The Cruel Sea, by Nicholas Monsarrat

• Title:  The Cruel Sea
  
• Author:  Nicholas Monsarrat
  
• Borrowed from MD Public Library (Worcester County, Ocean City, MD), Kindle Edition
  
• Started: 4/6/2016
  
• Finished: 4/20/2016
  

I have Herman Wouk (courtesy of the WSJ) to thank for this recommendation.  The Cruel Sea was one of five works Mr. Wouk recommended for great nautical yarns, and I can't begin to describe how much this work touched me.  I did not know anything about the work (or Monsarrat), and would likely have never heard of or read this book without Wouk/WSJ recommendation.

These are fictional characters, who we meet at the start of the WW2 through the end, and by the middle of this book I cared more about these sailors than I did about most of my fellow man.  That sounds terrible, but I was so engrossed by the story, and worried about these men, and had a hard time concentrating on anything other than their ordeal.  A very powerful book.