HMS Saracen

by Douglas Reeman

Book Overview

Malta 1941. To most people HMS Saracen is just an ugly, obsolete ship with an equally ugly recent history: her last commander is due for court-martial after shelling the troops he was sent to protect.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099062607
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Arrow Books, Limited
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 0.7" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

A tale of two wars

In 1915 HMS Saracen was a new and untried weapon sent to attempt to change the tide in the Dardenalles, which was decidedly against the British. She was designed to fire battleship sized shells far inland to support the army ashore. Also, new and untried was Midshipman Chesney, son of a former Naval officer who had left the Royal Navy under a cloud. Young Chesney is viewed by some as a traditional son of the Royal Navy while to some he is seen as a different sort of future naval officer - a young man who cares about the men entrusted to his leadership. Both SARACEN and Chesney distinguish themselves at Gallipoli but to little avail. At the end of 1915, the British evacuate the peninsula. By this time, SARACEN and Chesney have both returned to the UK, wounded.25 years later, ship and man are reuninted. In the interim, SARACEN had become outmoded and out dated. Chesney has been put on the beach in an economic retrenchment that saw hundreds of naval officers end their careers prematurely. Chesney had ended up in New Zealand selling farm implements until 1939 and the start of World War II, when he returned to the UK and rejoined the Royal Navy. After several assignments in the UK, Chesney was sent to the Mediterranean where he was to take command of SARACEN. By this time a ship with no real role except to do the odd jobs required in war, moving troops, cargo, fuels everything except shell the enemy far inland. The crew was demoralized and the officers were not much better. Most of the crew and officers were serving their time. If the were regulars, waiting until something better came along and if they were reservists, wondering what kind of navy they were in - serving in a large slow target that could not really fight and certainly couldn't run away from trouble if it were encountered.Chesney undertook to change the ship and crew; with mixed results. A few officers backed his efforts while senior officials wondered if Chesney was not fit to command. He proved his fitness while escorting a convoy of ships from Alexandria to Malta.The conclusion of the book is one that is quite a moving one in that it is delivered by a third person. The character involved at the conclusion is a surprise and yet, given the history of Chesney and the ship, not unsurprising. I think it works very well. It is sad but at the same time is another defining moment in the lives of the ship and the man.Reeman draws on his naval experience in this theater of the war and uses it quite well. His characters are all very believeable and play their assigned roles well. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Royal Navy and the campaigns it waged in the Mediterranean in the 20th Century.

Together in life, Together in Death.

Another good story from the great Douglas Reeman.This time about a young officer who is brought up in the Royal Navy and is assigned to his first ship, H.M.S Saracen.Richard Chesnaye is a young officer who is introduced into the sometimes harsh environment of the Royal Navy of 1914.The ship he is assigned to is a massive seagoing monitor with a huge main armament forward, and not alot else.This really is a two part story that begins with an induction of life aboard ship for a young Richard and his first blooding in battle during the Dardenelles campaign of World War One.A twisted love story, a Reeman essential, is also included and actually links the two storylines together.The second storyline sees a much older, and wiser although surlyer Richard being re-introduced to HMS Saracen, this time as it's commanding officer.Considered an ugly duckling and overdue for the breakers yard, World War Two intervines and as we all know, every ship that could fight was worth it's weight in gold. By the time 1940 rolls around, Richard must make do with his ship and when he and his monitor return to the Med' he lets all of Britain's enemies know about it. Of course the story caps off with the enevitable triumph over adversity and our hero gets the girl. The nice epilouge at the end rounds out the amazing lives of Richard Chesnaye and his partner HMS Saracen. The typically good Reeman read.

One Ship, One Man, Two Wars

Other reviewers of Reeman titles have noticed the formulaic nature of many of his novels. This title, the first Reeman story I ever read, is an entertaining departure from many of the elements Reeman fans have come to expect. Along with 'A Prayer for the Ship,' this is one of my favorite Reeman books.HMS Saracen is a monitor, a type of ship already obsolete when it was launched and now almost entirely forgotten. Nevertheless, Saracen is Richard Chesnaye's first ship, and it is aboard her that he makes a name for himself during the Gallipoli campaign. Twenty-five years later, both the ship and the man are recalled to active service during Hitler's war. And while few people are willing to say anything good about the ugly old ship, Chesnaye sees an opportunity to prove the old girl still has one more heroic act left.Reeman's picture of the fighting at Gallipoli is dramatic and affecting, plainting in Our Hero the seeds that drive him onward during the second war. The author resists the common flaw of making his hero too messianic: Chesnaye is sympathetic, but we can see his flaws.All in all, a highly enjoyable, read, with all the author's usual skill in depicting the horror and the glory of war at sea.

5 shore shellings for classic war story

H.M.S. Saracen as read by David Rintoul was my first exposure to an audio book. I had read several of Reeman's WWII novels and a couple of his offerings as Alexander Kent. I found listening to a reading very engaging while driving in the car. While I didn't have a reference with other taped readings, I did have a fair knowledge of Reeman's canon. Written in the mid-sixties, H.M.S. Saracen is one of his best. In fact, I am convinced that Reeman's best novels are his earliest.Reeman combined and linked two stories that could have stood alone. The first set in WWI, primarily at the Dardanelles, and the second set in WWII in the Mediterranean. H.M.S. Saracen is the only Reeman novel, I have read, that features a protagonist who fights in both world wars. It features many of the themes that Reeman has used repeatedly; the horror of war, the conflicts between first officer and captain as well as between captain and senior officers, the desperate nature of love when survival is tenuous and the comradeship and intense bonding at sea. Reeman did it best earliest, perhaps when the war was still fresh in his memory.The novel is not perfect. There is some purple prose in it and some relationships are not explained fully but these weaknesses are blown away by the description of a Saracen salvo.

A good story about a little known type of ship, a Monitor.

This is the tale of a Monitor-HMS Saracen a brand new ship in WW-I and an old has been during WW-II. The story centers around a young midshipman and his first ship and how he comes to love and believe in the Saracen. His faith is tested again as the ships captain in the Med during WW-II. The story is a good look at both the life of a RN midshipman during WW-I and the burdens of command in WW-II.