Author Evening with Mike Carlton
Award winning journalist and author Mike Carlton presents his latest book, 'The Scrap Iron Flotilla', published by Penguin Random House Australia.
When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the British asked Australia for help. With some misgivings, the Australian government sent five destroyers to beef up the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean.
HMAS Vendetta, Vampire, Voyager, Stuart and Waterhen were old ships, small with worn-out engines. Their crews used to joke they were held together by string and chewing gum; when the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels heard of them, he sneered that they were a load of scrap iron.
That flotilla is now an immortal part of Australian naval legend, and this is its story.
Book for sale and signing on the night from Constant Reader