See You at the Bar

The Mediterranean, early 1940s.

Lieutenant Harry Gilmour, captain of the S-Class submarine HMS Scourge, has been tasked with patrolling the Mediterranean and supporting operations for the Allied forces. Someone, however, is on his tail: Captain Charles ‘the Bonny Boy’ Bonalleck VC, who cannot forget Lt Gilmour calling him out on his conduct during an operation early in the war.

Harry is tired now, not having had leave for over a year, and a near-death experience whilst on patrol makes him question his fitness for the job and how much more he can take. With the shadow of Bonalleck and self-doubt chipping at his confidence, Harry fights his own internal battle to maintain effective command of his boat and crew.

See You at the Bar offers the sights, sounds, and smells of life aboard a fighting submarine in the second world war and how war brings into focus the true nature of humanity, both as individuals and as a collective.

David Black is the author of the Harry Gilmour series of novels set in the Royal Navy submarine service during the Second World War. He also wrote All the Freshness of the Morning, a fictionalised account of President John F Kennedy’s epic wartime service as skipper of the US Navy torpedo boat PT109 during the Solomons’ campaign against the Japanese in the South Pacific. Black is a former UK national newspaper journalist and TV documentary producer. He now lives in Argyll and writes full time."