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In 1944 the Allies had a flotilla based in Corsica who used torpedo boats to land agents and saboteurs in enemy-occupied France, as well as to pick up those evading the Gestapo. As it became more successful, they took more risks, and this story describes their biggest and most dangerous operation.

Naval VCs have been won in places as far apart in time and distance as the Baltic in 1854 and Japan in 1945, in the trenches from the Crimea to the Western Front, in harbours from Dar es Salaam to Zeebrugge, from the Barents to the Java Sea, from New Zealand to the North Atlantic, and from China to the Channel. They have been won in battleships and trawlers, in submarines below the water and aircraft above it, on horseback and on foot.Age and rank meant nothing. Boy Cornwall was not seventeen at Jutland, and Frederick Parslow was in his sixtieth year when he earned his VC on board a horse transport ship. William Hall was the son of a freed slave; Charles Lucas, awarded the Royal Navys first VC, became a Rear Admiral. Neither were all the recipients of Britains highest gallantry decoration British, and men from Canada, Australia and New Zealand were included in those whose actions were recognised by the awarding of the VC. Yet every one of them had one thing in common uncommon valour.

A naval historian presents a collection of personal accounts from British naval servicemembers who contributed to victory in the Falklands. Fearing that the achievements of Britain’s Navy in the Falklands War would go unrecognized, John Winton let it be known that he was compiling a book of personal, firsthand accounts on the subject. The response was overwhelming, and Signals from the Falklands represents only a fraction of the stories, letters, journal entries, and recorded interviews he received. Here is a candid recounting of that brief but successful campaign from those who served in all ranks and trades with the Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Some of the contributors, like the aptly named Sam Salt will be familiar to many; others are not well known. All who served on board any ship which ‘went south’ in that strange nut epic endeavor in 1982 will be grateful to John Winton for this lasting tribute to their bravery, their sacrifice, and their abiding sense of humor.

The aircraft carrier Leviathan is the biggest, most powerful vessel the British Navy has ever commissioned. The showpiece of the navy, however, has limped from one crisis to another, from technical problems to dissent among her massive crew. Commander Bob Markready vows to whip it into shape.