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All Oceans, All Foes : The World War of Bobby Forbes, Paperback / softback Book

All Oceans, All Foes : The World War of Bobby Forbes Paperback / softback

Part of the Men and Ships at War series

Paperback / softback

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This sixth book in the Series is the story of one man's extensive service in the Navy during World War II.

Robert Ernest 'Bobby' Forbes served in the Australian Navy for seven years and eleven months. Over four-and-a-half years of World War II (1939-44), Bobby served as an anti-aircraft gunner on two cruisers and a destroyer. He served in all of the world's oceans and encountered all of Australia's foes of that War. Bobby continued to serve for a further two years after the War ended.

His first warship was a British Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser, HMS Arawa, converted from a former ocean liner. She took Bobby in the first few months of the War to the north Pacific, then into the Indian and Southern Oceans and finally the Atlantic Ocean. She was given the demanding task of protecting convoys of merchant ships. The main foe encountered was the Germans - aircraft, raiding surface vessels and U-boats. But there were also Italian submarines and aircraft. As the battle on 5 November 1940 between sister ship, HMS Jervis Bay, and the German Navy pocket battleship, KMS Admiral Scheer, attests, any encounter would generally be fatal for the armed merchant cruiser.

After 12 months training in the United Kingdom, Bobby joined the Commissioning Ships Company of the Australian-crewed destroyer, HMAS Nepal. Seven months in the Arctic, Atlantic and Indian Oceans followed. The main foe was again the Germans - U-boats and raiding surface vessels. In the Indian Ocean, Bobby also served in the Madagascar Campaign against the Vichy French and hunted for Japanese cruiser submarines.

He returned to Australia and after extended leave for six months joined Australia's premier warship, the heavy cruiser, HMAS Australia (II). In 1943-44, Bobby served for seven months in the Coral Sea and the early phases of the Island Hopping Campaign north of New Guinea. This time, the Japanese were the foe. Bobby was exposed to numerous attacks by Japanese aircraft and experienced an attack by a Japanese submarine.

Bobby Forbes was witness to dramatic events - the Asama Maru Incident, being attacked by German FW200C-1 Condor aircraft, convoys SLS.64 and PQ.17, hunting the German raiders Pinguin, Atlantis and Kormoran, rescuing the crews of the MV British Union and SS Pierce Butler, Operation ES, dropping depth charges on German U-boats, and the torpedoing of HMAS Hobart and sinking of USS Brownson - but throughout this he was lucky. He was never on a ship that was hit nor was he ever wounded.

The Foreword for this book is a collaboration between one of the sons of Bobby Forbes and a grandson.

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£12.66

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