As Australia celebrates its National Day, I pay tribute to the brave Australian submariners of HMS AE2 in WW1. The submarine was one of two E -class boats built for the Royal Australian Navy. It’s ship’s company comprised a mix of Australian and British sailors, but the commanding officer was an Irishman, Lieutenant Commander Hew Stoker, an actor and cousin of Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula . AE2 joined a squadron of British and French submarines at Tenedos, an island

Most people have heard of Walter Owen Bentley’s achievements in the automotive industry. Not only did he found Bentley Motors (selling it to Rolls Royce in 1931), but he was later a design engineer for Lagonda and Aston Martin, too. However, in researching the sequel to my WW1 naval aviation novel, The Wings of the Wind , I discovered that Bentley had served in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) during WW1 and designed two brand-new aero engines for the RNAS. Bentley had al

It was reported in the news this week that the UK Government plans to amend the law to allow the mobilisation of retired servicemen aged up to 65 for ‘warlike preparations’ in the face of the growing threat in Europe from Russia. Those who have suggested that the age has been set too high might wish to note the example of Sir Walter Cowan. Cowan was born in 1871 and joined the Royal Navy in 1884. He saw action in the Battle of Omdurman and the Boer War, and in 1917, was app

Sopwith was a pioneer of aviation and his designs had a massive impact on the nascent Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). In June 1912, he established the Sopwith Aviation Company at Brooklands. His Chief Test Pilot was Harry Hawker. Whilst the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was constrained to purchasing their aircraft from the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, felt that the RNAS had unique requirements. As a result, whereas the RFC be

On 4 March 1941, Lieutenant Harold Newgass, Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), was awarded the George Cross for an extraordinary piece of courage on the night of 28 November 1940 in Liverpool. That night, the Luftwaffe bombed the city and dropped a pair of magnetic mines on the gasworks at Garston in the south-west of Liverpool. Newgass had served as a Territorial Army officer in France during WW1 and rose to the rank of captain, but on the outbreak of war, he immediatel

On 25 December 1914 aircraft of the Royal Naval Service conducted the world’s first bombing raid launched from the sea.  Three cross-Channel steamers were especially converted to carry seaplanes and together, twelve miles north of Heligoland ,they launched seven seaplanes.  Their target was the Zeppelin sheds at Cuxhaven.  Unfortunately, the raid was hampered by low cloud and thick fog inland, so the aircraft had to approach the target at very low altitude, exposing them to a

The English-born Irish Nationalist Robert Erskine Childers is famous for his writing of The Riddle of the Sands, now a film starring Michael York and Simon MacCorkindale. He wrote the book in 1903 as a warning to the British government of the coming of war with Germany and the need to make preparations against invasion. He was an avid sailor and based his book on his sailing experiences off the Frisian coast. As a fervent believer in the British Empire, he volunteered to s

Today, my thoughts are with Sue Williams, daughter of Lieutenant Commander John Bridge, GC GM and Bar, RNVR. Bridge was the inspiration for my two WW2 novels and my current work in progress. He died on 14 December 2006 and during WW2 was the Allies’ most decorated serviceman, adding the King’s Commendation for Bravery to his medal tally to pip the Australian Hugh Syme, GC GM and Bar, RANVR for the honour. Bridge was a school master teaching physics in Sheffield at the outbr

Lieutenant Guy D’Oyly-Hughes was born in Salt Lake City, but after his parents returned to Britain, he joined the Royal Navy in 1904 and volunteered for service in submarines the year before the outbreak of WW1. He was then appointed as the First Lieutenant (second-in-command) of HMS E -11 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Martin Nasmith. After being unsuccessful in his attempt to take E -11 through the straits of the Skagerrak and Kattegat into the Baltic in late 19

Lieutenant Commander Martin Nasmith won the Victoria Cross in the Sea of Marmara (off Turkey) in June 1915 for conspicuous gallantry in command of his submarine, HMS E -11. Such was the carnage suffered by the Allies on the beaches of Gallipoli, few people have heard of the outstanding success of the Royal Navy submarines in the Dardanelles and inland Sea of Marmara. Four VCs were awarded for the campaign. Unknown to the Allied intelligence organisations, when their troop

It is often mistakenly believed that it was the German policy of unrestricted submarine warfare that brought the USA into WW1 on 6 April 1917. Some even think it was the sinking of the Lusitania, but she was sunk on 7 May 1915. Few people are aware of the influence of the very canny Captain ‘Blinker’ Hall, the British Director of Naval Intelligence. Reginald Hall was the son of Captain William Hall, the Royal Navy’s first Director of Naval Intelligence (DNI). He was nickna

Today, 22 November in 1939, was the turning point of the war. Little did the British public know it, but Germany was winning the war and Churchill was briefed that unless there was a dramatic reverse in Britain’s misfortunes, within six weeks he would be forced to negotiate a surrender to Germany! Then, thanks to the incompetence of a Luftwaffe bomber crew and the suicidal courage of four Royal Navy men, Britain’s luck changed irreversibly. Within days of the outbreak of th

CHARACTERS OF WW1 One of the more interesting characters I had to research for my latest WW1 novel, The Suicide Club , was Frank Brock. Brock was a director of the famous, family firework manufacturing company, C T Brock and Company. Forever interested in chemistry and explosives, he is reported to have blown up a stove in an experiment at his school, Dulwich College. On the outbreak of WW1, he initially joined the Royal Artillery, but within a month was personally poached

In my novels I usually base my more significant characters on real people.  This was so in the case of my WW2 novel on the Royal Navy’s mine disposal teams, They Have No Graves as Yet .  In it one of my hero’s two best friends is a USN officer I have called, Johnny ‘Red’ Johnson.  Johnson’s character was inspired by the USN officer, Draper Kauffmann.   Kauffmann did serve with the RN after being refused a commission by the USN on the grounds of poor eyesight (he wore glasses)

Publication of my latest WW2 novel is fast approaching and will be done in time for Christmas. Accordingly, I am offering TWO GIVEAWAYS. If you are interested in receiving (by email) the first three chapters of, ‘ Death To Touch ’, register your email address at my website, https://www.shaunlewis-theauthor.com/registration. FURTHERMORE, by doing so, I will enter you in a draw to receive a signed copy of the book once it is published, but note that free postage will only be

The second 1917 Russian Revolution commenced on 7 November.  It had a devastating impact on the Royal Navy’s highly-successful Baltic Submarine Flotilla under the command of Commander Francis Cromie, but the tale seems to have been forgotten.  With the collapse of order in Russia came the mutiny of the Russian Fleet and Cromie could no longer rely on the support of his Russian allies to prosecute the war against Germany.  Worse, the mutineers removed all the officers from the

At last, I am pleased to be able to reveal the cover for my latest book, Death To Touch . This is the sequel to my highly rated novel, They Have No Graves as Yet . It will be released as both an e-book and paperback in early December 2025. Early next week, I will announce details on how to obtain a free preview and to be entered into a draw to win a free copy. It’s 1941 and the Germans continue to develop ever more sophisticated mines to confuse the British minesweeping fo

Today in 1939, Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair, known as Quex, died in office of cancer.  He was the second Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service ((SIS) and referred to unofficially since WW2 as MI6) and the last naval officer to hold the post.  His predecessor, Captain Mansfield Smith-Cumming, was a naval officer, too, and by coincidence, both officers were the only two ‘Chiefs’ to die in office.  In one of the books of my series about the Royal Navy during WW1, Now the Darknes

In October 1914 during WW1, Commodore Roger Keyes, in command of the Royal Navy’s new Submarine Service, despatched a number of E -class submarines to the Baltic in support of the Russian Navy.  Their mission was to prevent the German imports of iron ore from Sweden.  Entry to the Baltic was extremely difficult.  Not only did the narrow and only 10-metre-deep water of the Skagerrak and the Kattegat present navigational perils, but under pressure from the Germans, the Danes ha

Early in WW1, three Royal Naval Air Service officers approached the Admiralty with the idea for a fast torpedo boat of shallow draught and, thus, capable of passing over German minefields and torpedo nets to attack the German Navy in their supposedly-safe anchorages.  The RNAS officers had developed the idea from John Thorneycroft’s hydroplane speedboats, capable of 35 knots and winners of several competitions prior to the war.  The Admiralty liked the idea and approached sev