Great Naval Fiction Books

[Admiral DadMan]

Dibner, Martin. The Admiral. New York: Doubleday, 1967.

A naval officer's account of WWII beginning in the DEI Feb '42 commanding the fictional heavy cruiser Gloucester (paralelling Houston's exploits and fate) until her loss at Sunda Strait through his new command of the brand new carrier Shiloh at the Battle of Midway (Essex arriving nine months early).

Definately bubble gum, but a bit of mindless fun.

[Ron Saueracker]

Anyone ever read Forester's collection of linked short stories about a fictional USN goldplater pre war 1500 tonner named USS Boon? The book is called "The Man in the Yellow Raft". Fantastic. In my non-respawn CHS mod, one of the missing DDs is named BOON.[:D]

[Big B]

If you Google nautical fiction there are a couple of sites that come up immediately which are full of good books - everything from C.S.Forester and Patrick O'Brian to lesser known. All periods of history as well.

[JWE]

I enjoyed "The Lively Lady" and "Captain Caution" by Kenneth Roberts. Written by someone who knows how to sail.

[timtom]

ORIGINAL: Admiral DadMan

Dibner, Martin. The Admiral. New York: Doubleday, 1967.

A naval officer's account of WWII beginning in the DEI Feb '42 commanding the fictional heavy cruiser Gloucester (paralelling Houston's exploits and fate) until her loss at Sunda Strait through his new command of the brand new carrier Shiloh at the Battle of Midway (Essex arriving nine months early).

Sound like something just up Ben Affleck's street.

[BrucePowers]

With CS Forester, don't forget "The Captain from Conneticutt". THe War of 1812 seen throught the eyes of a US navy capatain commanding a frigate. I found it in my college library.

[treespider]

Aubrey and Maturin for me...O'brian had a knack for pacing at least in the first half of the series...the books seemed to plod as Aubrey navigated on the long voyages and the the pace becomes more lively on the shorter cruises...but hey I'm no literary critic by any means...

[witpqs]

Along those lines, in Das Boot there was a storm sequence. It really wasn't that many pages, but reading it I felt like it lasted forever, which was intentional to portray the men's agony.

[afspret]

I've always liked books by Douglas Reeman. His done several covering both WW I and WW II that cover action in the North Sea, Atlantic and Med. He's also done post-war Pacific/China Sea books as well.

[Barb]

I was looking for Hornblower and Aubrey-Maturin series novels in electronic form, but i wasnt luckz with that. If anyone have links where i can find and download them i would be lucky.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: JWE

I enjoyed "The Lively Lady" and "Captain Caution" by Kenneth Roberts. Written by someone who knows how to sail.

Kenneth Roberts has been my favorite author since high school in the 1970s, but I've never met another soul who knows who he is, so JWE it was quite startling to see two of his books listed here. It's great to know there's another person who enjoyed his writing. "Lively Lady" and "Captain Caution" are sailing books, so fit this thread, and both are entertaining. I thought his best books were "Arundel," "Rabble in Arms," "Oliver Wiswell," and the first half of "Northwest Passage."

[Canoerebel]

A few comments on this thread:
 
(1)  The most entertaining work of naval fiction I've ever read was Allistair MacLean's "HMS Ulysses."  Some of his other good books dealt with WWII and the sea - "South by Java Head", for instance, began with the fall of Singapore and the attempted escape by British citizens on an ill-fated ship.  It's a good book too.  His "San Andreas" is decent.
(2)  I tried to read some of the Master & Commander series, but didn't enjoy them at all.
(3)  One of the worst books I've ever read was "Moby Dick."  How did that earn status as a classic?  Who is invested with the authority to deem books classics?  Didn't they really goof on "Moby Dick" or did I miss something?
(4)  Gen'l Hoepner has changed his avatar yet again!

[histgamer]

Canoerebel as far as classics or w/e generally when a almostall litterary critics or english professors or wht not all agree its a great book people tend to take their word for it. You may not have liked Moby Dick and that is your opinion as an individual but that does not make it a horrid book just because you could not stand it.

As for that I have never read the book, I have heard its increadibly boring but good at the same time. However I cannot know what I think of it without reading it, but just because I might hate it doesnt mean its not a classic.

[Snowman999]

ORIGINAL: flanyboy

Canoerebel as far as classics or w/e generally when a almostall litterary critics or english professors or wht not all agree its a great book people tend to take their word for it. You may not have liked Moby Dick and that is your opinion as an individual but that does not make it a horrid book just because you could not stand it.

As for that I have never read the book, I have heard its increadibly boring but good at the same time. However I cannot know what I think of it without reading it, but just because I might hate it doesnt mean its not a classic.

Possibly the mistake lies in considering Moby to be a nautical novel. It's about theology (with the how-to of flensing thrown in.)

[JWE]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

ORIGINAL: JWE
I enjoyed "The Lively Lady" and "Captain Caution" by Kenneth Roberts. Written by someone who knows how to sail.

Kenneth Roberts has been my favorite author since high school in the 1970s, but I've never met another soul who knows who he is, so JWE it was quite startling to see two of his books listed here. It's great to know there's another person who enjoyed his writing. "Lively Lady" and "Captain Caution" are sailing books, so fit this thread, and both are entertaining. I thought his best books were "Arundel," "Rabble in Arms," "Oliver Wiswell," and the first half of "Northwest Passage."

Then you are obviously a man of good taste [:D]

But seriously, I must have read Arundel and Rabble, at least 20 times, and every time I find something new. Long live Saved from Captivity Huff !!

I originally put an apology here about driftin OT, but now I think on it: about half of “Rabble in Arms” is about the design, construction, manning, and fitting of the fleet that fought at Valcour Island. It also has the most comprehensive and immediate description of that action I ever read. Had a really good lobscouse too with a mess o’ greens, ship braid, and a snapper turkle, yow. Highly recommended

[Canoerebel]

Same here - I've read both more than a dozen times.  I just read Arundel to my children, who are 10, 13, and 15.  I thought it might be a tad detailed for their taste, but they loved it.  Since that book deals with Benedict Arnold's 1776 campaign on Quebec, including the use of bateaux to ascend the Dead River and then canoes to descend the Chaudierre River, it really isn't off topic.
 
Saved From Captivity is a gem - "Eel Ox Nox" and Philadelphia as seen from Cooper's Ferry."  Tom Buell in Oliver Wiswell is good too - "Nut brown maidens."  Henri Guerlac de Sabrevois and his mistress Marie are villains indeed.

[AW1Steve]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

ORIGINAL: JWE

I enjoyed "The Lively Lady" and "Captain Caution" by Kenneth Roberts. Written by someone who knows how to sail.

Kenneth Roberts has been my favorite author since high school in the 1970s, but I've never met another soul who knows who he is, so JWE it was quite startling to see two of his books listed here. It's great to know there's another person who enjoyed his writing. "Lively Lady" and "Captain Caution" are sailing books, so fit this thread, and both are entertaining. I thought his best books were "Arundel," "Rabble in Arms," "Oliver Wiswell," and the first half of "Northwest Passage."

[:D]All excellent books. I've been reading and re-reading Roberts for over 30 years.Of course I had an advantage over most of his readers. I grew up seven miles from"Arundel", now known as Kennebunk port. The present Arundel (just outside of Kennebunk was at that time part of Biddeford. It's easy to be intrested in your own back yard. [:D]

[SkyElf]

I have read a few of Horatio Hornblower books but, Alexander Kent(Douglas Reeman), The Bolitho Novels (The Bolitho Novels) by the way are best in my opinion is number one on Napolonic Era.  When Bolitho died I cried for the loss of my long time friend with his Coxswain Allday, friends like Brian Ferguson(ex-coxswain) estate manager, Thomas Herrick from Lieutenant to Admiral, etc. Since the characters were so real and I felt close to him and all of his friends in the books.  The series still goes on with his nephew Captain Adam Bolitho!  I then found Patrick O'Brien novels were a good series also, a bit hard to get into at the start but I hanged in there and I still bought a few books on series a number of years ago to read.  Next was The Lord Ramage Novels By Dudley Pope, I also found them a good read for a novels  not that many books out there although the Dudley Pope did do a few other sailing novels a few on happened after the English Cival War which were interesting!
 

[msieving1]

Alexander Fullerton is an author worth looking for.  I've only read one of his books, The Blooding of the Guns, but it was excellent.  It's a novel about the Battle of Jutland, and while Fullerton adds a few ships to the British fleet "to provide homes for fictional characters", the battle is accurately described.  And Fullerton knows the Navy.  He was a serving officer in the RN during WW2.
 
The Blooding of the Guns is the first book of the Everard Naval Series, which follows a naval family in both WW1 and WW2.  The first three books are set in WW1, with six more books set in WW2.  One of the books, All the Drowning Seas, is about the Battle of Java Sea and its aftermath, with the rest set in the European theater.
 

[Barb]

I have found complete Aubrey Maturin series ) When I do not show here for some days, you know what I am doing [;)]