Secret Mission

The Second World War. The Nazis occupy France. Air raids regularly pummel British cities.

And the HMS Castile, a light cruiser with an extensive history, has just launched on her final mission, with Lieutenant-Commander Donald Cameron of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in command.

Although the post would normally go to a captain in the regular navy, the Castile's last voyage is no ordinary one.

Her crew has been handpicked by Winston Churchill himself, many with prior connections to the ship, and slated for a special - and perilous - mission... one that the crew only learns about once they're on their way.

The Prime Minister has implemented a desperate strategy to carry the Allies through one of the most dangerous engagements in the war, along the darkened coast of occupied France. The Castile makes her way towards Dieppe, destined to become a blockship.

Everyone aboard, from Cameron down to the lowliest rating, knows there's a good chance none of them will be coming back.

Dieppe is dangerous, and made even more so by the ship's second mission: to extract an English agent before the Nazis get to him themselves.

As they face possible extermination, the crew's minds drift across the Channel towards home, and the family, friends, and lovers they have left behind.

For Cameron, his parents weigh heavily on his mind.

For First Lieutenant John Brown, it's his wife of only a year that occupies his thoughts. Lieutenant Blake dreams of his wife and leaving behind a life at sea to which he is not suited. Navigator Hugh Batten hopes desperately for revenge against the Nazis for the deaths of his wife and their two small children.

These men, and so many others, steam onwards, guiding their old ship and her valiant crew once more into the fray, knowing all too well that most of them go to meet their maker.

War is never kind, but the duty of the men who serve on the HMS Castile is clear: for Queen and country and the free world they fight until the end.

Praise for Philip McCutchan

"McCutchan's tightest, most inviting plot." - Kirkus Reviews

"A first rate adventure series." - Publishers Weekly

This book was previously published as Cameron's Commitment.

Philip McCutchan (1920-1996) grew up in the naval atmosphere of Portsmouth Dockyard and developed a lifetime's interest in the sea. Military history was an early interest resulting in several fiction books, from amongst his large output, about the British Army and its campaigns, especially in the last 150 years.


Genre: Historical