{"title":"Iain Ballantyne","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"deadly-deep-book-iain-ballantyne-9781681778778","title":"The Deadly Deep","description":"\u003cp\u003eA fascinating and comprehensive account of how an initially ineffectual underwater boat--originally derided and loathed in equal measure--evolved into the most powerful and terrifying vessel ever invented--with enough destructive power to end all life on Earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIain Ballantyne considers the key episodes of submarine warfare and vividly describes the stories of brave individuals who have risked their lives under the sea, often with fatal consequences. His analysis of underwater conflict begins with Archimedes discovering the Principle of Buoyancy. Our clandestine journey then moves through the centuries and focuses on prolific characters with deathly motives, including David Bushnell, who in 1775 in America devised the first combat submarine with the idea of attacking the British.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eToday, nuclear-powered submarines are among the most complex, costly ships in existence. Armed with nuclear weapons, they have the ability to destroy millions of lives: they are the most powerful warships ever created. 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It tells the story of how such tiny craft took on mighty battleships, including U-boats sinking HMS Royal Oak and HMS Barham in WW2, along with the incredible exploits of British submariners in the Dardanelles and Baltic during WW1.The action-packed narrative includes bitterly contested Atlantic convoy fights of WW2 and submarines in the clash of battle fleets at Midway. Iain Ballantyne also reveals how the US Navy submarine service brought the Japanese empire to its knees in 1945, even before the atomic bombs were dropped.    The Deadly Trade tells the amazing stories of not only pioneers such as Drebbel, Fulton and Holland, but also of legendary submarine captains, including Max Horton and Otto Weddigen in WW1. During WW2 we sail to war with Otto Kretschmer, Gunther Prien, Fritz-Julius Lemp, Malcolm Wanklyn, Dudley Morton, Richard O'Kane and Sam Dealey. We get involved in the famous fights of Britain's ace submarine-killing escort group leaders Frederic 'Johnny' Walker, Donald Macintyre and Peter Gretton.    There is a dive into unconventional submarine warfare, including Japanese midget subs in the notorious Pearl Harbor raid plus British X-craft against the Tirpitz in Arctic waters.  Iain Ballantyne plunges readers into famous Enigma machine captures that played a key role in deciding the outcome of WW2. He explains what the Nazis were up to at the end of WW2, pursuing Total Underwater Warfare, partly via the revolutionary Type XXI U-boat. Ballantyne reveals the incredible story of a proposed cruise missile attack on New York and considers the likelihood (or otherwise) of Hitler escaping to South America in a U-boat.     The Deadly Trade takes us into the post-WW2 face-off between the Soviets and NATO, the sinking of the Indian frigate INS Khukri by Pakistan's PNS Hangor and attack on the Argentine cruiser ARA Belgrano by HMS Conqueror. The Deadly Trade concludes with today's growing submarine arms race and Putin's 'missile boat diplomacy' along with the use of cruise missiles by the British and Americans to try and decapitate rogue regimes.   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After a bloody chase lasting more than 1,700 miles, Britain's Home Fleet is finally closing in on the world's most powerful battleship. There will be a fight to the finish between more than 5,000 men of the Royal Navy and 2,600 servicemen of Hitler's Kriegsmarine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom tactical hits to shadowing ships, the mission to destroy the Bismarck was one of strategy and perseverance. In this tense and compelling narrative of the Action, we hear from the Royal Navy sailors who saw the combat up close.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe product of his interviews with surviving veterans, as well as transcripts, war diaries, and wireless signals, Ballantyne's Bismarck places the reader into the nail-biting naval combat of one of the Second World War's most dramatic events.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEighty years on from that epic mission, the testimonies of the brave men who fought on both sides provide fresh and heartwrenching insight into the real cost of naval warfare.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePRAISE FOR \u003cem\u003eBISMARCK: 24 HOURS TO DOOM\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'A \u003cstrong\u003epowerful and moving\u003c\/strong\u003e cinematic study devoted to what has to be the most dramatic event of the Second World War at sea - the last twenty-four hours alive of the German battleship \u003cem\u003eBismarck\u003c\/em\u003e. The use of the present tense to heighten immediacy is very effective and the \u003cstrong\u003etension carries through\u003c\/strong\u003e well; the first-hand accounts make you care about the men on both sides who found themselves trapped in such a ferocious holocaust.' \u003cem\u003e-\u003c\/em\u003e Julian Stockwin, author of the Thomas Kydd Series of naval adventures in the Age of Fighting Sail\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'By drawing on the first-hand experiences of veterans in the thick of the action, Iain Ballantyne has produced \u003cstrong\u003ea deeply researched and unputdownable \u003c\/strong\u003eaccount of the hunt for the Bismarck that is at once \u003cstrong\u003eauthoritative, insightful and highly readable\u003c\/strong\u003e.' - Rowland White, author of \u003cem\u003eHarrier 809\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eVulcan 607\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom \u003c\/em\u003eis a superb read, \u003cstrong\u003eentertaining, informative and affecting\u003c\/strong\u003e . . . for a sense of what it was like to be there, \u003cstrong\u003ethis one is hard to beat\u003c\/strong\u003e.' - Matthew Willis, author of The Fortress of Malta series\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49518994522385,"sku":"GOR012142543","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1913099938.jpg?v=1751433539"},{"product_id":"bismarck-24-hours-to-doom-book-iain-ballantyne-9781804363409","title":"Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom","description":"Now a major television documentary (Channel 4, 2021)  The epic mission to destroy Hitler's flagship.'Bismarck was now loose in the Atlantic  we had to find and sink her.'  May, 1941. The most powerful battleship the world has ever seen, the German Navy's Bismarck, breaks out into the Atlantic to ravage Allied convoys. Together with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, the Bismarck will seek to deliver a killer blow to Britain's war effort.  The British launch an all-or-nothing bid to sink her, with the Home Fleet and other naval units steaming hard from all points of the compass, straining every sinew to trap and destroy Bismarck. HMS Hood, the battlecruiser pride of the Royal Navy, is destroyed within eight minutes of engaging Bismarck on 24 May. However, the brand new battleship HMS Prince of Wales lands a pivotal blow on Bismarck, puncturing a fuel tank, forcing the German battleship to make for refuge in a friendly port.  Reeling from the loss of the Hood, the Royal Navy redoubles its efforts, intent on avenging lost shipmates. Aircraft carrier Ark Royal, along with battleships King George V and Rodney, plus cruisers and destroyers, are among those who hunt and pursue the foe over more than 1,700 miles.  This is the story of Bismarck's fateful final twenty-four hours on 26\/27 May 1941: the finale of the hunt and the culminating brutal close-quarters battle as Bismarck makes a desperate bid to escape the enemy.  Using eyewitness accounts of Royal Navy sailors, Royal Marines and Swordfish torpedo-bomber aviators  including searing testimony gleaned by the author during unique interviews with a 'band of brothers' who were in the thick of the action - Ballantyne brings one of the Second World War's most dramatic events thundering to life. He also draws on new research in museum archives and other accounts from both the British and German side, to present a multi-dimensional, cinematic telling of a legendary episode in naval combat history.  An epic story, told with compelling immediacy, it takes readers aboard warships in unforgiving seas, into the cockpits of warplanes in shrapnel-lashed skies and even inside a U-boat under a cruel ocean. Perfect for readers of Richard Hough and Saul David.  Praise for Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom 'A powerful and moving cinematic study devoted to what has to be the most dramatic event of the Second World War at sea'  Julian Stockwin, author of the Thomas Kydd series of naval adventures  'By drawing on the first-hand experiences of veterans in the thick of the action, Iain Ballantyne has produced a deeply researched and unputdownable account of the hunt for the Bismarck that is at once authoritative, insightful and highly readable'  Rowland White, author of Harrier 809 and Vulcan 607","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49519899345169,"sku":"GOR013069805","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49662429626641,"sku":"GOR013335068","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49745623449873,"sku":"NGR9781804363409","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50271235637521,"sku":"GOR013038627","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50391197188369,"sku":"CIN1804363405G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51052242075921,"sku":"NIN9781804363409","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51701998584081,"sku":"CIN1804363405VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52659962413329,"sku":"NLS9781804363409","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1804363405.jpg?v=1766141510"},{"product_id":"hms-london-warships-of-the-royal-navy-book-iain-ballantyne-9780850528435","title":"Hms London: Warships of the Royal Navy","description":"There is no current warship in the Royal Navy called HMS London, but vessels carrying the name have featured for better or worse in some of the most controversial episodes of British naval history. 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Examining the stories of HMS Londons all the way from the English Civil War, through the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 - where Nelson famously ignored signals to break off the action displayed by HMS London - we also learn of the pre-dreadnought London's participation in the ill-fated Dardanelles campaign of WW1. Iain Ballantyne's fascinating and lively account of the lives of British warships named London primarily looks at history from the perspective of the men who were there, including her post-WW2 mission under a storm of fire from Chinese communist forces to rescue the frigate Amethyst. In addition to research in various archives, among the people Iain interviewed for the book were veterans of the Arctic convoys of WW2, the Yangtse Incident and warriors of the Cold War and 1991 Gulf War. It all adds up to a thoroughly researched and exciting narrative of naval history.  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