Australia was real, and very near – in the Pacific islands to our north, and in the Indian Ocean.
In the opening months of the war, a German raider, Emden, wreaked havoc on the maritime trade of the British Empire. Its battle against the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney, when it finally came, was short and bloody – an emphatic first victory at sea for the fledgling Royal Australian Navy.
This is the stirring story of the perilous opening months of the Great War and the bloody sea battle that destroyed the Emden in a triumph for Australia that resounded around the world.
In the century since, many writers have been there before Mike Carlton. Most were German, some of them survivors of the battle, others later historians, and they have generally told the story well. British accounts vary in quality, from good to nonsense, and there have been some patchwork American attempts as well. Curiously, there has been very little written from an Australian point of view. This book is – in part – an attempt to remedy that, with new facts and perspectives brought into the light of day.
Ratings and reviews
4.5
2 reviews
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December 1, 2017
Good book.
About the author
In a working life of more than fifty years, Mike Carlton was one of Australia's best-known media figures in radio, television and newspapers.
Beginning as a cadet journalist at the ABC, he became a war correspondent in Vietnam and for three years was the ABC's Bureau Chief in Jakarta. He also reported for the ABC from London, New York and major Asian capitals. In television, he worked on the ABC's groundbreaking This Day Tonight current affairs program in the 1970s and for Nine Network News and A Current Affair.
In 1980 Mike turned to talk radio, first at Sydney's 2UE and then 2GB, and later at London’s LBC Newstalk 97.3FM, where he won a coveted Sony Radio Academy award in 1993 for Britain's best talk breakfast show. His radio satire on current affairs, Friday News Review, was ‘must listening’ in Australia and the UK.
For many years he wrote a popular weekly column for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Mike has had a life-long passion for naval history and is the author of Cruiser, First Victory, Flagship and The Scrap Iron Flotilla.
Beginning as a cadet journalist at the ABC, he became a war correspondent in Vietnam and for three years was the ABC's Bureau Chief in Jakarta. He also reported for the ABC from London, New York and major Asian capitals. In television, he worked on the ABC's groundbreaking This Day Tonight current affairs program in the 1970s and for Nine Network News and A Current Affair.
In 1980 Mike turned to talk radio, first at Sydney's 2UE and then 2GB, and later at London’s LBC Newstalk 97.3FM, where he won a coveted Sony Radio Academy award in 1993 for Britain's best talk breakfast show. His radio satire on current affairs, Friday News Review, was ‘must listening’ in Australia and the UK.
For many years he wrote a popular weekly column for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Mike has had a life-long passion for naval history and is the author of Cruiser, First Victory, Flagship and The Scrap Iron Flotilla.
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