Frigate

by John Wingate

Frigate by John Wingate - Ulverscroft - Large Print May 1983

Genres: Fiction, Maritime, Military Fiction

Paperback

First published June 1, 1982

About the author

John Alan Wingate DSC was a successful novelist with some twenty-five books to his credit. Many of these had a naval theme. Frequently involving the submarine service, they gained much authenticity from Wingate’s personal wartime experiences

Reviews

[Glen]

It's the 1980's and the Cold War is heating up.

War Games leads to an encounter between a frigate and a Russian sub that may lead to launching the nukes.

Not bad, but not really tense as it should be.

[Stanley McShane]

Read his full review on Rosepoint Publishing.

Life aboard ship is never easy. Particularly if you are stationed in the North Sea or more northerly environs closer to the north pole. Icarus is an older but very capable frigate assigned to Pasco Trevellion. New commanders to any ship in the fleet are accepted with trepidation and skepticism by the ship’s company and crew. Trevellion taking charge of the Icarus is no exception.

The shakedown cruise is to prepare ship and crew for deployment. The Icarus will join a NATO fleet in the northern waters to contain the Soviet fleet from breaking out and controlling the northern seaways from Finland and Iceland. The Russians enjoy larger and more sophisticated vessels and are like a bully in a new neighborhood.

The dialogue in this novel is extremely well written and uses copious naval terminology. Newer sailors always test their new Captain’s patience and abilities.

On station, the Icarus and other ships in the containing NATO force work to control the breakout of the Russian submarine fleet. The submarines are quicker and better equipped than most of the containment flotilla. The action becomes fast and furious as the naval blockade fails.

Any reader who understands the Navy’s function on the world stage of checks and balances will enjoy this read.

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

[Brian]

Well, I didn't like it but you could give it a try........

I tried very hard to enjoy the read but found the incessant acronyms & jargon overwhelmingly distracting. As the story unfolded so too did even more acronyms and jargon. This increasing infusion went from distracting to down right frustrating. I've read many sea novels involving naval battles and have enjoyed each one. But without benefit of a acronym / jargon key this book seemed as if I were reading sentences in another language but with a few English words sprinkled in. It reminded me of my first month at medical school, but without a Latin dictionary ! At the conclusion of this first book in the series I was greatly relieved that it was over and that I was leaving the remainder of the books on the shelf.

[Mike Loring]

John spent a week, as I recall, at sea with us, most of it comatose. I enjoyed his tribology but the technical details were appallingly inaccurate "Reload Exocets"????? Dear God did he listen to nothing I told him? But kudos for attempting to add the view from the lower deck to his otherwise high flying plots.

And to be fair the passage about the bar with the sign "No Dogs or English Sailors" shows he did pay attention to some of the things we told him.

I scored the book low purely for technical detail, worth a read if you enjoy a swinging lantern tale.

[Charles H Berlemann Jr]

This is the first of a trilogy of books all about the same war and all about the Royal Navy. The other two books are Carrier is the second book in the series and the third is Submarine.
This is a short book just under 200 pages and most of it is about a RN frigate with a new CO and a new helicopter on-board it as well. This is the early 1980s when the book was published and there are two sub plots based on this. The first one is how the UK Defense Forces feel short shifted by the folks at home and by the political leadership in office. So there is scenes of sailors grumbling about pay issues and about being away from home while worrying about divorce or girlfriends leaving them. Then the other subplot which is only loosely explained is something about the US, NATO and the Soviet Union having an international crisis about Iceland and its government. Which ultimately times out with an invasion of Norway and something about Finnmark people in Norway being oppressed. The action of the book and the actual combat that the Frigate of which the book follows is in the last 10 pages of the book. This feels like a larger book that was broken into three pieces with the same characters carried over to the others to provide common continuity but it is not a techno-thriller of the veins like Clancy, Bond or Coyle. It is something else and that made it fun to read but not a "you got to read this" pass on to others.

[Michel Boucher]

Loved it. Much more realistic than most 3rd World War novels. Part of a Trilogy including Carrier and Submarine.

[G Newman]

John Wingate’s ‘Frigate’ is the first book of his Cold War Series and does a great job pulling you into the possibilities of a very real situation we may all face soon. Set in England, with the English Navy serving as the weapon of choice, Wingate brings many different characters into play. You follow their lives and learn how naval service (any service, really) affects them and their loved ones in real ways.

Frigate tells the story of a new ship captain assuming charge of a new crew that is dysfunctional and the challenge of a confrontation between NATO and Russia. The USA only plays a small role in what occurs, so it was a learning experience for me to see how England and Europe see war happening.

In this story, not every character survives. This was disheartening at first because I had grown to like the characters. But I also realized that Wingate brought home to the reader that war is real. People do die and there are consequences. Thank you for not letting every hero live. We’ve grown used to hero’s shooting pistols vs. machine guns and being victorious.

The plot is a very real possibility. Reading this book during the Ukrainian War only serves to heighten my awareness that it could happen sooner than I think.

I’m looking forward to reading the next installments of the series.

[fred jones]

A good detailed military story

A good detailed military story set and written at the height of the cold war. A long build up with the action in the last coup!e of chapters, but I enjoyed read the story. These days more of an alternative history tale. Good characters and atmospheric in parts, it is well researched and shows the author is knowledgeable. I received a complimentary copy from Netgear but then bought the book anyway.

[James Bartlett]

Written with the authority of first hand experience.

The best bits of this book are concerned with the human element. The author knows his sailors and writes fom experience. Though equally accurate and authentic but confusing even to this ex Royal Marine officer were the overlong passages sprinkled with NATO jargon and initials. There is more of this here than is necessarynfor an understanding of plot.

I will persevere with this author knowing in advance where i can skip.

[Andrew Graham]

Excellent portrayal of the Royal Navy.

The author has brought to life in this book the day to day life of being a member of the Royal Navy and life onboard a navy frigate,with all the complicated machinery and equipment that the ships company use and the inherent dangers that they face.
Although this is a work of fiction,it is very relevant in what is happening today,regarding the Russians movements into Ukraine.

[James]

Slow start then bang.

A new captain takes over a destroyer HMS Icarus, with lots of problems. The first half of the book deals with his struggles. Then the cold war becomes hot and in a confrontation with a Russian nuke both ship and sub are sunk. There are minimal survivors in the ice cold arctic sea.

[Dennis E. Flynn]

Too much detail and hard to stay interested. nd locations seemed to just dialog to fill the pagesUnit nimbe=s a

Unit numbers and locations seemed to just dialog to fill the pages. Story base good and action great but a lot of useless chatter intermixed.

[Chaplain Stanley Chapin]

A long informative read, not much of a thriller

I learned a lot about the day to day workings of a frigate and the boredom of the cold war with the Russians. But very little action, mainly in two short chapters at the end.

[Stephen h humphrey]

Been a while but well worth the reread

Good story, brought this book back in the 80s it and the following pair and really enjoyed them before losing the books and having to wait til this week to reread them

[Sandy Craig]

Good read

Could not put down the last half of the book until done. Almost as good as the first hand accounts of WWII ASW actions except with more detail of the strategy and actions of the combatants.

[Henry Bond]

Probably the best of the Wingate “modern” RN series. It’s gripping and technical and could be confusing if you don’t know the jargon. The following two books just get successively weaker in storyline and character.

[Smacktard]

Boring

This story moves very slowly with little action. It is loaded with technical and other information that will be of little interest to just about everyone. I had hoped that I had found a three volume story to read, but will not purchase or read the next two.

[Roger Rea]

It is closely llowing an RN frigate, which is quite realistic in its form with the RN A good read, it’s a good read, but you need you you wanting to catch up. But not a great lover of the end, you just need to keep reading to stay up to date with it.

[Mike]

I found a lot of the book to be a bit mundane. For a thriller, there was way too much build-up. The ending was okay, so I plan to read the next book in the series.

[Tomasz]

A thrilling clash of cardboard cutouts, badly aged and strong in doublethink.

[James Dow]

Cold war thriller with current parallels

Very detailed portrait of life on an RN warship pre-USSR collapse. The end action has parallels with the current Russian agression

[MARTIN WITHERS]

Superb action story.

This has got to be one of best Royal Navy story ever written. You are with these men and women on these ships and every shot and torpedo is felt. Quite stunning.

[John R. Miller]

good read of todays warfare

Technically correct, realistically written on what the start of WWIII from the naval perspective might look like in the Scandinavian countries.

[stephen conn]

Frigate

A refreshing change not to be bombarded with technical information and AI control of weapons just a good old story about the Royal Navy and them pesky Russians

[Magnus]

If aliens had a death laser pointed at earth and said 'Quick show me a book that is drenched in British Conservatism,' I would instantly whip this one out. Its not a bad read but some of the messaging can feel a little heavy handed at times. For a book about the Cold War I did feel it lacked in action at times and was hoping for more excitement. I do appreciate the honest, clausewitzian approach the book takes to conflict and I'm sure that actually serving in the Royal Navy is a lot more internal politics and drinking than actually waging war but it would have been nice to see both sides a little more equally. This is a fun book to read directly after the USS Cunningham series as they clash politically and you can imagine their characters not enjoying each-others company. This book also suffers a bit from what I will call Team Yankee syndrome in the rest of my reviews in that it made the mistake of including a poorly written female character instead of just leaving one out altogether and sticking the authors strengths. Decent read, would probably enjoy more if i was Tory.

[ACW]

A touch too acronym-onious for me!