Forgotten Ships : The Second World War in Trawlers and Tugs

The remarkable true story of a Royal Navy officer who fought the Second World War from the decks of armed trawlers and rescue tugs, revealing the forgotten ships and overlooked operations that helped win the war at sea.

Forgotten Ships – The Second World War in Trawlers and Tugs uncovers one of the most overlooked stories of the war at sea. While battleships and destroyers dominate the history books, it was humble trawlers and rescue tugs that escorted convoys, hunted submarines, rescued damaged ships and crews and kept Britain's lifeline open. This is their story. At its heart is Alexander Litster, a peacetime yachtsman thrust into the command of an armed trawler at the outbreak of war. His baptism of fire came during the Norwegian campaign, where six relentless days under attack from the Luftwaffe pushed both ship and crew to the limit. He would go on to serve in the Battle of the Atlantic, patrol the icy waters north of Iceland, hunt the enemy above the Arctic Circle and take part in the daring operation to disable the coal mines of Spitzbergen. Transferred to the Royal Navy's Rescue Tug Service, Litster faced a different kind of battle. From towing torpedoed merchant ships to safety in the Caribbean to hazardous salvage missions in the Indian Ocean, he and his crews undertook dangerous operations that rarely earned headlines but were essential to the Allied war effort. His wartime service culminated in one of the longest towing operations of the entire conflict. Alongside these extraordinary experiences runs a deeply personal story: Litster's constant struggle against naval bureaucracy, the hardships endured by his family on the Home Front and the author's own journey to uncover the fate of one of his grandfather's ships, lost in action. Drawing on private papers, official records and a wealth of previously unpublished photographs, Forgotten Ships is both a gripping wartime biography and a compelling account of the remarkable vessels and courageous men whose vital contribution to victory has been largely forgotten.