The Cruiser

by Warren Tute

Vintage paperback

Genres: War, Nautical, Historical Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Warren Tute was born in County Durham in 1914. He entered the Navy in 1932, retiring in 1946, a career which included service on Earl Mountbatten's staff and a part in North African, Sicilian, and Normandy landings. After the war he was under contract to the late Ted Kavanagh of ITMA fame, writing for radio and television.

Over 30 of his works have been published. World sales of his books were well over the million, the most successful of his novels being The Rock, The Cruiser, Leviathan, The Golden Greek and The Admiral. .

At London Weekend Television he was Head of Scripts and originated The Commanding Sea television series for the BBC and co-authored the book with Clare Francis.

Reviews

[Mike Grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book by Warren Tute detailing the short life of the HMS Antigone, a fictional Leander Class Cruiser in the Royal Navy from the late 1930's into World War II. The stroy is told from the perspective of several different crew members of the ship and is a moderately paced read.

Recommended for those interested in Naval Operations, The Royal Navy or World War II in general.

[Adam Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because of a one line reference in an essay by Christopher Hitchens titled “On Not Knowing the Half of It”. Warren Tute was apparently a naval comrade of his father. The author makes a throw away remark a bout a Jewish character carrying his pocket Marx. On the strength of that I bought the book second hand from AbeBooks. The 1970’s yellowed Pan copy I received was more than enough to trigger warm memories of half forgotten paperback from my home as a child.

The book was formulaic but I found very affecting. The tone and milieu really is terribly dated and I don’t mean that because it as wwii novel. That if anything added to the charm of the experience as I imagined English school kids in blazer and flannel pants reading this as rip roaring entertainment.