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ERMAN S-BOAT, ‘S’ STANDING FOR G SCHNELL (FAST). KNOWN TO THE BRITISH AS E-BOATS, ‘E’ STANDING FOR ENEMY. TWO 20mm CANNON, TWO TORPEDOES.

BRITISH FAIRMILE TYPE ‘B’ MOTOR LAUNCH. ONE THREE-POUNDER GUN AND TWO .303” TWIN LEWIS GUNS.

ITALIAN MOTOSCAFO ARMATO SILURANTE (TORPEDO-ARMED MOTORBOAT). KNOWN AS MAS BOATS. TWO TORPEDOES, ONE MACHINE GUN.

STORY MAC MACDONALD ART KEITH PAGE COVER KEITH PAGE

THREE SHIPS OF WAR, EACH WITH THEIR OWN STRONG POINTS. WHICH ONE WAS THE BEST? FACTS AND FIGURES ARE IMPORTANT, BUT THERE’S ANOTHER POINT TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION…THE CREW. IT’S THE MEN ABOARD ANY VESSEL WHO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!

4 FOR LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER BILL BARCLAY, THE EXPERIENCED C.O. OF A ROYAL NAVY MOTOR LAUNCH FLOTILLA ANCHORED IN A SMALL BASE ON THE EAST COAST OF ITALY, OPERATING IN THE ADRIATIC SEA, IT WAS A DIFFICULT TIME. HE HAD SEEN HIS SHARE OF ACTION OVER THE YEARS, AND IT SEEMED IT WAS BECOMING TOUGHER RATHER THAN EASIER.

BOATS PLAYING UP, MEN PUSHED TO THE LIMIT AND SPARES TAKING AN AGE TO GET HERE...

THIS WAR IS FAR FROM OVER.

IT HADN’T HELPED THAT HE HAD RECENTLY LOST LIEUTENANT DAVID COCHRANE, HIS SECOND-IN-COMMAND, WHEN A MISSION TO LAND A COMMANDO SQUAD BEHIND ENEMY LINES HAD SOMEHOW GONE WRONG.

ALL RADIO CONTACT LOST AND NOT A WHISPER SINCE. IT’S A RUM DO AND A HARD BLOW FOR US.

THE BOAT AND ITS CREW HAD VANISHED WITHOUT TRACE. BILL DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IF IT HAD REACHED ITS DESTINATION AND PUT THE RAIDERS ASHORE.

5 CHEERFUL, RAISED VOICES BROKE INTO BILL’S PONDERINGS. LIEUTENANT ALEC DOUGHTY, ALWAYS DRIVEN BY A HARD-EDGED NERVOUS ENERGY, WAS JOKING AROUND AS USUAL. LIEUTENANT COLIN BLAKE, A LOT QUIETER AND MORE THOUGHTFUL, WAS THE BUTT OF HIS FRIEND’S HORSEPLAY. JUST ABOUT PUSHED YOU IN THERE! KEEP YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU AT ALL TIMES, I SAY. WITS? HAVE YOU ANY AT ALL? IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE IT AT TIMES.

THERE WAS NOTHING HUMOROUS ABOUT THE PRESSURES THESE M.L. SKIPPERS WERE UNDER. THEIR C.O. APPRECIATED THAT THEY NEEDED TO LARK AROUND TO LET OFF STEAM. ONE OF THESE TWO WOULD BECOME HIS NEW SECOND-IN-COMMAND SOON, BUT CHOOSING WHICH WAS NO EASY TASK.

ALEC IS NAVY BORN AND BRED...HIS ANCESTORS PROBABLY SAILED WITH SIR FRANCIS DRAKE OR WERE PIRATES. I DON’T THINK THERE WAS MUCH DIFFERENCE AT TIMES.

6 EDMOND, ALEC’S OLDER BROTHER, HAD BEEN KILLED COMMANDING AN M.L. IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL IN A ONE-SIDED BATTLE AGAINST GERMAN E-BOATS.

AAGH! WIPE THEM OUT!

AFTERWARDS THERE WAS TALK THAT THE BRITISH SURVIVORS HAD BEEN MACHINE-GUNNED IN THE WATER, AND REVENGE HAD BEEN ALEC’S DRIVING FORCE SINCE THEN. HE HAD PUSHED HIMSELF AND HIS CREW TO THE LIMIT ALL THE TIME.

NO RISK WAS TOO HIGH, NO CHALLENGE TOO DAUNTING. EVERYTHING HAD BECOME A COMPETITION FOR HIM, EVEN A GAME OF DARTS IN THE MESS.

7 COLIN WAS MUCH QUIETER AND FAR MORE CAUTIOUS. HIS FATHER HAD BEEN A PROFESSIONAL YACHT SKIPPER FERRYING THE RICH AND FAMOUS BEFORE THE WAR. HIS SON HAD LEARNED HIS SEAMANSHIP FROM HIM BEFORE JOINING UP.

HE HAD SPENT A LOT OF TIME IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND THE ADRIATIC IN THOSE PEACEFUL DAYS, AND HIS KNOWLEDGE HAD ALREADY BEEN A BOON WHEN THEIR CHARTS HAD PROVED UNRELIABLE. ALL THE EXPERIENCE OF CREWING YACHTS FOR RICH PLAYBOYS HAD GIVEN COLIN THE QUIET ASSURANCE AND THE TACT NECESSARY TO KEEP THINGS RUNNING SMOOTHLY WITHOUT UPSETTING ANYBODY. IT WAS A MAJOR PLUS FOR A SMALL BOAT SKIPPER.

HE’S A LOT QUIETER AND MORE THOUGHTFUL THAN ALEC. HE GETS THINGS DONE WITHOUT BEATING A BIG DRUM AND MAKING A RACKET.

8 THAT THEN WAS BILL’S DILEMMA AS HE RETURNED TO HIS OFFICE WHERE HIS AIDE, SUB-LIEUTENANT WALTER NORTHGATE, WAS HARD AT WORK AS USUAL AND PORING OVER THE LATEST PAPERWORK. BUSY AS EVER, I SEE. JUST DOING SOME RESEARCH TO BACK UP MY LATEST THEORY ABOUT WHO SHOULD TAKE OVER AND IT CAME TO MY MIND...

WALTER HAD GONE TO A VERY EXCLUSIVE SCHOOL AND HAD PROVED TO BE ALMOST A GENIUS. HE WAS INCLINED TO THINK ALOUD MOST OF THE TIME, AND BILL SUSPECTED THAT HIS AIDE’S BRAIN CELLS WERE WIRED UP DIFFERENTLY FROM THE REST OF THE ROYAL NAVY PERSONNEL. …WHY NOT HAVE JOINT COMMANDERS? I WAS USELESS AT RUGBY AT SCHOOL THOUGH I DID TRY. BUT THE GAMES MASTER HAD A BRILLIANT PLAN WHEN HE FOUND THAT HE HAD TWO SPIFFING SCRUM HALVES IN OUR YEAR.

9 EAGERLY WALTER WARMED TO HIS THEME. SO WHAT DID HE DO? I’LL TELL YOU, SIR...HE PLAYED THE MORE AGGRESSIVE ONE WHEN WE NEEDED TO PUSH A TEAM BACK... ...AND THEN THE CALMER ONE WHEN WE WERE ON THE BACK FOOT AND HAD TO DEFEND. STRATEGICALLY BRILLIANT!

WHEN WALTER WENT INTO TOP GEAR VOCALLY BILL JUST LISTENED, KNOWING THAT ONLY A BULLET WOULD STOP THE FLOW OF WORDS. SO THERE YOU HAVE IT...YOU CHOOSE THE RELEVANT OFFICER TO SUIT THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND EVERYBODY IS HAPPY.

IT DOES MAKE SENSE AND IT WOULD GIVE ME LONGER TO ASSESS THE SITUATION AND HOPEFULLY MAKE THE RIGHT CALL.

10 BUT THE SUB-LIEUTENANT WASN’T FINISHED.

IT IS ALSO STRIKING THAT OUR TWO LIEUTENANTS USE FUEL AND AMMO IN PROPORTION TO THEIR PERSONALITIES. ALEC USES MORE OF BOTH...

...BUT COLIN HAS THE SAME SUCCESS RATE WITH LESSER EXPENDITURE OF MUNITIONS AND PETROL. FURTHERMORE...

SOMEBODY SAVE ME! IT MEANS ANOTHER HOUR WHEN HE USES THE WORD FURTHERMORE.

THE GOD OF HARD-PRESSED COMMANDING OFFICERS MUST HAVE HEARD BILL’S PRAYER BECAUSE AN ABLE SEAMAN BURST IN WITH URGENT NEWS WHICH HAD JUST COME IN OVER THE RADIO. IT’S THOSE COMMANDOS, SIR, THEY DID GET ASHORE AFTER ALL AND THEY’RE NEEDING PICKED UP SHARPISH. THE TRANSMISSION BROKE UP AND THAT’S ALL WE KNOW.

WE’D BETTER GET OUR SKATES ON THEN...