Hearts of Steel

Hearts of Steel explores the time of the Royal Navy from the end of World War 1 to the Battle of Crete in May 1941. During this period the Royal Navy was taking the fight to the German war machine. There were losses, but great victories too. It was a time of developing tactics and a growing realisation that the day of the Aircraft Carrier was now, whilst the sun was setting on the era of the Battleship. The tale is unique, following the service record of an able seaman of the period. However, this is not a biography of a single man. The narrative follows the careers of the ships in which he served, their crews, commanding officers and the development of the Royal Navy as it evolved from the period of sail and canon to oil fired steel castles that could accurately hurl a shell over 12 miles. During Part 1 we explore how a sailor is accepted into the Senior Service before assignment to operations. Exploring the roles of the Royal Navy shore establishments the advances in gunnery techniques, weaponry and radar detection demonstrating how technology shaped the way the Navy would fight in the next war. We travel to the East Indies Station aboard the flagships HMS Effingham in 1925 and Hawkins in 1932. Referencing two long out of print books describing both commissions we go fishing with the commanding officers, attend hearts and minds parties aboard ship, hunt Hippo's in Africa and play football in front of 15,000 spectators In the early years of World War 2 the Royal Navy was manned, on the whole, by experienced officers and sailors who had joined the service as an alternative career to the factory or the land. A ships crew would be supplemented by 'Hostilities Only" crew members the likes of which would be mentored by the older hands. Assigned to HMS Nubian, a brand new Destroyer, we evacuate British forces from Norway before coming under the Command of Captain Philip Mack, Leader of the 14th Destroyer Flotilla, destination the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet. Operating from the Egyptian port of Alexandria, Nubian provides escort and screening duties for the battlefleet commanded by Admiral 'ABC' Cunningham. The arrival of the aircraft carrier Illustrious takes the fight to the Italians, notably Operation Judgement, where the Fleet Air Arm successfully attacked the Italian fleet in Taranto harbour. However, the hornets nest is poked, and the Germans get sucked into both North Africa and the Mediterranean theatre. They deploy Fliegerkorps X, equipped with the Stuka JU87 dive bomber with the primary aim of sinking Illustrious. From January 1941 the Axis powers (Italy and Germany) begin to take a grip on the region. The Battle of Matapan demonstrates the superiority of the British fleet but the might of German air power is simply overwhelming. Rommel arrives in North Africa in February and negate any gains the British had made against the Italians. Then the Germans first invade Greece and then take on Crete with an airborne assault. Despite brave and stoic resistance, the stresses and strains on the British ships and their crews is enormous. Nubians crew have been almost constantly at war for over two years by May 1941 with the odds against their survival shortening by the hour. The underlying thread of the book follows the 27 year career of one man, Able Seaman Herbert Leeder, the great grandfather of the author.