Four Weeks in May

Reissued for the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War. A Sunday Times Bestseller 'Electric... Outstanding.' Guardian In March 1982 the guided-missile destroyer HMS Coventry was one of a small squadron of ships on exercise off Gibraltar. By the end of April that year she was sailing south in the vanguard of the Task Force towards the front line of the Falklands War. On 25 May, Coventry was attacked by two Argentine Skyhawks, and hit by three bombs. The explosions tore out most of her port side and killed nineteen of the crew, leaving many others injured. Within twenty minutes she had capsized. In her final moments, after all the survivors had been evacuated, her Captain, David Hart Dyke, himself badly burned, climbed down her starboard side and into a life-raft. This is his compelling and moving story.

David Hart Dyke began his naval career in 1958 as one of the last intake of National Servicemen before entering Dartmouth as a regular officer. After service in ships around the world, he was appointed to several senior posts, among which were a member of the Directing Staff at the Naval Staff College, Greenwich; Commander of the Royal Yacht Britannia; Naval Attache and Chief of Staff to the Commander British Naval Staff in Washington, USA; Director of Naval Recruiting in the Ministry of Defence, and Captain of HMS Coventry in the Falklands War. David Hart Dyke was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order in 1979 and awarded a CBE in 1990, the same year that he retired from the Royal Navy. Soon after, he was appointed Clerk and Chief Executive of the Skinners' Company, one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. He finally retired in 2003 and lives in Hambledon, Hampshire, where he pursues his main interest of painting in watercolours. He is married to Diana (D) and they have two daughters. Four Weeks in May was published by Atlantic in 2007.