Closed-up, quiet, ready, Wind Rode waited for her enemies, apparently no different from any other time under threatened attack.Yet the real enemy was there, but invisible, having done its work in the minds of her men. Always in past action they had put their complete trust in Captain Peter Bentley and his first-lieutenant, Bob Randall, glad of the close bond which existed between them.Only one thing could come betw...

It was as if something were driving Commander Valance to get right in where the shot and shell were thickest … driving him above and beyond the call of duty. And whether they liked it or not, the men in the destroyer Sabre knew their lives depended on his judgement …

"All the officers are dead," the coxswain said. "You'll take orders from me."He was an expert steersman and, though his navigation knowledge and ship-handling ability were elementary, he knew enough to get Roper home … whilst she steered a steady course in the open seas.They were trained and responsible men, but all their naval lives they had been used to the instant and unequivocal obeying of orders.No one dared think how much he'd match the trained abilit...

WHEN THE SKY SCREAMS, COURAGE ANSWERS ..."Cease firing!" roared Brady. "Stand-by barrage."The uproar died. For the first time, sweating and thankful, the gun crews could look about them.What they saw was not reassuring. The bombers were dwindling to the southward but the Stukas were circling, like vultures preparing to fold their wings for the prey-clutching plummet."Come on, come on! " Brady adjured them. "Get these empties clear! If a man fou...

Bentley flirts with danger—and 'Wind Rode' is damaged in action…Bentley relaxes on a well-earned and eventful leave with his friend and first-lieutenant. Bob Randall…And finally the intrepid Australian commander takes his destroyer on a daring 'lone-wolf' mission—which official orders had assigned to a submarine!Another exciting story of Commander Peter Bentley before he becomes the flotilla leader…

A battle-hardened destroyer cuts through the Pacific at the height of World War II — and at its heart stands one unforgettable man: Chief Petty Officer William "Hooky" Walker. Tough, fearless, and fiercely loyal, Hooky has survived combat, betrayal, and the brutal demands of life at sea. With a steel hook in place of his right hand and a reputation forged in fire, he keeps discipline aboard the Wind Rode with sharp eyes and sharper instincts.But danger doesn't only come fr...

In the book immediately prior to this one, titled Command Decision, Jim Brady, now able-seaman after bucking a four-ringed captain, saw for the first time, to his horror, his new ship. ("New" is a most kindly euphemism.) In Pelican he met her captain, a chap named Holland; her first lieutenant, Matheson; and a dark wild Irishman named O'Connel — all of whom you probably have already met yourselves.During an air attack on the British Mediterranean Fleet in Alexandr...

"Master-at-Arms," said Beamish, but kept the triumph out of his voice. "The charge is gross insubordination."A minute later Petty-officer Brady was Able-seaman Brady. All his dedication and hard work and ambition gone down the offal chute. The first official indication of this came in Mallard's order. A petty-officer, even if a defaulter, quick-marches away from the table.Having passed sentence, the captain went quickly aft to his cabin. The officers dispersed. Only Lieutenan...

The Jap submarine had been rammed, it was on fire. It should have surrendered.Unarmed but for their seamen's knives, shocked into temporary immobility, the astounded depth-charge crews on wind Rode's quarterdeck saw a horde of savage me jump, and grab hold, and clamber through the guard rails with sub-machine guns and pistols in their fists.Captain Bentley had been looking astern, watchful of his screws so close to that other steel. He also was astonished, ...

Against the blazing backdrop of the Mediterranean war, an aging Australian destroyer named Pelican becomes the last ship anyone expects to survive—let alone fight. Rust-streaked, outgunned, and mocked by the sleek warships around her, she is commanded by the fiercely independent Lieutenant-Commander John "Dutchy" Holland, a passed-over officer whose career is as battered as the ship he loves.When the order comes to "Abandon and Destroy," Holland refuses to surrender either...

Royal Australian Navy Commander Bentley knew this was the time for nothing but concentrated attack … This was no exercise, no leisure manoeuvre by which Wind Rode could show her competence. They were up against a desperate enemy submarine, a vehicle armed with explosive teeth and claws—the destructive potential of which they could not gauge. A terrifying secret weapon!

There were only seconds left, yet in that time Captain Bentley's mind encompassed several possibilities.The torpedo might be a dud. There might not have been time for the vanes of the firing pistol to screw right back against the detonator. The torpedo could have been dropped at too acute an angle, it might not regain the correct depth in time. The target ship might slip its doom.The possibilities were abruptly and irrevocably negatived in a giganticWHAM of soun...