Post Description

voor de liefhebebrs van submarine audiobooks ;)

The Cruel Sea
(1951)
A novel by

Nicholas Monsarrat

audiobook

Plot:
A maritime adventure originally published in 1951. Set in the Second World War, two ships and their crews of about a hundred and fifty men are involved in defending Atlantic convoys against impossible odds. 

Title: 
The Cruel Sea 
BC Radio 2 full-cast dramatisation (BBC Radio Collection): 
Starring John Thaw & Cast
Author(s): Nicholas Monsarrat, Joe Dunlop
 (UK edition)
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Poster's Note:
The Cruel Sea is, in my view, one of the best movies yet made dealing with naval men at war in WWII. It's the story of the Compass Rose, newly commissioned in 1940 as a convoy escort, and the officers and men who served on her. Her captain (Jack Hawkins) was fresh from the merchant marine; her new officers had seen almost no sea duty. They learned on the job as they protected convoys in the North Atlantic and then in the run to the Mediterranean. 

What makes this book so good is its matter-of-factness. There are no heroics, just men learning their jobs and doing their duty, with some who die and some who survive. The scene where Captain Ericson decides to use depth charges to destroy a suspected submarine hiding below a group of struggling survivors from a torpedoed freighter is harrowing. The DVD I saw has a good but by no means first-class image transfer. 

The novel, The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat, is largely forgotten now. It remains one of the most evocative books to come out of WWII. The movie is well worth seeing. The book is certainly well worth reading, the audiobook well worth hearing.

Thanks to lanky :)