Alarm Starboard! [Hardcover]

Geoffrey Brooke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2005

The Author's naval war experiences make the most exciting reading. After being mined on the battleship Nelson in 1939, he served on the Prince of Wales, during the Bismarck action, witnessing the sinking of the Hood and Churchill and Roosevelt's historic meeting.

He survived the disastrous sinking by Japanese dive-bombing in December 1941 but within two days of reaching Singapore, the Island fell. Evacuated in a coastal steamer, only to be sunk the next morning, he was stranded on a deserted island for a week before setting out for Ceylon in a native boat. His epic journey covered 1660 miles and took 37 days.

Thereafter his adventures continued, with the North African landings, Russian convoys and, returning to the Far East, he was in the carrier Formidable when she was hit twice by Japanese Kamikazes before VI Day August 1945.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Pen and Sword (April 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844152308
• ISBN-13: 978-1844152308
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,054,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, April 17, 2006

By 

Tim Hanson "boatguy" (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alarm Starboard! (Hardcover)

One of the best memoirs of WWII I have read, and I have read a lot of them. Excellent story, excellent writer, felt I was there with him.

Great Job Mr. Brooke.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic naval memoir from WW2., February 23, 2005

By 

Ned Middleton (British professional underwater photo-journalist & author) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Alarm Starboard! (Hardcover)

Within a short time of starting this book I felt that the life of anyone who ever met this particular author could only have been enriched by the experience - if only because everything seems to have happened to this man.

Having joined the Royal Navy in 1934, he was torpedoed on HMS Nelson, joined HMS Prince of Wales before she was commissioned - and was still serving on that great ship when she was lost to Japanese air attack 3 days after Pearl Harbour, was rescued and returned to Singapore just in time for the Japanese invasion and became one of the very few to successfully escape from his Japanese captors by completing an epic sea voyage by small craft all the way to Ceylon - during which time he was shipwrecked again! After service on board HMS Bermuda - which included supporting the Allied landings in North Africa in addition to dreaded Arctic convoys, it was back to the far East for service on two Aircraft Carriers for duty as Flight Deck Officer and then Crash Officer. This man simply survived it all, including 2 Kamikaze attacks and a water spout I almost forgot to mention.

And this is his story. It is an incredible story and one which will not disappoint the reader.

NM