Just Finished Reading: Dauntless by Alan Evans (FP: 1980) [272pp] 

The Eastern Mediterranean, Autumn 1917. The British planned advance into Palestine is only days away. Commander Cochrane Smith is detailed to support the advance using his new cruiser HMS Dauntless and her supporting seaplane carrier in any way possible, spotting for artillery fall, bombarding the enemy positions and preventing any seaward complications. The sudden arrival of a freighter changes all of that. Abord is a battalion in disgrace, accused of killing their commanding officer in cold blood and refusing to give up the killer. Senior command sees a solution to both problems. The battalion will be landed ashore and create a diversion which the approaching German reinforcements just cannot ignore. The fact that the allied battalion would have its backs to the sea is a bonus. With much to prove and nothing to lose they would fight to the last man. But Smith has other ideas rather than throwing away an abused group of men for spite. With an ammunition dump to be destroyed and an enemy heavy cruiser on the loose, Smith has his work cut out for him. 

Whilst not quite as good as his previous two novels (both of which I enjoyed a great deal) this was still a solid piece of WW1 naval action. It was good to see Smith in a new ship for a change, rather than the often-decrepit obsolete vessels he’s been lumbered with in the past. It was also nice to see some naval aviation, in the guise of a converted seaplane carrier, although the side story about one of the aircraft being ‘cursed’ did annoy me a bit! Being the author’s particular ‘thing’ Smith and Dauntless were again outgunned by the larger German cruiser so had to show his skill in fighting a larger gunned opponent. There was, of course, a love interest who was quite cute and not excessively annoying. We also found out more about Smith’s mysterious past which I liked. The author had been dropping hints for the last few books, so it was good clearing that up (at least somewhat). I was less than convinced with the cut-price cardboard cut-out ‘Lawrence’ who briefly appeared but at least he wasn’t central to the plot! 

The only real eye-rolling moments were when Smith, who was in overall COMMAND, insisted in not only going ashore with the troops (rather than, say, sending his XO if he NEEDED someone on the ground) but in being part of the attack. There’s just no way someone that important should, or could, be that ‘hands-on’ in this regard. I actually thought it might be a ‘fault’ on the author's part. I wondered if it was a case of an inability (or reluctance) to change the PoV from Smith to anyone else – so if there’s a required ground attack Smith needed to be there to ‘oversee’ things, rather than putting someone else in the limelight for a few pages. Although such exploits didn’t ruin things for me, it did make be a little exasperated at times! Overall, this was a good solid read and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was a decent story with reasonable characterisation and very good combat pieces. Recommended for all WW1 and naval fiction fans in you can source a copy.  

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