"Sixty Minutes for St. George" by Alexander Fullerton

Volume Two of the Everard Naval Series

The action in this book takes place in late 1917 and early 1918. Lt. Nick Everard is assigned as the 1st Lieutenant on the destroyer Mackerel, captained by Commander Edward Wyatt. Wyatt thinks he is still in Nelson's navy and is a stern disciplinarian and risk-taker. Wyatt and Everard do not get along well but Wyatt tolerates Everard because he has enough sense to recognize a good officer. The Mackerel is assigned to the "Dover Patrol", chasing German raiders and trying to keep submarines from slipping through the British naval pickets. One night while laying mines off the French coast, the Mackerel runs into four German destroyers and Wyatt goes charging into battle without waiting for support from the other destroyers supporting the mine laying operation. What follows is an exciting action against superior odds. The Mackerel survives the encounter but is heavily damaged and out of action.

After some training in CMBs (coastal motor boats), Nick Everard is then given command of the old destroyer Bravo, commissioned in 1897. The Bravo takes part in the daring raid on the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. The British planned to block the canal coming from inland, sink old ships along the wharf, and put marines and armed sailors ashore to do as much damage to the port facilities as possible. The action ashore and at sea is is hot and Everard is in the thick of it. The Zeebrugge raid was an actual event that cost the British heavy casualties but met with limited success.

This is a fine novel about destroyer action in World War I. Fullerton includes a lot of information on ship handling, armaments, and general life aboard one of His Majesty's ships.

Volume One "The Blooding of the Guns" gives an outstanding fictionalized account of the Battle of Jutland which took place in late May of 1916. The indecisive Battle of Jutland was the largest naval battle of World War I. The British, under Adm. Jellicoe, learned the folly for their lightly armored battlecruisers. The German fleet under Adm. Scheer exacted a heavy toll on the British but had to break off the action and return to port, never challenging the British main fleet again in World War I.

Reviewed by Kenneth S. Smith, USVeterans.com, 31 May 2002

Published by:
Soho Press, Inc.
853 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

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