Proud Waters, by Ewart Brookes, Arrow Books, Ltd, London, 1979 (reprint of the hardback edition, Jarrolds Publishers, Ltd., London, 1954) “The best novel ever written about minesweepers during the Second World War” - Douglas Reeman. Blurb: “When Lieutenant William Haley RNVR is transferred from navigating officer on a destroyer to command a minesweeper at a base close to the German-occupied French coast, he accepts the post with reluctance. The ship was known to have a sullen crew and a young lieutenant smarting under the injustice of a previous commander. But, as Haley discovers, the task of minesweeping is as essential as it is perilous, claiming a high price in human life and loyalty.” I quite enjoyed this, especially since the CO is a “Wavy Navy” reservist and it’s a small (but vitally important) boat, and he goes through all the pangs of a new command. Aside from basics of sweeping, there is coastal convoy escort, air attacks and local night patrols by the minesweeping trawlers encountering E-boats. I would HIGHLY recommend this book both for a general naval read, and scenario ideas for small vessel actions. I liked the book enough to pick up a nautical non-naval fiction book by the same author. BT Back to The Naval Sitrep #22 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history and related articles are available at http://www.magweb.com