In Command at St Nazaire (A Reluctant Hero): The Life of Captain Robert Ryder VC

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Captain Robert Ryder V.C.,Royal Navy (1908-1986) was a legendary naval hero of the Second World War, known for his audacious raid on St Nazaire in 1942, which destroyed the ports dry dock and deprived the Germans of their pocket battleships. He received one of five Victoria Crosses for the operation. Ryder's naval career before the war was unorthodox, including a voyage from Hong Kong to England via the Panama Canal in a year. He also served in the Antarctic and took part in early ocean yacht races.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 09 February 2022
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Captain Robert Ryder V.C.,Royal Navy (1908-1986),one of the greatest naval heroes of the Second World War, is the subject of this first biography. Ryder led the audacious raid on St Nazaire in March 1942, which completely destroyed the ports dry dock, depriving the Germans mighty pocket battleships of its use for the remainder of the war. The raid was one of the most brilliantly-executed combined operations of the war, much of the credit for which must go to Ryder's outstanding planning and courageous leadership. He received one of five Victoria Crosses awarded for the operation.Although Ryder's name will be forever linked with the raid on St Nazaire, the rest of his war service was no less distinguished. Torpedoed in a Q ship in 1940, he was rescued after 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. On D Day, he lead a naval assault party in the first wave of the invasion. For the rest of the war, Ryder commanded a destroyer on the Arctic convoys.Ryder's naval career before the war was, as The Times put it on his death, unorthodox. In 1933-34, as captain, and four other young naval officers sailed the Tal-Mo-Shan, a 54-foot food ketch, from Hong Kong to England via the Panama Canal in a voyage lasting exactly a year, an outstanding achievement. Recently, there has been press speculation that the voyage was a cover for naval espionage in Japanese waters. The Tal-Mo-Shan herself has now acquired international celebrity as a result of her sail-on part in the Abba film Mamma Mia. Between 1934 and 1937, Ryder served in the Antarctic as captain of the Penola, the base ship of the British Graham Lane Expedition. His formidable navigation and seamanship were largely responsible for the expedition's success, and he was praised by Sir Ernest Shackleton for his bravery and skill in the face of extreme conditions.In conclusion, Captain Robert Ryder V.C. was a remarkable naval hero of the Second World War, whose leadership and bravery in the raid on St Nazaire and other operations earned him the highest military honor of the United Kingdom. His unorthodox naval career before the war, including his epic voyage on the Tal-Mo-Shan, only added to his legend and made him a true inspiration to generations of sailors and military personnel.

Weight: 418g
Dimension: 157 x 232 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399083287