Submariners are a special breed. Not for them a life on the ocean wave, the fresh air and sunshine of other naval sailors. With stealth and daring they go deep and dark, alone and unseen, in often dangerous waters. They sometimes call themselves the Silent Service, with good reason.Australian submariners have done extraordinary deeds in the First and Second World Wars and, more recently, the Cold War. In April 1915 the Australian submarine AE2 penetrated the Dardanelles St...

When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the British asked Australia for help. With some misgivings, the Australian government sent five destroyers to beef up the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean.HMAS Vendetta, Vampire, Voyager, Stuart and Waterhen were old ships, small with worn-out engines. Their crews used to joke they were held together by string and chewing gum; when the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels ...

The cruiser HMAS Australia II and the Pacific War on JapanIn 1924, the grand old battle cruiser HMAS Australia I was sunk off Sydney Heads. Once she had been the pride of the navy and the nation. She had saved Australia from an attack by a German squadron in the Pacific in World War I.But after the war she was obsolete, and a victim in the race to disarm after WWI. It was a day of national mourning when they blew the bottom out of her; she...

Mike Carlton was born to controversy. His father Jimmy, a renowned Olympic athlete and later a Catholic priest, married his mother after a whirlwind wartime courtship. This scandal was hushed up at first, but eventually it made headlines. Six years later, Jimmy Carlton died in his wife’s arms, felled by asthma.It was a tough beginning. Mike would have a Sydney suburban childhood where every penny counted. Unable to afford a university education, he left school at sixteen to begin a...

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...

**The definitive biography of the Australian cruiser HMAS Perth, and the brave men who sailed with her.**Of all the Australians who fought in the Second World War, none saw more action nor endured so much of its hardship and horror as the crew of the cruiser HMAS Perth. Most were young - many were still teenagers - from cities and towns, villages and farms across the nation. In three tumultuous years they did battle with the forces of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, the Vich...

Submariners are a special breed. Not for them a life on the ocean wave, the fresh air and sunshine of other naval sailors. With stealth and daring they go deep and dark, alone and unseen, in often dangerous waters. They sometimes call themselves the Silent Service, with good reason.Australian submariners have done extraordinary deeds in the First and Second World Wars and, more recently, the Cold War. In April 1915 the Australian submarine AE2 penetrated the Dardanelles St...

The British Admiralty's telegram arrived at Navy Office in Melbourne, the order to go to all-out war. It was coldly succinct: TOTAL GERMANY . The war at sea had begun.When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the British asked Australia for help. With some misgivings, the Australian government sent five destroyers to beef up the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean.HMAS Vendetta, Vampire, Voyager, Stuart and Wat...

Throughout the twentieth century, the pilots of the Royal Australian Navy carved their name with pride to build a service that would take shape as the Navy's Fleet Air Arm.Australian naval aviators stood tall in the gallant ranks of the fighter Aces of World War 1.They fought, and some of them died, above the bloody trenches of France and Flanders, where - alone in the freezing, open cockpits of aircraft made from wood, wire and canvas - they duelled with the likes of Germany's lege...

Throughout the twentieth century, the pilots of the Royal Australian Navy carved their name with pride to build a service that would take shape as the Navy’s Fleet Air Arm.Australian naval aviators stood tall in the gallant ranks of the fighter Aces of World War 1.They fought, and some of them died, above the bloody trenches of France and Flanders, where - alone in the freezing, open cockpits of aircraft made from wood, wire and canvas - they duelled with the likes of Germany’s leg...

Y is for Youths is the twenty-fifth book in an epic series of twenty-six horror anthologies. On these pages you will discover a selection of thirteen unsettling tales from some of the most talented independent horror authors writing today. From terrifying doppelgangers to vengeful spirits, from Satan's very own offspring to young serial killers in the making, Y is for Youths will make you fear all children, no matter how innocent they may seem.