Just Finished Reading: Sixty Minutes for St George by Alexander Fullerton (FP: 1977) [308pp] 

Dover, England 1917. With his recent experiences during the Battle of Jutland, Lt Nick Everard had hoped for more.  But he supposed that being 2nd in command of a destroyer in the Dover Squadron was better than a lot of other alternatives even if it meant spending long nights fruitlessly searching for enemy U-boats or mine-laying operations. There were moments though, moments somewhere between sheer terror (only experienced after the events) and the satisfaction of a job well done. The only real problem he had was that his commanding officer, Commander Wyatt, had taken an immediate dislike to him for reasons unknown. The feeling was largely mutual. Despite an appreciation of his willingness, indeed eagerness, to get to grips with the enemy, Wyatt he suspected wasn’t particularly good at his job. When a brief encounter with four enemy destroyers almost sinks his ship, Everard is offered the temporary command of an aging, obsolete, destroyer tasked with removing an enemy fishing boat spying on Allied shipping. Impressed with his ability to think on his feet the Admiralty confirms his command and Everard joins an assault on Zeebrugge to block the canal that allowed U-boats into the English Channel. When the plan signally did NOT survive contact with the enemy, the attack resulted in the awarding of 11 Victoria Crosses in not much more than an hour. The butcher’s bill, however, can be imagined! 

This is my first novel by this author and it definitely won’t be my last (and not just because I already own at least two more of his books). Told with detailed knowledge of both the events and the technology of the time, this was a gripping narrative of WW1 combat in the English Channel/Dover Straights. Although it was obvious once this book pointed it out to me, the English Channel was a vital supply route to the troops fighting in France. If that could be disrupted or stopped, even for a few days, it could’ve had a telling effect on the fighting on the Continent – especially during the new German offensive in 1918. The activities of the Dover Patrol (which I am largely ignorant of presently) provided a vital defence against German efforts to make the Channel into their battleground. The attack on Zeebrugge on St Georges Day 1918 was an attempt to halt any move by German U-boats to attack vital convoys sent to support Allied troops and to ensure that troops based around that area could not be used as part of the new offensive in France. 

Needless to say, being a lover of Naval fiction, I enjoyed this immensely. There was a rather silly mini-subplot about Nick getting ‘involved’ with, shall we say, a local lady of ‘easy virtue’ and a weird background story about being rather attached to his young stepmother but apart from that it was a heck of a read. Looking forward to more adventures with Nick Everard and more naval adventures elsewhere too. Definitely recommended to all lovers of things seabound.