Most helpful customer reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A good companion to this book, Jun 10 2008
Written by someone who experienced WWII in convoy escort duty, The Cruel Sea is quite realistic in a double sense: You get the drama of the war as well as the times when war is dull or frustrating, for example when an officer dumps paperwork onto subordinates. Realistic without being cynical is a good combination.
And if you'd like to read another book on this theme but with more of the immediacy of the war, try C. S. Forester's, The Good Shepherd, the classic account of a single convoy at the height of the war with U-boats as told by the captain of a US destroyer. Unfortunately, new it seems to be available only in an overpriced but ugly reprint, so you might want to find a used copy. I have a paperback version that I reread every few years.
--Michael W. Perry, editor of Chesterton on War and Peace: Battling the Ideas and Movements that Led to Nazism and World War II
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5.0 out of 5 stars
THE must-read story about WWII naval surface warfare, Dec 4 2005
By A Customer
This story of the crew of the Compass Rose, a WWII Allied Corvette, is beautifully told with good character development. Fighting dangerous gales, waves and sperstructure ice, the Compass Rose sonarman and tactical teams pursue and are pursued. They wait, listen, move, chase and flee U-boats, torpedo-ing and depth charging their way through North Atlantic misery, locked in a psycho-thriller conflict with the German Wolfpack. The story tells of the physical and mental hardship of the fighting crew of this small, fast, seaworthy and heavily armed surface ship, and the immense toll the Wolfpack took on Allied shipping. The reader explores the bravery and courage of mentally exhausted sailors trying to muster every last bit of reserve to outwit, outpunch, outhunt and out-maneuvre stealthy U-boats and the worst that the North Atlantic winter maritime environment has to offer. Monsarrat has a real page turner here, and he makes the reader feel the emotional duress and psychological stress the crew experiences together and individually as it hunts the hunter and at the same time is being hunted by it. If the classic English sub-titled movie 'Das Boot' is the ultimate undersea perspective of the Allied navy-U-boat conflict, then the surface perspective is definitely the story of the Compass Rose - Lest We Forget.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Authentic WWII Sea Salt, Aug 20 2004
If I were asked to recommend three great movies about any Allied or Axis army, navy and air force in World War II, they would be "The Desert Fox", "The Cruel Sea" and "Twelve O'Clock High". All three were made in black and white soon after the war, and all have the unmistakable realism of true accounts.
"The Cruel Sea", based on the famous Nicholas Monsarrat novel of the same title, lend its story beautifully to the stark contrasts and subtle mid-tones of black and white film (you don't get all those mid-tones of grey in color film). The story is grippingly personal, tragic and redeeming, gradually and painfully building the intense bond of camaraderie that seems to be particularly strong among navy people - probably because the sea can be the loneliest and most unforgiving place on earth (hence the title). Recalling the names Compass Rose and Saltash Castle, you'll taste the freezing brine of the North Atlantic, smell the mix of diesel fuel, blood and cordite, and hear the cries of your mates drowning in your wake. The real deal in black and white.
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