The Pierhead Jump

‘A taut tale with a good leavening of humour’ - Birmingham Post
March 1943.
The Anglo-American campaign in North Africa is entering its final phase.
Rommel’s forces are being squeezed from both east and west, and must soon collapse.
Bound out of Oran, crammed with Afrika Korps Prisoners of Wars destined for the USA, the American transport Susquehanna falls prey to deadly torpedoes.
The U-boat commander’s fatal error has put 4,000 German lives at stake.
He offers a truce to any shipping that can come to their rescue.
But this is total war, and it could be a ruthless death-trap …
Back home in Britain nineteen year old Lobby Ludd is recovering from his voyage on the war-ship ‘Virtue’.
Torpedoed in battle, he is one of only a handful of survivors.
But now his leave is up, and his next mission is on-board fighter ship ‘Daemon’: a ship that many men believe is cursed.
Her undistinguished career has been punctuated by mishaps. The ‘Daemon’ is a pariah and nobody relishes serving in her, or seeing her in company.
But Lobby doesn’t have a choice.
And now ‘Daemon’ is being sent into the heart of battle, risking everything to come to the aid of the Susquehanna.
Will he beat the odds and survive again?
Or could this venture be his last…?
The Pierhead Jump is a classic naval war story. It follows on from The Tinfish Run.
Praise for Ronald Bassett
'Superb … this is the authentic Navy' - Manchester Evening News
‘vividly described … the voyage as seen through the sleep-robbed eyes of matelots and officers alike’ - Daily Telegraph
Ronald Bassett joined the Navy as a boy. His first ship was the cruiser Norfolk in which he served as a Telegraphist in the Arctic during the Bismarck action, and the North African landings. He served in landing craft during the invasion of Normandy.