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Ned Yorke #5
Convoy
A deadly game of cat and mouse unravels its way out of this spine tingling war story as Lieutenant Yorke must find an answer to one vital question: how are German U-Boats sinking merchant ships from inside the convoys? In this gripping saga of heroism and intrigue, Yorke discovers the fate of one entire convoy. Only his wit and daring can lead to its survival and his.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
23 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Dudley Pope
130 books93 followersDudley Pope was born in Ashford, Kent.
By concealing his age, Pope joined the Home Guard aged 14 and at age 16 joined the Merchant Navy as a cadet. His ship was torpedoed the next year (1942). Afterwards, he spent two weeks in a lifeboat with the few other survivors.
After he was invalided out of the Merchant Navy, the only obvious sign of the injuries Pope had suffered was a joint missing from one finger due to gangrene. Pope then went to work for a Kentish newspaper, then in 1944 moved to The Evening News in London, where he was the naval and defence correspondent. From there he turned to reading and writing naval history.
Pope's first book, "Flag 4", was published in 1954, followed by several other historical accounts. C. S. Forester, the creator of the famed Horatio Hornblower novels, encouraged Pope to add fiction to his repertoire. In 1965, "Ramage" appeared, the first of what was to become an 18-novel series.
Pope took to living on boats from 1953 on; when he married Kay Pope in 1954, they lived on a William Fife 8-meter named Concerto, then at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy in 1959 with a 42-foot ketch Tokay. In 1963 he and Kay moved to a 53-foot cutter Golden Dragon, on which they moved to Barbados in 1965. In 1968 they moved onto a 54-foot wooden yacht named Ramage, aboard which he wrote all of his stories until 1985.
Pope died April 25, 1997 in Marigot, St. Martin. Both his wife and his daughter, Jane Victoria survived him.
By concealing his age, Pope joined the Home Guard aged 14 and at age 16 joined the Merchant Navy as a cadet. His ship was torpedoed the next year (1942). Afterwards, he spent two weeks in a lifeboat with the few other survivors.
After he was invalided out of the Merchant Navy, the only obvious sign of the injuries Pope had suffered was a joint missing from one finger due to gangrene. Pope then went to work for a Kentish newspaper, then in 1944 moved to The Evening News in London, where he was the naval and defence correspondent. From there he turned to reading and writing naval history.
Pope's first book, "Flag 4", was published in 1954, followed by several other historical accounts. C. S. Forester, the creator of the famed Horatio Hornblower novels, encouraged Pope to add fiction to his repertoire. In 1965, "Ramage" appeared, the first of what was to become an 18-novel series.
Pope took to living on boats from 1953 on; when he married Kay Pope in 1954, they lived on a William Fife 8-meter named Concerto, then at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy in 1959 with a 42-foot ketch Tokay. In 1963 he and Kay moved to a 53-foot cutter Golden Dragon, on which they moved to Barbados in 1965. In 1968 they moved onto a 54-foot wooden yacht named Ramage, aboard which he wrote all of his stories until 1985.
Pope died April 25, 1997 in Marigot, St. Martin. Both his wife and his daughter, Jane Victoria survived him.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 5, 2013
Very good WWII naval story. My only complaint is that it took our hero way too long to figure out how the sub was getting into the convoy. I had it figured out 5 or 6 chapters earlier.
November 20, 2022
Like Dudley Pope, the WW2 Ned Yorke is wounded. But Ned gets together with pretty nurse for romantic sub-plot. Then he is in a special unit, to find out how German U-boats slip into centre of merchantmen convoy, take them down, a few a night, run to deep cold sea layer, repeat until all of 14 torpedoes are used up, head back to France HQ triumphant. We were losing the Battle of the Atlantic. If losses continued, Britain would starve and freeze without imported food and fuel.
His daring plan is based on author Pope's real experience. No wonder everything sounds so authentic, terrifying. Ned the pirate was my hero. This man is more real, still so brave. Feels like real sailors who died for us, now gone and medals too. Pope's work is so memorable, I had to wait a long time [from last century?] before re-reading.
His daring plan is based on author Pope's real experience. No wonder everything sounds so authentic, terrifying. Ned the pirate was my hero. This man is more real, still so brave. Feels like real sailors who died for us, now gone and medals too. Pope's work is so memorable, I had to wait a long time [from last century?] before re-reading.
October 23, 2023
A good wartime story that you could call a Nautical Mystery if so inclined. Very loosely related to previous works by this author, as the main character is a Yorke, recognizable from the Ramage series. The technique of delaying vital clues in a mystery is applied here, and while it became clear who the guilty party is well before the story ends, it did not detract from this WW2 yarn.
FYI: I happen to consider the Ramage series by this author my favorite nautical adventure stories.
FYI: I happen to consider the Ramage series by this author my favorite nautical adventure stories.
September 14, 2017
This is a good solid naval adventure. The pacing is slow through the first half and the plot is one dimensional but the author's talent for describing characters and circumstances is so vivid that the reader is totally drawn into the events unfolding. If your looking for an entertaining sea tale in the best British tradition this novel will do nicely.
December 31, 2019
What can you say, unputdownable, started yesterday finish today. I find all the wartime sea stories very readable, and keep them on my shelves to read again and again, I let a lot go in an earlier move and regret it now.
April 7, 2011
I have read a lot of Pope's "Ramage" novels just because I like Napoleonic sea stories but with this series, you can tell he actually knows what he is talking about. It is WWII and the Germans are managing to get submarines up into the middle of a convoy of merchant ships and pick them off at night.
These convoys are escorted by Royal Navy boats and they can't figure out how the "U-boats" are evading their ASDIC (some sort of sonar). Lt. Ned Yorke (whose forebear appears in the Ramage stories) is set with the task of correcting this problem. I don't really know anything about the author but I can understand everything all the sailing and war strategy because HE understands it. The characters are interesting and believable in war time Britain.
These convoys are escorted by Royal Navy boats and they can't figure out how the "U-boats" are evading their ASDIC (some sort of sonar). Lt. Ned Yorke (whose forebear appears in the Ramage stories) is set with the task of correcting this problem. I don't really know anything about the author but I can understand everything all the sailing and war strategy because HE understands it. The characters are interesting and believable in war time Britain.
August 17, 2012
Dudley Pope is best known for his popular Lord Ramage series of naval adventures in the C.S. Forester vein; this is a World War Two novel about a British naval officer in the North Atlantic dueling with German U-boats threatening the merchant ships that were Britain's lifeline. A realistic account of a hard, deadly phase of the war and the unsung heroes who fought it.
July 13, 2013
Quite a fascinating read.
May 8, 2015
Brilliant
January 11, 2017
A good WWII naval story, the method used to attack the convoys is very interesting. Possibly made a little too easy for the reader, or maybe I was just lucky.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews