224 pp, large 8vo (9 15/16" H). B&w maps and photographs. "The first HMS Sheffield was launched in 1936 to serve her flag bravely for thirty years. During World War Two, the cruiser became one of the most illustrious warships of all time, achieving twelve honours. In 1940, she fought in the action off Cape Spartivento; in the following year she shared in the audacious bombardment of Genoa, exchanged salvoes with Bismarck and sank one of that battleship's supply tankers, Friedrich Breme. In the Arctic a mine blew a 22-foot hole in her stern, but in an Icelandic fjord her crew fashioned a makeshift timber patch before steaming her back to Britain to fight again. In 1942, in the Barents Sea, Sheffield was in action against the 'pocket battleships' Admiral Hipper and Lutzow, and sank the German destroyer Friedrich Eckoldt. In 1943 she shared in the destruction of the battlecruiser Scharnhorst off North Cape and later supported carrier attacks upon Tirpitz. These, however, were but the highlights of this distinguished ship's wartime service. This book tells the story of her entire life and of her crews before, during and after World War Two - not from the detached perspective of an 'armchair historian', but from that of a writer who served at that time in a similar cruiser. Ronald Bassett was entrusted with research material accumulated over many years by an officer of Sheffield who died before those records could be turned into a book. Hundreds of her crew members, including several of her commanding officers, have contributed to this chronicle by means of their memoirs, diaries, letters, newspaper cuttings and photographs, enabling (the author) to paint an accurate and powerfully evocative portrait of a famous ship." Slight bump at bottom of spine, slight waviness to edges of text block, previous owner's label on free front endpaper, book cracked in several places but page signatures are holding firmly. Dust jacket has light to moderate edge wear/wrinkling, several small edge tears (two taped) and chips, light rubbing with some slight colour loss on rear panel.

Town  Class  Cruisers,  Royal  Navy,  Naval  Operations,  Second,  Captain  Charles  Addis,  Ark  Royal,  Barents  Sea,  Force  H,  Gibraltar,  Convoys,  Arthur  Clark,  Chatham,  Kent,  Flotta,  Orkneys,  Renown,  Rosyth,  Larcom,  Malta,  Luftwaffe,  Greenock,  Operation  Avalanche,  Second  World  War,  World  War  II,  Post  World  War  II,  HMS  Sheffield,  Cape  Spartivento,  Genoa,  Bismarck,  Friedrich  Breme,  Arctic,  Iceland,  Admiral  Hipper,  Lutzow,  Friedrich  Eckoldt,  Scharnhorst,  Tirpitz.