Before the Bells Have Faded

On New Year''s day 1915, the aged British battleship HMS Formidable was sunk by the German submarine U-24 - the first such sinking of a major capital ship by a U-Boat in the Great War. The authors, intirigued by the listing of four of Formidable''s crew on their local war memorial in Crewe, set about reconstructing the Formidable''s almost forgotten story. They have succeeded magnificently, and, in a lavishly illustrated book that does honour to amateur historians everywhere, they recreate a fascinating and tragic story. Along with the story of the ship, its sinking, and the life stories of several of its crew, the book lists all 547 seamen who went down with their ship, the wreck site of which is now a protected War Grave.