Eight short sea stories from a master story teller ( )

This collection of stories is set in the Pacific theatre of operations during the Second World War, and most of them feature the American destroyer USS Boon. As one would expect from the author of the Horatio Hornblower stories, these are filled with nautical detail and realistic depictions of crews who are bored for long periods and then galvanized into action. The later stories contained a bit more humour than the earlier ones. A prime example is my favourite story, “USS Cornucopia”. I also liked “Dr. Blanke’s First Command” for the importance it places on having a clear head in an emergency; it’s important to act quickly, but it’s also important to check to make sure you’re acting correctly. A quick but wrong action could be deadly.

I would recommend this for people who like short stories about ships and/or about the Second World War. I’d also recommend it to fans of Alistair MacLean. ( )

Forester is terrific at meshing the mechanical workings of a vast machine like a ship at war with the personal motivations and attributes of the characters functioning within it. His descriptions of naval tactics and the ways of the sea are unsurpassed. ( )