The Fighting Captain: Frederic John Walker Rn and the Battle of the Atlantic (Hardcover)

~ Alan Burn (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Captain F J Walker, RN, did more than any other man at sea to win the Battle of the Atlantic, a vicious and unrelenting struggle which Churchill described as the dominating factor throughout World War Two.

He was a formidable figure and one of the greatest fighting captains in the Royal Navy, sinking twenty U-boats. For this he was awarded a CB and four DSOs.

A month after D-Day, exhausted by his continuous actions at sea against the enemy and his successful exertions to keep the U-boats out of the English Channel to ensure the safe passage of the Allied landings at D-day, he went ashore in Liverpool after a patrol. His ships and the men he had trained and inspired were already back at sea when he died on the 9 July, 1944, aged 48.

His ships went on to sink another nine U-boats, bringing his flotillas' total up to twenty-nine, before the U-boat fleet finally surrendered. Fifteen of which were sunk by Walker's own ship, HMS Starling. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: Trans-Atlantic Publications (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 085052315X
• ISBN-13: 978-0850523157
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,924,893 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the world's greatest naval officers., May 4, 2007

By	Ned Middleton (British professional underwater photo-journalist & author) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: FIGHTING CAPTAIN (Pen & Sword Military Classics) (Paperback)

This is the story of the one and only "Walker RN" - an officer who had been passed-over for further promotion until war broke out in 1939. Only then did his sheer genius rise to the surface, only then, when Britain was faced with being starved into submission, were his ideas heard in the corridors of power, only then did the Royal Navy realise they should have promoted this man many years earlier.

The story of Frederic Walker is the story of a man who was charged with fighting U Boats in the north Atlantic. It is also the story of how he devised tactics to bring about immense success. In so doing, this man won no fewer than four DSO's - and no person in history was ever awarded five!

Sadly, those years of arduous and strenuous fighting in the most inhospitable of climates took their toll on this great leader of men and, having been finally promoted to Captain and awarded the CB he succumbed and died. He was later buried at sea.

Not only does this book bring to vivid life all the successes, failures, hardships and personal losses, it is exceedingly well written by one who served alongside the gallant Captain.

Well worth reading.

NM

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unknown hero, December 29, 2002

By	Leon Bruin (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

The Navy life of Captain Frederic Walker has been well described. Through this book you can feel en relive his unbending and relentless approach to anti-submarine warfare during the battle of the Atlantic. Anybody interested in ASW should read this book. It is also a great narritive of a too short life of an outstanding RN officer.

L.Bruin, CDRE