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Called "King" by his friends, at 10 Bates built a crystal radio, and was so fascinated with radio that he joined the British Merchant Navy as a radio officer. In 1939, as his country geared up for World War II, Bates transferred to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. On Christmas Day 1943, he was the electrical officer on the flagship Duke of York when it sailed after the German battleship Scharnhorst, which was trying to sink Russian ships in the Arctic; they engaged it north of Norway. At one point an 11-inch German shell exploded near Bates' perch near the antenna mast. The explosion flipped the ship's radar antenna out of alignment -- it was pointing skyward. They were in the arctic, it was December, it was dark, and there was a force-8 gale blowing: they needed that radar. Bates climbed the mast, realigned the antenna with his bare hands, and restarted the radar. The Duke of York was able to sink the Nazi ship, and Bates was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He was dubbed "Barehands Bates" and the radio man was a hero of the British. Since few had any idea what "radar" was at the time, Bates was depicted in the popular media holding two live electrical cables together with his bare hands, a notion which rather irritated him. As the war drew to a close, Bates was the commander of a landing party which found secret prisoner of war camps and released the allied inmates. Later, as a Royal Navy captain, he was assistant director of Naval Intelligence, and then deputy director of the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment. He retired in 1969. Bates died in a British nursing home on May 6 at age 89. From This is True for 7 May 2006 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Brian Lavery List Price: $37.50 Amazon Price: $24.75 Editorial Review: Foreword by Patrick O'Brian. Encyclopedic in scope and filled with more than 400 illustrations, this large-format book provides an in-depth description of the Royal Navy in Lord Nelson's time. Among the subjects covered are ship design and construction, ship handling and navigation, fighting tactics and gunnery techniques, the Navy's administration, foreign navies of the day, and life at sea. Written by one of the world's leading naval authorities in the age of sail, this book has an established reputation as the most authentic and complete picture of Nelson's Navy ever published. 412 illustrations. Appendixes. Index. Paperback. 10 x 12 inches.  By: Dudley Pope List Price: $15.95 Amazon Price: $12.28 Editorial Review: In a daring foray, under the very nose of the French Mediterranean fleet, Lieutenant Lord Nicholas Ramage is to sail his tiny cutter close in to the Italian shore and rescue a party of stranded aristocrats from Napoleon's fast-advancing army.  By: Dudley Pope List Price: $15.95 Amazon Price: $10.85 Editorial Review: The lieutenant is ordered to proceed to Gibraltar "with all possible despatch" aboard His Majesty's ship Kathleen, to support Lord Nelson in a battle with the Spanish off Cape Trafalgar.  By: J. J. ColledgeBen Warlow List Price: $44.95 Amazon Price: $29.67  By: Brian Lavery List Price: $45.00 Amazon Price: $32.85 Editorial Review: No fiction writer of modern times has captured the world of wooden walls, broadsides, and the press gang as successfully as Patrick O'Brian. The twenty books in the O'Brian canon featuring the lives and adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and his confidant, naval surgeon Stephen Maturin, have been lauded across the world for their blend of classic storytelling, historical accuracy, and inspired characterizations. In this new work respected naval historian Brian Lavery explores the historical framework of the O'Brian novels by examining the facts behind the grand narrative and putting the key episodes in context while detailing naval life in the era of Nelson and Napoleon. With well over a hundred illustrations, the book presents contemporary plans, drawings, engravings, maps, and photographs of museum artifacts that have inspired age-of-sail novelists and moviemakers. Introducing the book is a foreword by Peter Weir, director of the upcoming film of O'Brian's novel Master and Commander. Avid age-of-sail fans will not want to miss this colorfully detailed complement to the O'Brian series. |
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