The Man in the Yellow Raft

I really enjoyed reading these snapshots of history, many of them unknown to me despite my many years studying this period ships, actions and the crews aboard of multiple navies. Three of my uncles served in the US Navy in WWII and I heard many stories of Torpedo Alley from the perspective of a Navy man on a freighter ( super cargo) on the way to Russia..and the 5 ships he wss in that were torpedoed by the others...interested the same thing...for different intentions. Another was at Pearl Harbor and also served on repair ships as a Navy Chief, another was on the Pensacola a bola, another on an LST carrier , and one more a gunner on a lt. Cruiser. They and their brothers and relatives all came home but most of their smaller stories had passed into memory of the Past by the time was old enough to understand them and appreciate the sacrifices they made for our freedom and that of our allies. This Book is an excellent remembrance of the stories left unsung....a very interesting read....from one of the grand writers of the era.

My father served aboard the 'Frankford,' a 'Gleaves'-class destroyer, during World War 2. Dad is gone twenty years and better now, but I wish I had been able to show him this book while he was still around.He was never a great reader, but I think he would have been drawn along through the eight stories in the (really rather slim) volume. And then he likely would have told me that one of them was an obvious sea-story and a couple of others were far-fetched. But that Mr. Forester seemed to know a little bit about what it takes to install radar on a old destroyer that was never intended to carry that sort of thing. (Dad was a signalman on 'Frankford,' and made his living working on radar for the Air Force after the war.)They're mostly gone now and even their kids are getting long in the tooth. Forester's little book is an educational (and entertaining) look back at the Men Who Saved the World.I may need to point this book out to Dad's grandsons. They never got to meet him.

C.S. Forester's heroes are of the strong, silent, movers and shakers and these short stories from World War II are classic Hornblower, classic Forester. I may have read some of them years ago when the Saturday Evening Post was at its peak, but I don't remember much, if anything, of them. But I probably missed them being away at boarding school all of those years and magazines didn't get much play. These are great stories and this (now) old writer would be delighted to produce anything like them. And, of course, the short story may be a dying art...which gives us more to appreciate when we read stuff like this!

This is a nice collection of stories of naval activities in WWII. The selections are about those ships and sailors supporting the big boys - the ones who get real attention. Besides good writing, that is what makes this book a good book. I really enjoyed most of the stories.

Down to earth reflection of the conditions and men's' reaction to them during war

I really enjoyed this book. What I did not realize when I ordered it was it is a series of short stories revolving around generally speaking one ship. I have been a fan of Forester for many years now and when it comes to naval fiction, no matter which war, he is the best. That said I am very glad to see Amazon putting out his other books. As is the case with many other Kindle books this has a few oops in typo etc, but nothing that distracts from a excellent book.

This is a posthumous collection of stories about the American destroyer "Boon" in the Pacific during World War II. The ship and the men serving on her face various challenges, most posing great danger, and meet them courageously and with quickness of mind. The challenges are uniformly interesting, as are the men coping with them. The eight stories are "Triumph of the Boon"; "The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck"; "Dr. Blanke's First Command"; "Counterpunch"; "USS Cornucopia"; "December 6th"; and "Rendezvous." Recommended without reservation.

I am a HUGE fan of C.S.Forester and his works. Unfortunately this book left me very uneasy. The book starts off with a bang and holds your attention. Then towards the middle it goes off on tangents that have nothing to do with the story line at the beginning of the book. Although I have read and re-read Mr. Forester's books many times, I would not waste my time reading this ever again.

Have yet to read this book but I have read most of C.S. Forester and do enjoy them so I know that I will not be disappointed. been looking for a PB of this book for some time, probably because it is a short'ish type of story, I am saving it for a holiday that hopefully will be on shortly.

Good book