Menaced by the fast-moving PT Boats of the US Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy found itself on the back foot. They attempted, through various, methods, to tip the odds back in their favour… Land of the Rising Sun After centuries of splendid self-imposed isolation, with an obsession that the old Japanese ways were best, Japan…
As Victory at Sea charts a course across the Pacific Ocean, we take a look at one of the theatre’s smaller workhorses – the humble PT boat. The first PT boats were built by the Naval Division of the Electric Boat Company (Elco) in New Jersey. Later, a little larger at 78 feet, was the…
Tito’s partisans were one of the most effective resistance movements in occupied Europe. The Yugoslav Tiger fleet ruled the Adriatic! With the support of both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, Communist Party leader Josip Tito forged several disparate bands of resistance fighters into one of the most formidable irregular forces in occupied Europe….
HSK-7 Komet was a German auxiliary cruiser in World War II that operated as a Commerce Raider to disrupt Allied shipping. Auxiliary Cruisers Although a number of navies employed the use of commerce raiders in both World Wars, it was a particular practice of Germany to outfit merchantmen with hidden weaponry. These ships would then…
The German U-Boat VIIc will shortly be emerging from the depths. We compare it to the Royal Navy T-class Submarine in Cruel Seas. German U-Boats Submarines saw tremendous success in the first World War- they were a sharpened and precise instrument of naval blockades. They were not particularly manoeuvrable whilst submerged, travelling like any other…
We recently received this superb letter from Walter Riley Jr which we had to share it with you all… All aboard HMS Starling. From: Walter Riley (Jnr) Hi, Just dropping you a line to say how much I am enjoying Cruel Seas. My father was in the RN during WW2, being part of a handpicked,…
As one of the Kriegsmarine’s most produced classes of ship, R-boats proved to be real workhorses, acting as minesweepers, patrol craft and rescue vessels. Designed during the inter-war period, these sleek, low-profile minesweepers were intended for in-shore work. Famed for their speed and manoeuvrability, the R-boot flotillas would serve in every theatre of the war…
This week, we’re exploring the (relatively) placid waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the perfect setting for a myriad of Cruel Seas battles! The Mediterranean pitted the Royal Navy against the Italian Regia Marina for the first period of the war. Both navies had well-equipped light coastal forces who knew the local seas well enough, the…
In 1940 Britain and her empire stood alone. She had to re-equip as soon as she could to take on the Axis might. Whilst excellent weapons were being churned out by Britain’s factories, local folk with the best of intentions stepped in to lend a hand, sometimes it even helped… The Holman Projector The Holman…
The small harbours of North Africa were impassable to larger merchantmen. Enter the F-Lighter, half landing craft, half gunboat. Humble Beginnings “An MFP could hold its own with a destroyer, let alone a PT which had nothing more powerful than a 20-mm machine gun to shoot with.” – Samuel Eliot Morison The Marinefährprahm (Naval ferry barge,…
Tom Mecredy
Dan Hewitson
RichC