Douglas Reeman Books

1941. To the residents and defence forces of the Crown Colony of Hong Kong, the war in Europe remains remote. Even the massive build-up of Japanese forces on the Chinese border cannot dent their carefree optimism. Yet one man suspects the truth. Lieutenant Commander Esmond Brooke, captain of HMS Serpent and a veteran of the cruet Atlantic, sees all too clearly the folly and incompetence of Hong Kong' s colonial administration. But, in war, there will always be some who attempt the impossible, even in the face of death.

As 1794 draws to a close Richard Bolitho, commanding the old seventy-four-gun ship of the line Hyperion, leaves Plymouth to join a squadron blockading the rising power of Revolutionary France. After six months of repairs his ship is ready to fight again, but her company is mostly raw and untrained. Unfortunately, Bolitho finds himself under a commodore who is no match for the French admiral, Lequiller, whose powerful squadron uses guile and ruthless determination to elude him and vanish into the Atlantic. Hyperion, as part of a small British force, gives chase, the desperate voyage taking them from the Bay of Biscay's squall to the heat of the Caribbean - and for each mile sailed and every battle fought Bolitho finds himself being forced into the ever more demanding role of strategist and squadron commander.

It is December 1917, Germany opens the final, bitter round of the war with a new and deadly weapon in the struggle for the seas -- the Vulcan sails from Kiel Harbour. To all appearances she is a harmless merchant vessel. But her peaceful lines conceal a merciless firepower; guns, mines and torpedoes that can be brought into play instantly. The Vulcan is a commerce raider. And under crack commander Felix von Steiger her mission is to bring chaos to the seaways.

Set against the backdrop of January 1944, the story follows Rudolf Steiger, a legendary U-boat commander grappling with the shifting tides of war. As he leads the U-boat flotilla Meteor into perilous Atlantic waters, he confronts not only external enemies but also his inner turmoil and doubts about Germany's fate. Steiger's journey explores themes of honor, duty, and the haunting possibility of a heroic death as he navigates the harsh realities of warfare and his own psyche.

Alexander Kent is the pseudonym of Douglas Reeman, a contemporary British writer. Reeman joined the British Navy at 16 and served on destroyers and small crafts during World War II, eventually rising to lieutenant. He later worked as a London detective and has served as a script advisor for television and film. He travels extensively, scouting locations for his books. Drawing on his extensive experience and research, Alexander Kent writes with engaging authenticity. His best-selling Richard Bolitho Novels (numbering 23 volumes) have achieved world-wide sales of over 20 million copies and have been translated into nearly two dozen languages.

HISTORICAL FICTION. Colours Aloft!, the sixteenth Richard Bolitho novel, bears all the hallmarks of its best-selling predecessors. September 1803 Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho finds himself the new master of the Argonaute, a French flagship taken in battle. With the Peace of Armiens in ruins, he must leave the safety of Falmouth. What lies ahead is the grim reality of war at close quarters - where Bolitho who will be called upon to anticipate the overall intention of the French fleet. But the battle has also become a personal vendetta between himself and the French admiral who formerly sailed the Argonaute. Bolitho and his men are driven to a final rendezvous where no quarter is asked or given.

Copenhagen, 1800, and after seven years of cruel war against France, Britain's long-standing ally, Denmark, suddenly poses a threat. The scene of battle shifts abruptly from Europe to the Baltic where Rear-Admiral Richard Bolitho is thrown immediately into a fierce struggle with the enemy.

It is 1784, and His Majesty's frigate "Undine" sets sail from Spithead for India. Europe may be at peace, but in colonial waters the promises of statesmen count for little and the bloody struggle for supremacy goes on. Richard Bolitho undertakes a task that would be better handled by a squadron.

Bolitho and the crew of the Hyperion are trapped by the French near a dry Mediterranean island. The great ship-of-the line’s battered hull begins to groan as her sails snap in the hot wind.

Three generations of Blackwoods have served the Royal Marines with distinction. Now it is the turn of young Jonathan Blackwood to take up arms. In 1915, he fights from the sea, supported by the Royal Navy in the battlefields of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli, helpless to save either himself or his men. Two years later in Flandrs, Blackwood finds that Hell can get worse as he and his men fight on the horrific Western Front

Set in 1960s Hong Kong, the story follows Captain Mark Gunnar aboard the USS Hibiscus, which is being refitted before its handover to the Nationalist Chinese. Haunted by past torture from Viet Cong guerillas, Gunnar sees his new command as an opportunity for revenge. However, the reality of the desolate island group Payenhau challenges his expectations, leading to a worsening crisis that forces him to confront his demons alone as the situation spirals out of control.

The novelist Maurice Bendrix's love affair with his best friend's wife, Sarah, had begun in London. One day, without warning, Sarah had broken off the relationship. It seemed impossible that there could be a rival for her heart.

"H.M.S. Phalarope" is ordered to the Caribbean but the most deadly enemy is already aboard her. "January 1782, Portsmouth": His Britannic Majesty's frigate "Phalarope" is ordered to the assistance of the hard-pressed squadrons in the Carribean. Aboard is her new commander -- Richard Bolitho. To all appearances the "Phalarope" is everything a young captain could wish for. But beneath the surface she is a deeply unhappy ship -- her wardroom torn by petty greed and ambition, her deckhands driven to near-mutiny by senseless ill-treatment... "From the Paperback edition."

At last the British agreed to send them a small flotilla of motor torpedo boats under the command of John Devane. Devane had been in the Navy since the outbreak of war. Given command t short notice, Devane soon learned that, even against the vast and raging background of the Eastern Front, war could still be a personal duel between individuals.

It was an age of Empire, an age of contrast, and an age of dramatic change - and one which would determine the destinies of nations as well as of men. Captain Philip Blackwood of the Royal Marines rejoins his ship, HMS Audacious, in the August of 1850, anxious to get back into action. Per Mare - Per Terram is the Marines' motto. In the torturous heat of Africa, where they are sent to stamp out the remaining strongholds of slavery, and later, in the bitter war of the Crimea, Philip Blackwood and his men learn to obey it without question. The first novel in an enthralling and colourful saga, spanning 150 years in the history of a great seafaring family and the tradition in which they served, "Badge of Glory" is a stunning new departure for one of Britain's master storytellers.

Two novels in one volume: the first, Richard Bolitho - Midshipman begins in Portsmouth in October 1772, where young Richard Bolitho is waiting to join the Gorgon; the second, Midshipman Bolitho and the 'Avenger', finds Bolitho aboard his brother's cutter at Falmouth in the winter of 1773.

It is 1792, over ten years after Britain's defeat by the American colonies, and the bitter humiliation still sticks in the Admiralty's craw. Now brutal smugglers, many of them naval deserters, occupy the Channel, plying their trade between England and France. Richard Bolitho's mission: to send three small cutters to fight the treacherous raiders off the coast of Kent. But they are not the only threat facing Bolitho. For across the Channel, revolution grips France, where the guillotine is both an instrument of political revenge and a weapon of hate and envy. As war with France looms, Bolitho soon finds himself and his three small ships facing more enemies than friends....

As the balance of the war slowly shifts in Britain's favour, Lieutenant- Commander Steven Marshall brings his battle-scarred submarine into home port. Marshall must return to the Mediterranean, but this time to a very different kind of war. For his new command is secret and extremely hazardous - a captured German U-boat . .

Pirates and savage South Sea Islanders are nothing compared to the greatest of all threats. "October 1789, New South Wales": Into Sydney, capital of Britain's infant colony, sails the frigate "Tempest," She is one of His Majesty's ships employed in policing the new southern trade routes. Her captain is Richard Bolitho, who hopes to be ordered home to England. Instead he is despatched on a mission to the islands of the Great South Sea, where he must face hazards of fickle winds, pirates and savage islanders. But he is menaced by deeper fears; the men of the Bounty have mutinied in these same waters; and from distant Europe comes news of a revolution in France... "From the Paperback edition."

Alternate cover edition here.In 1941, when she was turned into an armed merchant cruiser, the S. S. Benbencula was already old. Yet even she was needed to protect the vital Atlantic sea lanes. Commander Lindsay, her new captain, had to work desperately to mould the ship's company — raw recruits and old timers — into a fighting force. And better than anyone, Lindsay knew this could be his last command, his last chance.

October 1772, Portsmouth. And sixteen-year-old Richard Bolitho waits to join the Gorgon ordered to sail to the west coast of Africa and to destroy those who challenge the King's Navy. For Bolitho, and for many of the crew, it is a severe and testing initiation into the game of seamanship.

After eight years of war between Britain and France there is at last a rumour of peace. But the old enemies are well aware that any settlement will be only a breathing space in which to recover from their terrible losses. To obtain the best terms the French muster a show of strength from Biscay to the Channel ports. This is the 14th Bolitho novel.

In the spring of 1797 Richard Bolitho brings the 100-gun IEuryalus/I home to Falmouth to be flagship of the hastily formed squadron which has been chosen to make the first British re-entry to the Mediterranean for nearly a year. As flag captain, Bolitho is made to contend with the unyielding attitudes of his new admiral, as well as the devious requirements of the squadron's civilian advisor. England is still stunned by the naval mutiny at Spithead, in which Bolitho's admiral was personally involved, and as the squadron sets sail the air is already alive with rumour of an even greater uprising in the ships at the Nore. Only when the squadron is drawn to a bloody embrace with the enemy does the admiral see the strength in Bolitho's trust and care for his men - but by then it is almost too late for any of them.

Mediterranean, 1943 ... The Rob Roy. A tiny machine, just 230 feet from stem to stern. In peacetime she would have trawled for cod. Now her catch is deadlier by far. Lieutenant-Commander Ian Ransome is a veteran of the treacherous front line of naval combat. For three years, he's swept the explosive curtains of Nazi mines that shrouds the British Isles. Now, under sealed orders in the battle-tossed waters of the Mediterranean, he and his jack-tired crew face one final test of their courage and seamanship under fire. Their secret mission: to spearhead the Allies' desperate invasion of Italy.

It's Malta 1941. To most people HMS Saracen is just an ugly, obsolete ship with an equally ugly recent history: her last commander is due for court-martial after shelling the troops he was sent to protect. But to Captain Richard Chesnaye she brings back memories.

1900...Captain Blackwood is ordered to Hong Kong and before long, David and his cousin Ralf are embroiled in the Boxer Rebellion.

Out in the wastes of the Indian Ocean, British ships are sinking. The cause: a German armed raider, disguised to deceive unwary merchantmen. In Williamstown, Australia, HMS Andromeda awaits transfer to the Australian navy. After years together in bloody combat with the Nazis, the cruiser's crew will disperse to fight in other ships, in other seas.

The crack German heavy cruiser Prinz Luitpold had always been lucky in battle. To the beleaguered army on the Baltic coast she was their one remaining symbol of hope. But it is the summer of 1944, and on every front the war is going badly for Germany. When the order comes to leave the Baltic to attack and destroy enemy shipping in the Atlantic, Kapitan zur See Dieter Hechler knows that once out in the vast killing ground it will only be a matter of time before the hunter becomes the hunted.

As the grim years of the Second World War go by, the destruction of Allied shipping mounts. Now he joins the escort carrier, GROWLER, a posting which takes him first to the bitter waters of the Arctic and all the misery of convoy duty to Murmansk, and then south to the Indian Ocean and the strange new terror of the Japanese Kamikaze.

The 26th, and final, Bolitho novel in this phenomenally successful and well-loved series.In this, the long-awaited conclusion of Alexander Kent’s midshipman trilogy, the new year of 1774 seems to offer Richard Bolitho and his friend Martyn Dancer the culmination of a dream. Both have been recommended for promotion, although they have not yet gained the coveted lieutenant’s commission. But a routine passage from Plymouth to Guernsey in an untried schooner becomes, for Bolitho, a passage from midshipman to King’s officer, tempering the promise of the future with the bitter price of maturity.From the Hardcover edition.

It is 1943, and Captain Mike Blackwood, Royal Marine Commando, must find within himself qualities of leadership which will inspire those Royal Marines who are once again the first to land, and among the first to die on the Sicilian beaches.

Filled with high-seas intrigue and sharp tensions, this nautical novel takes an intense voyage into the heart of Napoleonic-era Africa. The year is 1819 and Captain Adam Bolitho has been sent on an urgent but risky mission to make a fast passage from Plymouth to Freetown, West Africa, with secret orders for the senior officer stationed there. Due to the slave trade being declared illegal, ships in every harbor are waiting to be scrapped and officers have been cut loose without hope of future commands, thus Adam soon finds himself the object of envy and jealousy. In Africa he discovers unexpected allies and faces an enemy far more powerful and ruthless than any he has known before.

The Volunteers were the men and women of the Royal Navy's Special Operations units, carrying out lightning raids on hostile coasts. Each was hand-picked for their individual skills, and all of them were courageous. This is the story of a small group of such people.

The Sigli had been just an old passenger launch, but when the Japanese invaded Singapore during World War II everything that could float was pressed into service. And so, crammed with refugees, harried and bombed by enemy planes, the Sigli had struggled south in a desperate attempt to escape-Rupert Blair's family had been among the passengers on that fateful journey in which the ship and all aboard had disappeared. Twenty years later, he still hasn't forgotten - has never abandoned his obsession to discover exactly what happened. Now Rupert Blair embarks upon a journey of his own - one that will take him to a primitive, savage island in search of the truth.

February 1813 and Sir Richard Bolitho returns to Halifax to pursue a war he cannot win.

It's Spring 1945 and the war has ended in Europe, but the hate and devastation linger on. Lieutenant Vere Marriott of the Royal Navy, and the men of Motor Gunboat 801 are moored in Kiel harbor, witness to the disintegration of the mighty German navy. Where once they fought just to stay alive, Marriott and his men must now learn how to accept peace.

January 1970, and the final chapter in the Blackwood history appears to have closed with the murder in Cyprus of Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Blackwood, and the subsequent sale of the ancestral home.

Only one team can destroy the German floating dock that is large enough to hold a major warship and still stand a chance of surviving -- the crew of HM Midget Submarine XE 51.

The story follows former naval officer Philip Vivian, who dreams of a life at sea with his motor yacht, the Sea Fox. However, financial troubles lead him to consider a questionable proposal from an old comrade. What begins as an exciting venture quickly spirals into a perilous situation filled with violence and crime. Vivian grapples with conflicting loyalties from his past and his disdain for societal norms, forcing him to confront the darker aspects of his choices and the consequences they bring.

Auf dem Meeresgrund vor dem besetzten Norwegen lauert XE 16, eines der geheimsten Schiffe der britischen Kriegsmarine, mit gewaltigen Sprengladungen an den Außenseiten des Rumpfes. Ganze 16 Meter lang, mit nur vier Mann Besatzung, könnte dieses Kleinst-U-Boot unter seinem jungen Kommandanten David Seaton dennoch den Ausgang des Zweiten Weltkrieges mit beeinflussen. Sein höchst gefahrvoller Auftrag lautet, den Aufbau einer deutschen Raketenbasis zu sabotieren. Ein spannender U-Boot-Roman aus der Grauzone zwischen Seekrieg und Partisanenkampf.

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Een in 1915 van stapel gelopen Britse kanonneerboot doet in twee wereldoorlogen zonder veel succes dienst tot eindelijk voor kapitein en schip een kans komt.

V dusném parnu bezejmenného atolu kdesi v Jihočínském moři se skrývá největší a nejdokonalejší ponorka své doby. Francouzská Soufriere, po pádu Francie bezprizorná, čeká na toho, kdo se jí ujme. Pokud to bude nacistické Německo, může se ponorka v jeho rukou stát zbraní, která přetne britské zásobovací trasy okolo Afriky. Proto přijíždí do Singapuru fregatní kapitán Robert Ainslie. Jeho úkolem je Soufriere nalézt a zkrotit, ovládnout tuto Bestii a odplout s ní do Evropy. Jenže se píše prosinec 1941 a hlavu zvedá jiná bestie… Japonsko zahajuje své tažení za ovládnutí Asie. A ze Soufriere se stává jeden z mála prostředků, jež zbývají obleženému Singapuru na obranu…

V nejtemnějším údobí druhé světové války, kdy německé ponorky, válečné lodě a letadla ničily spojenecká plavidla, dovážející do Británie a do Sovětského svazu válečný materiál, potřebný k tomu, aby bojovníci za svobodu vydrželi další týdny, měsíce a roky, se zrodila doprovodná letadlová loď. A na jedné z nich každý den osud vyzývá Jonáš… Ne ten starozákonní, do útrob velryby – ocelového kolosu pojmenovaného Growler, plavícího se po celém světě – dennodenně vstupuje šestadvacetiletý pilot-stíhač Tim Rowan. Na své stíhačce Seafire, pojmenované po biblickém prorokovi, čelí nepříteli od průlivu La Manche po moře Arktidy, od Atlantiku po Indický oceán…

Roku 1943 se již sice začíná vývoj války obracet ve prospěch spojeneckých sil, na Černém moři, kde slabé sovětské námořnictvo čelí německé flotile, to ale vypadá jinak. Pomoci má ostřílená jednotka britských motorových torpédových člunů pod velením válečného veterána Johna Devanea, muže válkou unaveného, muže válkou semletého… Muže, který vždy znovu a znovu nastupuje tam, kde ho vlast a král potřebují. Muže, který již ztratil většinu ze svých ideálů... První vydání.