Classic Edition

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Classic #1 "Stand By To Ram"

STAND BY TO RAM
THE SCIMITAR
WAS A STROKE OF FIRE
ON A SEA OF WHITE SPRAY
The ship was already at 25 knots and in the ridged sea she could take no more. Her nose was pointing straight at the cruiser's bridge.
Five thousand yards. God, why hadn't the enemy opened fire? Five thousnad yards! He couldn't miss.
And then he had opened, and a storm burst around them.
"Full ahead together" the captain said, his voice clear and slow, as if he were tasting every word.
"STAND BY TO RAM!"

Classic #11 "Frogman"

FROGMAN
THE UNDERWATER WARRIORS IN THE SILENT SERVICE
Whitey waited until the Jap frogman was three feet away before he lifted his knife and struck at the junction of neck and shoulder.
But water is highly resistant to abrupt movement, and this resistance caused Whitey's knife to deflect a few inches and it rasped harmlessly against the front of the enemy frogman's mask.
The Jap jerked his head back in an abrupt gesture of astonishment, and for a fraction of time Whitey stared into a contorted almond-eyed face. Then the Jap's hand went down to his knife.
Whitey knew that he had lost all advantage - now it would be a fight to the death! A ghostly struggle in a silent world. The world of the
FROGMAN
Lieutenant-Commander John Benedict "Dutchy" Holland

Classic #13 "Night Encounter"

NIGHT ENCOUNTER
THEY WERE FOUR HUNDRED YARDS CLEAR TO SEAWARD NOW, HIDDEN IN THE NIGHT
Hooky got the idea, and a searchlight, stupidly lighting on one of the enemy destroyers and holding her there as if for identification, clinched his thought.
"Skipper!" he jerked urgently. "Put the sub on the wheel and let me get down to the six pounder!"
He had to stop the enemy getting away scotfree from this
NIGHT ENCOUNTER
Lieutenant-Commander Gilling & Petty Officer William Walker

Classic #19 "The Captain"

THE CAPTAIN
EVERYTHING WAS READY.
It would take seconds now for A-turret to go into action.
He lifted himself up and one of the cordite numbers, a young able-seaman, said:
"Ah... is Dart back yet, sir?"
Gerard sank back quietly on the seat. So they knew. Not the full circumstances, but they were aware that he had sent the destroyer off on her rescue mission. Of course they would know, he told himself - news travels like a breath of wind in a ship... especially the sort of news that concerns and officer confined to his cabin.
Captain Richard Duncan

Classic #28 "Escort Ship"

ESCORT SHIP
"Enemy bridges in sight, sir. Course unchanged. Definitely Takao-class."
"Very good. Let me know..."
"Just a moment, sir!"
Still leaning sideways to the voice-pipe mouth, Bentley twisted his head round and up. All he could see was a pair of shoulders, a pair of binoculars held very steadily, and an old white canvas hat. Then the hat bent sideways.
"Enemy altering course towards, sir. They're... I think... yes, they're altering formation to line abreast."
Wind Rode met a long swell and her foc's'le lifted gently a further six feet.
"I can see the bow-waves now, sir. Almost lefel with the gunnels. I'd say about 30 knots. And I think they're sighted us sir."
"I think you're right, Norton," Bentley answered drily, "Good Work."
He came upright and Randall reported:
"Radar's in contact, sir. Range 15 miles, bearing right astern."
Bentley said two words, "Make smoke."
Waiting, Ferris swung to his signal-lamp, and the order for the first part of the battle plan, decided on by Bentley in the event of discovery by a superior enemy force, flashed back to the escorts.
Randall stepped forward to the edge of the bridge and pressed a large brass button.
Commander Peter Bentley

Classic #31 "The Lesson"

THE LESSON
Together they were sailing on an independent mission...
COMMANDER BENTLEY
- justly proud of his record and the ruthless efficiency of his destroyer Wind Rode, he was confident and eager for action
CAPTAIN SAINSBURY, V.C.
- deceptively prim and untigerish in appearance, he'd taught Bentley all he knew about naval tactics
No longer were they pupil and master, for the younger man had long since earned himself an outstanding reputation for bravery and skill. Yet now the cautious and cunning flotilla leader was to give Peter Bentley the greatest lesson of his service career...
Commander Bentley & Captain (D) Sainsbury

Classic #35 "Away Boarders!"

AWAY BOARDERS!
Lieutenant Peter Bentley's
FIRST COMMAND
... and in a matter of seconds the twin tracks of torpedoes could blow his ship into bits.
The ship was at full power, her rudder was hard over. There was absolutely nothing they could do.
Peter Bentley was to know some nasty moments in the years of war ahead, but nothing like those few seconds of waiting...
Lieutenant Peter Bentley

	Classic #38 "Battle Fire"
	BATTLE FIRE "Sink The French Fleet!" Those were Bentley's orders. The tough Australian commander knew that he hadn't a chance of taking 'Wind Rode' into the enemy-infested harbour - just a crazy one-man plan that would succeed only if he got there before the German E-boat. Captain Peter Bentley

Classic #43 "Abandon Ship"

ABANDON SHIP
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 gigantic WHAM of sound. "Wind Rode" reeled as if she had been clubbed.
Captain Peter Bentley

Classic #44 "Conflict"

CONFLICT
The bombers came on
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 Bentley and Randall, glad of the close bond which existed between their captain and first-lieutenant
Now the harmony and efficiency of the whole ship was dangerously affected
by the two men's bitter CONFLICT

	Classic #46

	Classic #49 "Decision"
	DECISION The Giant Carrier was on a capsize angle... It was Bentley's decision to run alongside and rescue her men, but to do this before she sank meant coming in on the dangerous low side. Should he risk his own ship and the lives of his men? Bentley was the only man who could make the dangerous DECISION. Captain Peter Bentley

	Classic #50 "Abandon And Destroy"
	ABANDON AND DESTROY Pelican was the oldest and slowest destroyer in the flotilla. Rust-streaked and narrow-gutted, lacking modern equipment, she would be no loss to the Royal Australian Navy. Yet her tough, casual captain commanding an apparently ill'disciplined crew proudly scorned the order to ABANDON AND DESTROY. CAPTAIN "Dutchy" Holland

	Classic #51 "The Pawn"
	THE PAWN Wind Rode's mission was to seek out and signal the position of the Japanese battleship... Bentley knew he was the pawn in this lethal game of naval chess and that his ship's survival depended on several factors. The same set of factors could enable him to engage and cripple the battleship - and Bentley saw this pattern was forming too quickly... Captain Peter Bentley

Classic #52 "The Gun"

THE GUN
The Gun was Petty Officer Bob McNeil’s responsibility - the gun and the motley team which made up the sloppiest gun crew he had ever seen.
His job aboard HMAS Wattle was to turn that crew into the best the navy could offer, and do it against the instinctive prejudice and open dislike of the first officer and the seeming neutrality of the commander.
Lieutenant-Commander Ponting & Petty-Officer McNeil

Classic #54 "Collision Course"

COLLISION COURSE
They craved action!
The crew of Utmost felt the urge for action - in a ship with one gun and a short-range pom-pom.
"You're responsible," his first-lieutenant told the captain, Dutchy Holland.
"You've made these men what they are. You toughened them. They're restless now."
Neither officer knew that Utmost was to see action soon - Against a fast, heavily gunned Jap destroyer on a vital mission!
Lieutenant-Commander John Benedict Holland D.S.O.

Classic #56 "Killer Group"

KILLER GROUP
The Japanese flotilla's deadly purpose was to throttle MacArthur's vital flow of munitions and troops.
The composition of the group was cunning. The big cruiser could fight off any vessel sort of a battleship and four destroyers could deal effectively with submarines.
And against aircraft they could mount a combined battery of thirty high-angle guns delivering between them three hundred five-inch shells a minute. Wind Rode was a modern Fleet destroyer with several electronic detection aids but their range was limited. Unaware, his flotilla of five destroyers steamed towards the lethal Japanese group.

Classic #59 "Creeping Attack"

CREEPING ATTACK
The U-boat captain wasconcentrating on the convoy, planning his attack on the small forest of masts coming steadily on from the westward. The position was perfect.
His eyes lifted from the compass and satisfaction changed to horror as he turned sideways. He was staring at the high-curving white from the stem, then the whole grey forepart of his most dreaded enemy; a destroyer, close, boring down on him at full speed!
In his shock he thought nothing of how the mongoose had been able to creep so close to the snake. He thought only of
ACTION

Classic #60 "The Jaws Of Hell"

THE JAWS OF HELL
Incredulously, Fawkner saw the white plumes leaping high from the lagoon and heard the thunderous roar. With the rest of them he was frozen with shock and disbelief until the alarm bells, harsh and imperative, jangled and beneath him the calm blue water was thrashed into white
"Hard-a-port!" Bell snapped. "Full ahead star'b'd!"
And she started to run.
But as she ran she fought - desperately and bravely and with everything she had.
Captain Bell

Classic #61 "Close And Investigate"

CLOSE AND INVESTIGATE
Circe was his ship, his first commission, and those were his men, Lieutenant-Commander Jim Brady saw red, an animal surge of rage and hate, and he made his decision. They came streaming out of the rain and the carrier loomed abruptly with a mouth-drying heart-stopping fear. The three huge turrets on her fo'c'sle were almost on bearing, he saw the six thick barrels depressing and knew that the range was point blank.
"Fire one, fire two, fire three..."
Circe heeled far over, the sea curling around the guard-rail stanchions. He saw the multiple flashes that streaked from the for'ard guns, and a second after the sky above them was ripped open.
There was nothing to do...
Lieutenant-Commander Jim Brady

Classic #70 "Under Sealed Orders"

UNDER SEALED ORDERS
Marauder...
“Dutchy” Holland and his crew in a new destroyer, assigned to a dangerous mission under sealed orders.
The destroyer was a loner in enemy waters, harassing supply lines, drawing the might of the Japanese Navy to put down the intruder...
This book starts out when Dutchy first takes command of the Destroyer Jackel
Lieutenant-Commander John Benedict "Dutchy" Holland

Classic #72 "The Convert"

THE CONVERT
A Study in Conflict
It looked to Lieutenant Walt Kenyon as if there could be a fair slice of hell ahead of him in his new command. The crew of the 44 boat, naturally loyal to their previous commander, viewed him with suspicion as they waited to pass judgement.
In one morning he managed to tangle with almost everybody from his junior officer down. Yet he had made his decision, and must stick to it. Their very lives depended on the correctness of his judgement.
Lieutenant Walt Kenyon

	Classic #74 "The Unforgiving Sea"
	THE UNFORGIVING SEA The constant menace of the Japanese enemy troubled captain ‘Dutchy’ Holland, and so did his mission. But - towering above them all, the pursued and the pursuers - were the turbulent waters in which they meshed . . . The Unforgiving Sea CAPTAIN Peter Bentley & Captain "Dutchy" Holland

	Classic #75 "Down The Throat"
	DOWN THE THROAT DOWN THE THROAT is a magnificent follow-on to THE CONVERT. Lieutenant Walt Kenyon - the torpedo-boat man - returns to run the gauntlet in an epic naval manoeuvre in the region of Sibolon Island, and faces an agonising crisis - personal, emotional, and his duty to the fleet Lieutenant Walt Kenyon

Classic #77 "The Misfit"

THE MISFIT
"The mine was no more than two feet from the ship's side when between horns and waiting steel a body forced itself. Hudson braced his back against the ship's side and his hands went out to the mine..."
Was he a coward trying to prove himself? Or was there another explanation for Hudson's starnge behaviour? Why did he cover up for Bronson? As Number One, he was in a position to protect the man from the consequences of his drunkenness while on board ship - but why? And what was Captain Peter Bentley to do about the situation?
But Hudson was only one of Bentley's worries. As captain of the Flotilla leader, he had a lot more on his plate. There was a war to win, for instance...

Classic #78 "The Snake Boats"

THE SNAKE BOATS
MOTHER SNAKE...
She was one of four ketches which were on their own in the hostile wters of the Pacific, easy prey for patrolling Japanese subs and gunboats. Their mission: deliver supplies to embattled comrades on Tanimbar Island.
Their objective: survival.
J.E. Macdonnell details the exploits of a little-known band of heroes who manned unarmed fishing boats and fought against tremendous odds to deliver the goods - when and where they wre needed.
This is the story of the men who slipped through the enemy's net, the men who rode
... THE SNAKE BOATS.

Classic #80 "Behemoth"

BEHEMOTH
DER TIGER
"Enemy altering course towards, sir," reported Commander Stummel.
"Has the radio office reported any transmission?" demanded Captain Rofmann.
"No, sir. She has sent nothing."
"Very good. Sink her before she does."
This was a German pocket-battleship on a kill-and-run mission. And she lived up to her name: The Tiger.
Ship after ship went down before her deadly attack. Her crew was trained to perfection. Her guns never missed.
And no allied ship knew she was at large. There was never time for her victims to flash a warning.
And she allowed no survivors...
Lieutenant-Commander John Benedict "Dutchy" Holland

Classic #81 "Dit Spinner"

DIT SPINNER
OKINAWA
The land was a low-lying blur to port, across a sea as flat as a river. The Fleet had moved in like a heavyweight boxer, punched and slashed the beaches, then hauled out to seaward past the rocket ships. All aircraft had been flown clear, with a few protecting fighters sailing over the Fleet in a fast, wide circle.
Watching from Howe, they saw the rocket ships, beetle shapes pregnant with threat. Then, abruptly, the craft launced a flaming holocaust from their sides, great spews of flame that stabbed skyward to resolve into the white tails of myriad rockets. For ten minutes it went on; then, with the final thundering rocket pattern scorching the beach, the Fleet prepared to fight.
Here is the story of the Pacific War, as JAME E. MACDONNELL knew it. These are his personal recollections, his rememberance of the yarns and explanation of the terms which have formed the background of his many Naval stories.
It is enthralling experience, humorous incident, valorous action - relived by a master story-teller.

Classic #87 "Full Fathom Five"

FULL FATHOM FIVE
There were two ships:
WIND RODE and JACKAL
There were two captains:
Dutchy Holland & Peter Bentley
Each on his own mission.
Each facing hard-won victory
or bitter defeat
Here is an exciting tale of men at war - the story of minor battles when those who die are men you know and of two famous captains brought together on the high seas in a booming climax of violence and courageous triumph.
"Dutchy" Holland & Peter Bentley

	Classic #89 "Judas Rat"
	JUDAS RAT TRAITOR ON BOARD Dutchy Holland and his men face an all-out onslaught by Japanese fighters and bombers-and, amid the fierce fire of battle, as each passing second ticks away another life, the unavoidable conclusion is reached: The enemy knew their position. There is a spy on the Australians' side. "Dutchy" Holland

Classic #90 "High Command"

HIGH COMMAND
Silenced Night
A few minutes earlier the Mediterranean night west of Malta had been streaked and slashed with fire, lanced with the swinging swords of searchlights, opened up like a brilliant burst of lightning as a ship's magazine or cargo of high-octane petrol had been blown into abrupt incandescence by an E-boat's torpedo.
Now the night was dark and quiet. But soon it would erupt again, with light and sound and the swift fiery streaks of arriving death...
Lieutenant-commander Peter Bentley

Classic #93 "The Hammer Of God"

THE HAMMER OF GOD
The PT Boat moved silently in the aftermath of the attack...
The very volume of the enemy fire had saved them, Walt Kenyon knew. It was so heavy the Jap gunners could not spot their own fall of shot and make corrections. The Japs hadn't planned on that.
But they had planned on sending a destroyer across to wipe out the undefended base! And here the bastard was, having heard the sounds of slaughter back there, taking his time! Why wouldn't he? So far as he knew, it would be simple target practice.
Kenyon's voice was determined. "That guy's after the base. He's not worried about astern. I want him. We'll come in on his port quarter with everything we have left in the tubes. Pass the word. Drop back. No lights"
The small boat moved in, cautiously, silently, without a hope in hell if they were spotted.

Classic #94 "Headlong Into Hell"

HEADLONG INTO HELL
SUBMARINE ISLAND
Any Allied torpedo officer would have been fascinated to sight what spat from the underwater shore of Suluan Island taht night.
It was long, but very slender, without the 21 inch girth of a fat conventional torpedo, and its engine made none of the clattering noise beloved of ship's sonar hydrophones.
It had no engine, but an electric motor, and its progress was not only silent but trackless.
This is only one of the secret weapons the enemy brings to bear against Dutchy Holland and his courageous crew in this unusual and suspenseful story. An imaginative feat that will excite all J. E. Macdonnell readers!

Classic #96 "To The Death"

TO THE DEATH
Dutchy Holland and the men of the Jackal were after an enemy submarine that was sinking freighters and troop ships - and so far was big enough and fast enough and had a captain clever enough to get away clean.
What they found, to begin with, was a lone lifeboat carrying a single survivor! A woman.
The story she told made Holland determined to catch the sub before returning to port, but before the time came for them to engage the enemy in the grim game of fight-to-the-death, there was another little problem to worry about.
What do you do on a warship with a woman every man wants --- and some men can have?
"Dutchy" Holland

Classic #101 "And The Heavens Spoke"

AND THE HEAVENS SPOKE
STAND BY TO RECEIVE
The Wind Rode and Tempest were under orders to escort a liberty ship with a classified cargo from Manus through the notorious Jomard Passage, where she would be given an air escort for the remainder of the journey to Port Moresby.
But it was in the Jomard Passage where the danger lay, and every man was aware of this. It was there that the Jap submarines waited, and there that ships were at the mercy of enemy aircraft.
Not one man in that escort party counted on ever seeing Australia again.
Not one man in that escort party counted on ever seeing Australia again.
CAPTAIN Peter Bentley

Classic #103 "The Last Stand"

THE LAST STAND
Dutchy Holland and the American captain, Dave Swanson, stand side by side against an overwhelming Japanese force. No time now for the petty conflicts that have arisen out of their earlier relationship.
This is the time for the ultimate co-operation.
And it will be no easy victory for the Japanese, as the two destroyers prepare to make a desperate Last Stand, violently fought
TO THE LAST MAN
John Benedict "Dutchy" Holland

Classic #104 "Object: Destruction"

OBJECT: DESTRUCTION
In two great stories, J.E. MacDonnell vividly re-creates two classic naval battles of World War II.
The first story demonstrates the superb strategy and raw courage of the Royal Navy when, completely outgunned, three British cruisers engaged the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee off the River Plate.
The second story tells of the magnificent courage of H.M.A.S. Yarra in her suicidal engagement of an overwhelming Japanese force in the protection of her assigned convoy, an engagement which guaranteed forever Yarra's heroic name in the annals of Naval history.
These are factual stories of unbending devotion to duty, magnificent seamanship, and the bravest of men.

Classic #111 "Guns For God"

GUNS FOR GOD
Randall came on to the bridge.
"Happy New Yar," he smiled generally, and then, suddenly sober, to Bentley: "I wonder what the New Year holds for us." The director told them.
"Alarm aircraft," said Lasenby the Gunner. "Bearing Red three-oh, torpedo bombers approaching fast. All guns follow director."
So Wind Rode and her flotilla shot their way into a most unhappy beginning of the New Year.
CAPTAIN Peter Bentley

	Classic #114 "First Command"
	FIRST COMMAND Dutchy Holland was on his own. The explosion on the bridge had wiped out all his senior officers, including the captain. All Dutchy had to do was get the destroyer HMS Reaper safely through almost two hundred miles of unfriendly sea back to Alexandria, thus obeying his own inclinations and his captain's dying wish Lieutenant John Benedict Holland

	Classic #115 "Standing Into Danger"
	STANDING INTO DANGER Standing into danger... The letter U... Two dots and dash... The warning is always heeded by any captain of sense. Occasionally it is ignored, but only by the very brave. "Dutchy" Holland was in that category... Lieutenant-Commander John Benedict "Dutchy" Holland

Classic #116 "The Worst Enemy"

THE WORST ENEMY
“Ilwaki coming on the beam, sir”
“Yes,” Bentley answered, straightening from the scanner,
“but not for us. This will do fine out here. Number One, you remember the position of the oil tanks I told you?”
“On top of the cliff, I’d hardly forget that”
“Then light the bloody thing up, “he snarled. “Yeoman, make to the flotilla... Stand-by to bombard.”
CAPTAIN Peter Bentley

Classic #123 "Most Immediate"

MOST IMMEDIATE
"enemy's opened fire..."
Pelican was still on the turn towards, when off her port bow the sea leaped. There were less than twenty white columns in that forest, but that was because only the forward guns of the enemy were bearing. If the flotilla swung to right or to left... But they wouldn't, Dutchy judged in his racing mind. Against one old destroyer with only two guns on her foc's'le there was no need to bring full broadsides to bear. As it was they still mounted four times his gun power.
If he turned away from the enemy, then he would expose Pelican's whole broadside length to a deluge of shells. There was, at least to Dutchy's mind, only one course of action. But his senior officer thought otherwise. The signal read:
"Most immediate. Disengatge at full speed to the south. Repeat, Most immediate." That type of order had to be obeyed at once, if not sooner. It was the Navy's top priority signal.
Dutchy Holland flashed a wolfish grin. "Signal misunderstood."
Lieutenant-Commander John Benedict "Dutchy" Holland

Classic #130 "Attack!"

ATTACK!
There was not all that much difference between full speed and full power, but than a torpedo has only to miss by one foot and that means the difference between life and death.
Pelican was very narrow and light. In just about any sort of sea and even at low speed she trembled, for she carried enormous power inside that thin grey skin.
Her men were gripped by fear. Most of them were on the upperdeck at action stations. They did not know what ws out there. But they could see nothing of any surface craft, they were feeling her lean as she swung, and the shuddering, and to men as experienced as these there could be only one answer: not only a submarine, but loosed torpedos. And this they did know: If a 21-inch torpedo with its half/ton warhead struck her, anywhere, she was finished. Not perhaps killed at once, but the bow or the stern blown off, or the superheated boiler-rooms penetrated, leaving her at the enemy's mercy. Finished
Lieutenant-Commander John Benedict Holland

Classic #132 "The Kill"

THE KILL
"Captain, sir, we've got the bastard. There she is, bows coming out."
Dutchy, also watching that way, had seen. Further out and up it came, taht snake-headed bow, as if it were a great black spear and Neptune himself was shoving it from beneath.
Twenty, thirty, sixty feet of it, angled up, halfway ot the vertical, the exit sockets of the torpedo tubes pouring whiteness like a monster's eyes pouring tears. And now he could see the barrel of the gun, the outline through water of its base.

Classic #134 "Big Bill The Bastard"

BIG BILL THE BASTARD
Commander William Mallett tried hard to rehabilitate himself after being dismissed from his destroyer for drunkenness.
Ignored by his fellow officers and subjected to the indignity of minor duties, he pestered the naval hierarchy to give him another ship. The Wanderer was old and worn and manned mostly by misfits.
His job was to work up Wanderer to fighting efficiency in time to participate in the Amiercan invasion of Tarawa Island...
Commander William Mallett

Classic #140 "Standoff"

STANDOFF
The plane came on slowly, designed to fly like that, her pilot and observer staring with all their eyes, striving to make sure of what they had here. Caledonia was obviously what she was: a big, fast, heavily-loaded merchantman, just as obviously headed for Malta. But the destroyer was not so easy to peg. A modern Fleet boat was more than 300 feet long, but Pelican rated 280 feet; a difference hard to determine from up there. She was streaked with rust, but so were the latest ships after a hard long time at sea, and the Italian pilot had no way of knowing if her stains were permanent.
It seemed he was intent on finding out.
Lieutenant-Commander John Benedict "Dutchy" Holland