Naval Warfare Fiction

Iain Ballantyne considers the key episodes of submarine warfare and vividly describes the stories of brave individuals who have risked their lives under the sea, often with fatal consequences. His analysis of underwater conflict begins with Archimedes discovering the principle of buoyancy. This clandestine narrative then moves through the centuries and focuses on prolific characters with deadly motives.

Command of the oceans was crucial to winning World War II. By the start of 1942 Nazi Germany had conquered mainland Europe, and Imperial Japan had overrun Southeast Asia and much of the Pacific. How could Britain and distant America prevail in what had become a "war of continents"? In this definitive account, Evan Mawdsley traces events at sea from the first U-boat operations in 1939 to the surrender of Japan. He argues that the Allied counterattack involved not just decisive sea battles, but a long struggle to control shipping arteries and move armies across the sea.

3 Explosive Award-Winning Thrillers From James Bultema, the award-winning author whose Red Lines hit #1 in Techno-Thrillers and whose novels have been hailed as some of the best military thrillers of the year, comes the explosive Sea of Red series. With thousands of copies sold and a reputation for relentless authenticity, Bultema delivers high-stakes naval combat, precision air warfare, and heart-pounding geopolitical conflict that keep readers on the edge of their seats. Now experience three full-length stand-alone thrillers in one gripping set. Each novel can be read independently, yet ...

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 ...

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...

The devastation of Pearl Harbor and the American victory at Midway were prelude to a greater challenge: rolling back the vast Japanese Pacific empire island by island. This masterful history encompasses the heart of the Pacific War - the period between mid-1942 and mid-1944 - when parallel Allied counteroffensives north and south of the equator washed over Japan's far-flung island empire like a "conquering tide", concluding with Japan's irreversible strategic defeat in the Marianas.

As the last starfighter, only Henry Gallant can stop the alien invasion. In an era of genetic engineering, Henry Gallant is the only Natural left in the United Planets' fleet. With the space fleet on the verge of annihilation from the alien invasion, analyzing the captured computer in Gallant's possession is critical to stopping them. He can expect no help as he navigates through threatening aliens on his way to Mars, and his shipmates doubt he is up to the challenge. But as the last starfighter in Squadron 111, the lives of his shipmates, as well as a good many others, depend on Henry ...

She was sold into sexual slavery at age seven. By thirty-five, she commanded 80,000 pirates and negotiated with empires as an equal. In 1801, Shi Yang was property—a flower boat prostitute in Canton with no future and no hope. By 1810, she was Zheng Yi Sao, the Pirate Queen, commander of the largest criminal fleet in history. This is the true story of how one woman transformed herself from victim to victor, building an empire on the South China Sea that neither the Chinese government nor European powers could destroy. Starting with nothing but intelligence and ruthless pragmatism, Shi ...

The worst place for a sailor is to be on the beach. Lord Howe’s words, “You will not be forgotten,” seem nothing more than an empty promise. Now married and with a baby on the way, his finances are steadily dwindling, and he is left no choice but to seek employment with The Honorable East India Company. Hope of a naval career is fading. When all seems hopeless, Donland has his dream fulfilled; he is given command of Wessex, a frigate. His orders send him to patrol the Coasts of Florida in the year 1790. He is to uncover a plot to undermine English negotiations to purchase Florida from...

They came to test a route. They stayed because they had no choice. October 2045. A Chinese naval task force enters the Northwest Passage, exercising legal transit rights through waters Canada once claimed as its own. The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) task force consists of a nuclear icebreaker, the Xuelong 3 (雪龙3) - "Snow Dragon 3", a collection of Arctic research vessels, and a last-minute addition: a Type 075 Yushen-class - Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) 40,000-ton amphibious assault ship/helicopter carrier with a thousand Chinese Marines who've spent six months training in the ...

"Masterful character development and impeccable historical detail. Ferrier has created something rare—a Pearl Harbor novel that's as much about identity as it is about war." "THE WEIGHT OF WATER delivers on every level—psychological depth, moral complexity, and the kind of prose that reminds you why you fell in love with literary fiction. This is Pulitzer-caliber work." "Ferrier doesn't just write about the USS Arizona—he makes you feel the weight of command, the cost of transformation, the burden of becoming real. Unforgettable." On December 7, 1941, at 0755 hours, Lieutenant Thomas ...

THE FIRST SHOT OF WORLD WAR III HAS ALREADY BEEN FIRED At 04:16 a.m., the sky over the Taiwan Strait ignites. Hypersonic missiles tear through the darkness. Air bases vanish in fire. Satellite networks go blind. Cyberwarfare cripples communications before a single official declaration can be made. By sunrise, the world is at war. In Invasion: World War III, J.T. Maddox delivers a relentless, high-stakes geopolitical thriller that plunges readers into the terrifying first hours of a global conflict decades in the making. This is not a limited strike. This is not a regional dispute. This is ...

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 ...

Winner of the Gold Medal in the Readers' Choice Awards! In June 1775, amid the Revolutionary War’s early stirrings, Irish Yankee Jeremiah O’Brien, seizes a British armed schooner off the Maine coast to thwart the cargo of lumber she was escorting from reaching British forces in Boston. Inspired by this daring victory, Jeremiah abandons his lumber business to command privateer vessels, relentlessly pursuing British merchant ships across dangerous waters. Defying the British navy’s tightening grip on the Massachusetts coast, he risks his life and his ships to capture many prizes. Yet ...

When sound is the only truth you can trust, every second is a verdict. 1943, Western Pacific. A damaged U.S. submarine stalks enemy waters on fumes and nerve, commanded by a skipper who believes courage is restraint. Through the headphones of Ash, the boat's sonarman, we enter a patrol of split-second choices: slipping a mined harbor by inches, shadowing an unmarked transport, and surfacing under smoke to pull survivors from burning water while enemy destroyers close. Ash hears death before anyone sees it—hedgehog patterns stepping closer, a torpedo turning back to hunt its maker, the ...

Operation Medusa History’s wounds never fully heal — and in the wrong hands, they can start a war. From the creator of the Specters of Athena universe comes a gripping new military thriller saga that blends real-world history, relentless action, and the razor’s edge of modern geopolitics. When Greece and Turkey collide in a dangerous dance of brinkmanship, the conflict is fought not only in contested waters and borderlands, but also in intelligence rooms, diplomatic corridors, and the shadows where truth is the first casualty. At the heart of the series is Nikolas “Strix” Andros ...

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.

The two sloops attacking the frigate are like hyenas at the tail of the lion. Donland in command of Oxford, fifty-four guns, joins the fight even though all three vessels are Spanish flagged. He sets himself on a path that risks his career and his ship. What follows is that Oxford is pitted against a French frigate and Spanish third-rate. Treachery and treason rear their ugly heads as France is embroiled in the beginnings of revolution. Gaining command of Oxford came about in fulfillment of a promise. A promise, though made in good faith, is despised by Admirals and Donland suffers the ...

Even the enemy whispered his name... Captain Jonathan Haraden’s coldblooded courage earned him the nickname “the Salamander”. Like the creature of old, his crew believed him immune to the fires of battle. At the Revolution’s outbreak, he joined the militia guarding the seacoast, yet his true calling lay on the open sea, and it soon drew him into the fledgling Massachusetts Navy. A dashing sea captain, tall and handsome, Jon captured hearts as easily as he captured ships, but his own belonged to Hannah, his young wife he lost to fever as the Revolution began. Devastated, he sets sail...

The ice that saved them is now killing them.When a Chinese naval task force's reactor begins venting radiation across Victoria Strait, Admiral Chen Weiming faces an impossible choice: stay aboard the dying ships and watch his people die slowly, or order 2,600 sailors and marines to walk 400 nautical miles across the Arctic—in December—with tropical gear and dwindling supplies.No rescue is coming. Beijing has gone silent. The Canadians are offering help, but Chen's orders forbid him from accepting it. And somewhere between his fleet and salvation, an isolated platoon has just triggered a...