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Ned Yorke #6
Decoy
It is February 1942 and the war in the Atlantic looks grim for the allied convoys. The 'Great Blackout' has started, leaving the spy centre of Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire at a loss as to what the Nazis are planning. U-boat Command has changed the Hydra cipher.
The Enigma cannot be broken. Cipher experts can no longer eavesdrop on Nazi command, which leaves convoys open for attack by packs of marauding Nazi submarines. Winning the battle of the Atlantic will surely give Hitler a final victory. And who can stop him?
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1983
24 people are currently reading
46 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 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 17, 2023
Dudley Pope has made a career out of stories involving war, ships and the sea, with the occasional nod to war on land. This book, written in 1983, is set in the middle of the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. The Germans have upgraded their Enigma coding (cipher) machine. The British are no longer able to read the messages to and from German submarines (U-boats) and are losing the Battle of the Atlantic. New U-boats were ordered over two years ago and are becoming operational much faster than they are being sunk. Even with the industrial might of the Unites States, the Merchant Marine is losing ships much faster than they were being delivered. Great Britain is on the cusp of losing the war.
The only way to stop the losses is to decode U-boat communications allowing convoys to skirt the U-boats, and the Allied navies to find and sink the U-boats. This means capturing an upgraded Enigma machine and its supporting operational documents. Even harder, the Germans must not know about the captured machine, or they will simply upgrade the device again. This problem lands on the lap of Lieutenant Commander Ned Yorke, (offspring of the Ned Yorke of Pope’s series of the same name set in the 15th century). Churchill himself assigns the task to Yorke and ensures that Yorke is fully aware of the ramifications to Britain if he is unsuccessful.
Yorke is given access to any assets he needs from the British Navy, including the use of marines, if necessary. Yorke comes up with a risky plan to capture a U-boat, remove its Enigma machine and supporting documents, then hide the submarine and any captured crew. He and his team of 20 or so tough marines and submarine crewmen train briefly in the details of the plan. They are then abandoned in a lifeboat in the middle of the Atlantic to await an opportunity. The book is exciting and full of tension and action from now to the end of the story. The decoy team face numerous battles including: capturing a U-boat from their lifeboat, fending off allied destroyers and depth charges, and actually breaking through the naval cordon protecting the British Isles. All this without the use of any planned communication channels.
Pope tells a good story. He tells the details of the battle without detailing the wounds and gore arising from the fight. Main characters have adult needs and passions outside the purely naval environment. This is more realistic than authors who totally ignore the sex life of their characters. However, I am uncertain of the reality of some situations depicted such as the workplace treatment and activity of the female nurses and WRENS.
This is a good read if you do not demand a current techno thriller. Four stars
The only way to stop the losses is to decode U-boat communications allowing convoys to skirt the U-boats, and the Allied navies to find and sink the U-boats. This means capturing an upgraded Enigma machine and its supporting operational documents. Even harder, the Germans must not know about the captured machine, or they will simply upgrade the device again. This problem lands on the lap of Lieutenant Commander Ned Yorke, (offspring of the Ned Yorke of Pope’s series of the same name set in the 15th century). Churchill himself assigns the task to Yorke and ensures that Yorke is fully aware of the ramifications to Britain if he is unsuccessful.
Yorke is given access to any assets he needs from the British Navy, including the use of marines, if necessary. Yorke comes up with a risky plan to capture a U-boat, remove its Enigma machine and supporting documents, then hide the submarine and any captured crew. He and his team of 20 or so tough marines and submarine crewmen train briefly in the details of the plan. They are then abandoned in a lifeboat in the middle of the Atlantic to await an opportunity. The book is exciting and full of tension and action from now to the end of the story. The decoy team face numerous battles including: capturing a U-boat from their lifeboat, fending off allied destroyers and depth charges, and actually breaking through the naval cordon protecting the British Isles. All this without the use of any planned communication channels.
Pope tells a good story. He tells the details of the battle without detailing the wounds and gore arising from the fight. Main characters have adult needs and passions outside the purely naval environment. This is more realistic than authors who totally ignore the sex life of their characters. However, I am uncertain of the reality of some situations depicted such as the workplace treatment and activity of the female nurses and WRENS.
This is a good read if you do not demand a current techno thriller. Four stars
August 9, 2018
Many authors evidently do a lot of research to ensure the technical accuracy of their books (one thinks of ‘police procedural’, a description which almost implies such a quest). Sometimes I get the feeling that the author then feels obliged to include as much detail as possible, but to show off, rather than to support the plot. This is one of those instances. The details of the firing of different machine guns, for instance, may be interesting to some extent, but does not really add to the story. For a while it was annoying, but it almost got to the point of putting me off, of making me abandon reading. Use the correct jargon, by all means, but don’t explain it all the time; leave something for the reader. Sailors play a game called ‘uckers’, fine, but I don’t need to know that’s really ludo.
The technical bit I was interested in, that prompted me to buy the book (10p from the hospice shop) was Enigma. I know a bit about that, and I trust that all the details he gave were accurate, although some of his account does seem at variance with Wikipedia.
Apparently the author served on convoys, so perhaps he does know it all.
The technical bit I was interested in, that prompted me to buy the book (10p from the hospice shop) was Enigma. I know a bit about that, and I trust that all the details he gave were accurate, although some of his account does seem at variance with Wikipedia.
Apparently the author served on convoys, so perhaps he does know it all.
November 11, 2023
It's an OK story (not a new plot idea), but for someone who lived through the war, served in the merchant Marine as a teenager, and went on to be a yachtsman, Pope made a lot of awkward blunders.
For example, he repeatedly writes that 6 knots (7 mph) is a sedate walking pace; good luck with that! It's 11 km/h, which would require anyone but a highly trained athlete to switch from a walking to a jogging or slow running gait (5 km/h or 3 mph is a typical relaxed walking speed).
He also doesn't understand much about ciphers, which is awkward when he keeps depicting "experts" talking about them. He seems to have thought that everyone was using a monoalphabetic substitution cipher (the kind you solve in your Sunday paper) or a one-time pad before Enigma came along, and keeps confidently explaining that in painful detail each time ciphers come up.
But still, once one gets over those awkward speedbumps, it's a readable story so far.
For example, he repeatedly writes that 6 knots (7 mph) is a sedate walking pace; good luck with that! It's 11 km/h, which would require anyone but a highly trained athlete to switch from a walking to a jogging or slow running gait (5 km/h or 3 mph is a typical relaxed walking speed).
He also doesn't understand much about ciphers, which is awkward when he keeps depicting "experts" talking about them. He seems to have thought that everyone was using a monoalphabetic substitution cipher (the kind you solve in your Sunday paper) or a one-time pad before Enigma came along, and keeps confidently explaining that in painful detail each time ciphers come up.
But still, once one gets over those awkward speedbumps, it's a readable story so far.
November 20, 2022
Based on Pope's WW2 Navy experience suffering the Blackout when Enigma, Nazi coding machine cut of Britain's plans. Hero Nick Yorke repeats his successful plan from Convoy. Their confrontation has a visceral revenge on U-boats feel. Huge Atlantic storm waves lash his team with freezing salt spray. The sea is a cruel opponent who does not take sides in war, but subs below water feel less of her lash.
Only now I re-read, do I record this first time. Maybe last century? Ned is a hero I can re-read, despite romantic interest that "fleshes" him out. Hmm. No pun intended.
Only now I re-read, do I record this first time. Maybe last century? Ned is a hero I can re-read, despite romantic interest that "fleshes" him out. Hmm. No pun intended.
March 14, 2025
Gripping yarn.
Have read the true story about Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine and breaking the code. This story is better than the truth.
Have read the true story about Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine and breaking the code. This story is better than the truth.
April 22, 2011
Haven't finished it but as with Convoy, the author knows, understands and explains well what he is talking about. The Germans have developed the next generation encrypting machine. The British had figured out their old ciphers but now they need to get their hands on the new model or the war in the Atlantic is lost. Lt. Ned Yorke and his cronies at the ASIU (Anti-submarine Intelligence Unit) are assigned to retrieve it.
June 15, 2013
This wAs interesting with all the WWII history and information
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews