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A MIDSHIPMAN’S
WAR
A young man in the Mediterranean Naval
War 1941 - 1943
About the Book
Frank Wade
726 Parkside Rd., West Vancouver
British Columbia, Canada,V7S 1P3
Tel (604) 922 6983
E-mail frank_wade@telus.net
Please send comments or questions.
Prices of book including postage and handling are $16.00 CAN,
$11.00 US and 9.00 Sterling or other equivalent. CAN, US and
STERLING cheques or money orders accepted.
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I especially recommend their extensive selection of books dealing
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Hardcover with Dustjacket, 6" X 9", 256 pages, 130
Pictures of Naval and Merchant ships, Art and Maps, End notes,
Name index, Ship index by class and country, a detailed Bibliography
of 42 books and interviews. It is an up-to-date listing for
the serious student of the naval war in the Mediterranean theatre.
ISBN No 1-895590-06-X
Published in 1994 by Cordillera Books, BC, Canada
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 This
book is about duty and the constant search for the enemy as
the ships of the Royal Navy and the Commonwealth navies, in
the best traditions of Nelson, never failed to engage their
opponents more closely in the scores of battles and individual
ship engagements of the vital naval warfare in the Eastern Mediterranean
from 1941 to 1943. Of the many strategic considerations
involved, the most important were the Axis drive to capture
the Suez Canal and dominate middle eastern oil production, and
the equally determined Allied effort to keep the canal open
and thus control the Middle East. Most people who read this
book, after they lay it down, are amazed at just how ferocious
the naval fighting was and how many ships were lost to finally
win the day. It is a theatre of operations in World War Two
that is little known. Many Allied countries contributed their
navies to the struggle: Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa, India, Free France, Yugoslavia and Greece.
 Frank
Wade was born in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada and there is a saying
in the Royal Canadian Navy that men from the prairies make the
best sailors. The sight of the distant seas delights and motivates
them. He was sent to England to begin his training in the cadet
schoolship HMS Conway in Liverpool, England. One of the last
floating "wooden walls of old England" of the Nelson
era. From there he went to Dartmouth Naval College and ended
up at the age of nineteen and a half as a cypher officer on
the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Mediterranean
fleet, the famous Admiral Andrew B. Cunningham, affectionately
known in the fleet as ABC.
He had read William Shirer’s book called Berlin Diary; the writings of a
young US correspondent about the extraordinary rise of the Nazis in Germany. This was a
new type of book telling of actual events of great import as they took place. The first
cypher that he worked on for the Admiral was from the great Winston Churchill, directly
bypassing the British Admiralty. It was then that he realised he too was living through
historic times. So he decided to keep a log, and possibly write a book if he lived through
the war.
He began to write it on his return to Canada after the war. However, as he got married
and had children the manuscript ended up in a drawer. But he always thought about it and
one day carry on the family tradition (his aunt was Kathleen Wade, a very successful
English crime writer). Much later, close to retirement, he ran into Hal Lawrence, the dean
of Canadian naval writers, who read the manuscript and encouraged him to finish it.
"The finest book written on the Naval Mediterranean war.
On a par with the one by Admiral Cunningham. A very well-researched
book" - Lt. Peter Dixon, RCNVR, coordinator and historian,
HMCS Haida, Toronto, Ontario. Canada, (the last floating Tribal
class destroyer - a great experience). Dixon has an MA in naval
history.
"Superb effort, covers a magnificent period of Commonwealth naval history."
Commander Geoff Greenish RN, Sussex, United Kingdom.
"A winner; it captures the essence of those distant days, in a fast-paced
readable style." Richard Thorman, editor and writer, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
"Could smell the cordite and hear the sound of naval gunfire, an exciting read."
Roy Minter, award winning film-maker.and author, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
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