British Naval Fiction

The H.M.S. Leopard pulled into the bay of Pulo Batang looking more like a shabby merchant ship that a man-of-war. The crew had endured a calamitous voyage plagued by gaol-fever, pursued by the Dutch Waakzaamheid, and struck by an iceberg. Suffice it to say, Jack Aubrey was ready for home.

Patrick O'Brian transports you to the high seas of the Napoleonic era when the French demagogue is making a desperate attempt to control the European world. While Napoleon pursues the British across Europe, rumors fly about him forging a secret link with the forces of Islam. Soon an ominous horde of Muslim mercenaries gather.

Jack Aubrey, Post Captain in the British Royal Navy, is suffused with happiness. The Shannon's engagement with the U.S. Chesapeake off the New England coast has resulted in victory, just another in a long string of them for Aubrey, nicknamed Lucky Jack for his tendency to win big. But Jack is less sure-footed by land than by sea.

At the opening of his third novel in an ongoing adventure series by Patrick O'Brian, Jack Aubrey is cruising off Cape Sicie when his friend Stephen Maturin (more serenely situated in Sussex) is informed of the Board's decision regarding Aubrey's prize money, taken after victorious engagement with a Spanish squadron at Cape Santa Maria. The money, five million pieces of eight, is not, as is the custom of war, to be divided among the crews of the four victorious vessels.

As we begin The Whole Wide World, the fifth novel in the Rian and Mouse series, Captain Alois Bumper has officially become the commodore of his own line, The Blue Water Packet and Navigation Co., after he buys a second ship as a running mate to Cleo. This causes what Tom and Bumper call “happy problems,” as their first course of action is to spruce up the new vessel and then fill any remaining crew berths in the ships. Mouse has been promoted to First Mate aboard the new packet, business is good at The Two Barrels, and Sofus and his new ‘Da’ have settled in together quite famously. ...

Life has dealt him an unfair hand, leaving him with few options. Will a chance encounter with a caring American colonial family provide a poor English boy with a stable home, or will the boy be lost in events that are spiraling out of control? Peter Smith, a boy of humble beginnings, is a testament to the human spirit. Despite his impoverished upbringing, abduction, and mistreatment, he refuses to be defined by his circumstances. Born into poverty and hopelessness on the streets of Portsmouth, England, Peter is forced into a life of crime just to survive. His resilience is tested when he is...

Naval combat underwent a significant metamorphosis during World War II. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan launched some of the most powerful battleships ever to sail the world's oceans, yet the conflict witnessed the emergence and triumph of the aircraft carrier as the 20th century's true monarch of the seas. Submarine warfare expanded and developed while aircraft technology and doctrine experienced several revolutionary changes due to the unforgiving demands of the new combat environment.

Book Three of the Nicholas Cruwys Naval Series This book continues the voyages and career of Nicholas Cruwys begun in Soundings Edge and Latitudes Edge. Preliminary peace negotiations have begun in Paris in January 1783 to formally end the global contest that began with the American war of independence, with the terms of peace hanging in the balance. Nicholas Cruwys finds himself temporarily outside naval service, commanding the East India Company ship Ganges on a mission that exists in the shadows between commerce and warfare. Ganges must intercept the heavily armed French merchant vessel ...

The first in an action-packed spy series introducing Lieutenant Dragan Kelly. It is 1942. HMS Visigoth has been torpedoed off the coast of German occupied Norway. Sole survivor Lieutenant Dragan Kelly finds himself behind enemy lines, unsure who to trust. The Norwegian resistance share rumours about a mysterious Nazi plant where an Armageddon weapon of terrifying power is under construction. Should Kelly escape to Russia or stay and investigate it? And what of the stunningly beautiful but enigmatic resistance fighter Sybilla? Kelly falls in love with her, but is she all she claims to be? ...

No one is to be trusted and Donland is to use every trick available to him to succeed. The forces arrayed against him are powerful as well as influential. He must deceive and evade those who attempt to stop him from reaching a wreck on an island in the Indian Ocean. The Admiralty and The Honorable East India Company give him the authority to command any vessel he boards. He uses that authority no matter the objections of the captains of the merchantmen or the naval ships he boards. Having journey from the Mediterranean, across Egyptian deserts then marooned on an island, he finds himself ...

When MI5 agent Dragan Kelly gets word of a ‘priceless treasure’ heard spoken of by Eva Braun in Hitler’s bunker, he’s certain of one thing. He must be the one to find it. Reunited with his team - the enigmatic and unpredictable Sybilla Thorstaadt, and the ‘mad’ priest Wolfgang Rahn - Kelly enlists the help of a tough ex-German paratrooper, Horst Manteufel, the last guard commander in Hitler’s bunker. As Kelly expects, nothing is straightforward. Every step they take is dogged by the sinister and mysterious Thule secret society. If that wasn’t enough, Gestapo chief Heinrich...

Based on the personal diary of a British engineer, this novel takes readers inside the uncertainty, courage and sacrifice behind the Dunkirk evacuation. “I am ordered to commandeer this vessel, immediately, for use by the navy and to take command of it!” The words were spoken by a naval sub-lieutenant to Ben Bainbridge, captain of the motor vessel Bee. The crew of the small ship were unloading a consignment of steel plates on to the quay in Portsmouth dockyard. They were looking forward to sailing back to their home harbour, Newport, Isle of Wight, in time for supper. But that was not ...

'Paints a vivid picture of life aboard the mighty ship-of-the-line' - Daily Express 1811. The Adriatic, the 'French Lake', is now the most valuable territory Napoleon Bonaparte possesses. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd finds his glorious return to England cut short when the Admiralty summons him to...

Can an elderly man, lying alone on his deathbed, find the courage to mend his broken relationships with his children before it’s too late? Admiral Arthur Barclay, a man who has dedicated his life to the Royal Navy, has a story that will tug at your heartstrings. His frequent absences, a result of his service, left his wife to raise their four children alone. He reconciles his lack of time spent with his family to the duties he must attend to. It was a choice he made, knowing the regrets he would face. His emotional journey and the impact of his decisions on his family will resonate with ...

London, 1887. The Empire's greatest threat comes from within. As Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee approaches, American intelligence officers Sophie Baumann and Meade Meadows stumble upon a conspiracy that could reshape the world: a cabal within the British Admiralty plans to provoke war with Spain through a staged attack in the Caribbean. The plot is sophisticated and deadly. A stolen Spanish warship. British officers posing as the enemy. An American diplomat's money funding it all. And the conspiracy's true goal isn't just war—it's regime change in London. Working from the shadows of ...