Overview

HMS Coventry's job during the Falklands War was to provide early warning of approaching enemy aircraft, and fend off any incoming threat to the highly valuable ships and aircraft behind her. On 25 May, Coventry was attacked by two Argentine Skyhawks and hit by three bombs. The explosions tore out most of her port side and killed 19 of the crew, leaving many others injured. Within twenty minutes she had capsized, and was to sink early the next day. In her final moments, when all those not killed by the explosions had been evacuated from the ship, her Captain, David Hart Dyke, himself badly burned, climbed down her starboard side and into a life-raft. This is his compelling and moving story.

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9781843545910

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Reviews

'Superbly frank and unsentimental... The literature of the Falklands War would be much the poorer without this pithy, well constructed and brutally honest account of the fighting at sea.' Saul David, Daily Telegraph * 'Electric... Outstanding.' - John Shirley, Guardian * '[An] honest, poignant and moving book.' - Hugh McManners, The Times * 'A down-to-earth, dramatic account of preparing for war and being plunged into the heart of it.' - Glasgow Herald * 'Lively, direct, human and engaging, this is one of the best personal memoirs of the bizarre and intense Falklands campaign.' - Robert Fox, BBC History Magazine

Author Information

David Hart Dyke began his naval career as Midshipman (RNVR) in 1959. He went to Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth as a regular officer before serving as Commander of the Royal Yacht Britannia, Captain of HMS Coventry, and Chief of Staff to the Commander, British Naval Staff, in Washington, DC. After he retired in 2003, he transcribed the voice-recordings that he had made on his return from the Falklands, which became, along with the reminiscences of his ship's company, the gripping story of Four Weeks in May.

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