A Sailor's Odyssey. Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham. First Edition

A Sailor's Odyssey: The autobiography of Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope.

Publisher: Hutchinson & Co., 1951, First edition, first printing.

Good hardback with jacket.

Frontispiece portrait, maps and other illustrations. Bumping, rubbing, fraying and creasing to boards. Some marks/smudges. Spine is creased. Name to ffep and title page, pages tanned with a little foxing, 715 pages with 16 Maps and 46 Photographs. Jacket has been backed with stiff brown paper, scuffed, chipped, closed tears and pieces missing. Pull out map in very good condition.

Arguably the greatest Naval commander since Lord Nelson. In spite of incredible odds Adm. Cunningham managed to hold the Mediterranean Sea and prevent it from becoming an Axis stronghold. Soundly defeating the Italian Fleet at the Battle of Matapan and bloodying their noses earlier in an attack on Taranto harbour that the Japanese would copy for their attack on Pearl Harbour. Adm. Cunningham went on to become First Sea Lord and oversaw the British Naval forces during the Normandy landings." "FIVE STARS!! Cunningham was the last of a long line of great sailor-admirals who made the Royal Navy master of the seas for centuries. He was a superb sailor, a longtime "destroyer man" and a tough old sea dog who rose to the top of his profession and became First Sea Lord, Britain's top naval officer. He wasn't the kind of career-minded, self-serving politician who has come to dominate the ranks of the U.S. Navy's top officers in modern times. b&w photos.