Jonathan Boff

Spitfires of the sea: the secret exploits of the Royal Navy’s 15th Motor Gun Boat Flotilla

Tim Spicer pays tribute to the brave unit that repeatedly crossed the Channel at dead of night to liaise with the resistance in Brittany from 1942 to 1944

A motor gun boat c.1942. [Alamy] 
issue 09 October 2021

Fast boats and fast women have been the ruin of many a poor boy. But they can also prove a triumphant mix, as the wartime exploits of the Royal Navy’s 15th Motor Gun Boat Flotilla, described in Tim Spicer’s highly enjoyable book, show. An under-cover unit run during the second world war by the Secret Intelligence Service, it used sleek 110ft motor launches to ferry agents and supplies between England and France.

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