Richard Hopton Libri

"[This is the first biography of Captain Robert Ryder V.C., Royal Navy (1908-1986), one of the greatest naval heroes of the Second World War]. The ... March 1942 combined operations raid on the vast Normandie dry dock at St. Nazaire deprived Hitler's pocket battleships of an Atlantic port for the remainder of the war and this greatly restricted their operations. Much of the credit for the raid's success was down to Ryder's ... planning, gallantry and leadership of the [naval] flotilla. He received one of five Victoria Crosses awarded for the operation. ... When his 'Q' ship was torpedoed in 1940 he only survived by clinging to a piece of wreckage for four days. After St. Nazaire, he was heavily involved in the planning of combined operations and took part in the ill-fated raid on Dieppe. He led a naval assault party in the first wave of D-Day and then commanded a destroyer on the Arctic convoys. Ryder's naval career before the war was full of incident. He captained a 54-foot ketch on a year-long voyage from Hong Kong to England. It was rumoured that this was a cover for naval espionage in Japanese waters. His ... navigation and seamanship were tested between 1934 and 1937 as captain of the ill-suited Penola, the base ship of the Graham Land Antarctic Expedition. Ryder also took part in early ocean yacht races. Post-war he became an MP and businessman."--Jacket.

The Author brilliantly describes the cast of colorful yet highly improbably characters who fate and circumstances brought together. Arguably pride of place must go to Ferdinand II, Ruler of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whose eccentricity was only exceeded by his abject incompetence.

A tale of war, treachery and divided loyalties, The Straits of Treachery is set in Sicily during the turbulent years of the Napoleonic Wars.