Relentless Pursuit: The Story of Captain F J Walker CB DSO RN (Fortunes of War)

This is the story of the man who caused more destruction among enemy submarines than was achieved by any other officer of the British or other Allied navies. That man was F. J. Walker who commanded the Second Support Group until July 1944 when he tragically died following a stroke.

With the increase in U-boat activity against Atlantic convoys Churchill ordered the joint Chiefs of Staff to come up with plans to combat this hidden menace. Both the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Coastal Command soon established Anti-Submarine units with Walker, then a commander, being put in charge of two anti-submarine groups that would provide escort ships for convoys in the Atlantic Ocean.

Walker’s hunting and destroying operations against the U-boats proved successful and soon became the scourge of Germany’s submarine commanders.

The author, after serving as Walker’s second-in-command, took over the Group during the Battle of the Atlantic. He gives an eye-witness account of the precision of the tactics, the excitement of the chase and the drama of the kill, with a vividness that could only be attained by someone who was there.