"Good Books on small boat actions in the English Channel" Topic

I'm looking for one or two good goods on small boat actions (e.g., PT boats, E boats, etc.). Initially I'd like to focus on the English Channel, but eventually I'd like to read up about the Pacific as well. Can anyone recommend a couple of good titles of books that are in print? By "good" I am looking for books that talk about specifics of the various boats, information on tactics, and perhaps scenario ideas.

Thanks,

Buck Surdu

"The Battle of the Narrow Seas" by Peter Scott

Sorry, that book is not in print but is readily available from a number of sources via abebooks

Hi Buck
MTB flottilla at war: Night Action by Captain Peter Dickens, DSO, MBE, DSC (Corgi Books 1974)
Including 25 scenario's. Easily bought second hand, recommended.
Peter

For the early Pacific, "They Were Expendable" by William Lindsay White is a classic, published in 1942 when the outcome of the war was by no means certain.

"Devil Boats" is also a good read about the PT boats in the Pacific.

Buck check the several articles that I did for small boat actions fopr the Time Portal Passages Magazines. Issues can be found on the Magweb site. There are some sources in it. The official sources contain valuable data.

Of course I wrote 'Coastal Command' which was actually a set of Camp[aign rules for WW2 small boat actions with enoughs rules in the appendix for a complete set of Tactical rules.

I will see what I can dig up out of old lists of sources for you. Devil Boats is good. But there was also a book written about British actions in the Channel with a focus on the class of small boats that were only slightly larger than MGBs.

"…Invaluable material and an outstanding book on US operations can be found in Cpt Buckley's book, 'At Close Quarters', 1962, which is based on official reports from both Allied and Axis sources. Other good books include William Breuer's 'Devil Boats: PT War Against Japan' and Frank Johnson's 'US PT Boats of World War II'…."

From the article

The British book that I cannot remember the name of was about the Gunboat 'Grey' series. The Grey Goose or Fox??

A second for "Devil Boats".

You can also check out:
Flag 4 – Dudley Pope -- coastal forces in the Med
E-Boat Alert – James Foster Tent -- coastal boats at Normandy
Subchaser – Edward P. Stafford -- all sorts of actions
A Passage to Sword Beach – Brendan Maher -- minesweeping
PT 105 -Dick Keresey -- PTs in the Pacific
MTBs at War – Reynolds & Cooper -- more Med action
Dog Boats at War – Leonard Reynolds – Fairmile Ds in the channel
PT Boats at War – Polmar & Morison -- WW II thru Nam
and check out the 2 volumes of "Allied Coastal Forces" by Lambert & Ross -- great stuff (wish the 3rd Vol had been written!)

The Gunboat Grey series would be the Grey Goose

Buck;
I'll second jlstuht suggestions
Check out books by Leonard Reynolds.
Dog Boats MGB658 primarily takes place in the med and adriatic but is very good.
Also involves actions of American PT Boats.

I also like his other book Dog Boats at war.
Great scenario ideas in both.
Joe