Australian Cruiser - Ian Pfennigwerth

For all but a few months from her commissioning in June 1939 to her sinking on 1 March 1942, the Australian light cruiser Perth was engaged in wartime operations against the forces of Germany, Italy, Vichy France and Japan. She served in the West Indies, the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean and, finally in the Java Sea. Her operations included the blockading of German merchant ships in neutral ports, escorting vital troop convoys to the Middle East, attacking shore positions in Libya and Syria and providing air defence of convoys, especially from the feared Stuka dive bombers of the German Luftwaffe. She participated in several pivotal battles, especially Matapan and Java Sea, and in the evacuation of Commonwealth forces from Greece and Crete in April-May 1941. The book is a story of adventure and courage in adversity, written as a tribute by a former commanding officer of the cruisers namesake, the guided missile destroyer Perth II.