First published in 1951, Nicholas Monsarrat’s The Cruel Sea is generally acknowledged to be one of the finest pieces of war fiction ever written.
Its author joined the Royal Navy as a sub-lieutenant in July 1940, and throughout the war served with distinction on board three different corvettes and two frigates. As such, the scenes he describes in this and his other books are, for the most part, ones he had personally witnessed. So reliable are his accounts that they have been cited by several generations of historians.
But The Cruel Sea, Monsarrat’s 14th book, is not a documentary history of the war, nor of the battle in which it is set, the Battle of the Atlantic. The action described is minute in scale, limited to just two ships and their crews, as well as some close relatives. References to events in the wider war – such as the development of U-boat wolf-packs, and the increasing assistance from the Americans – are included only occasionally. This keeps the narrative focused and unflinchingly realistic.
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