Dewey Lambdin

Dewey Lambdin (1945- ) is an American nautical historical novelist. He is best known for his Alan Lewrie naval adventure series, set during the Napoleonic Wars. Besides the Alan Lewrie series, he is also the author of What Lies Buried: a novel of Old Cape Fear.

Biography

A self-proclaimed "Navy Brat," Lambdin spent a good deal of his early days on both coasts of the U.S.A., and overseas duty stations, with his father. His father enlisted as a Seaman Recruit in 1930, was "mustanged" from the lower deck (from Yeoman chief Petty Officer) at Notre Dame in '42, and was career Navy until May of 1954, when he was killed at sea aboard the USS Bennington CVA-20 (see below), on which he served as Administrative Officer, 5th in line-of-command (posthumous Lieutenant Commander).

Lambdin himself attended Castle Heights Military Academy, graduated in 1962, and was destined to be the family's first "ring-knocker" from the U.S. Naval Academy, "... until he realised that physics, calculus, and counting higher than ten were bigger than he was."^[1] He studied at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, majoring in Liberal arts and Theatre, where he was published in The Theme Vault in 1963, also reprinted in a national textbook, which whetted his appetite for writing. However, he failed his degree. He finally graduated with a degree in Film & TV Production from Montana State University, Bozeman, in 1969. This was considered at the time to be the McHale's Navy of the academic set, so the nautical influence was still at work. He has worked for a network affiliate TV station as a producer/director for twelve years, an independent station as production manager and senior director/writer/ producer for three years, all in Memphis, and as a writer/producer with a Nashville advertising/production facility, or in free-lance camera, lighting and writing.

He has been a sailor since 1976 and spends his free time working and sailing on his beloved sloop Wind Dancer, with a special taste for cruising the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Lambdin has thus far resisted the temptation to trade his beloved typewriter for a computer. He currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

He is a member of the U.S. Naval Institute, a Friend of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England; Cousteau Society; the former American Film Institute; and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Alan Lewrie Series

This is a series of historical sea fiction sagas, and are bold, funny and exciting adventures. Alan Lewrie is a scandalous young rake whose amorous adventures ashore lead to his being shipped off to the Navy. He finds that he is a born sailor, although life at sea is a stark contrast to the London social whirl to which he had become accustomed. As his career advances, he finds the life of a naval officer suits him. He finds himself in one scrape after another, often of his own making but, in true "swashbuckling" fashion, manages to come out of them with flying colours (and with lessons learned). Dewey Lambdin writes authoritatively of ships and life at sea, but he can also tell a rousing, high-paced adventure story.

The very first Alan Lewrie naval adventure is The King's Coat:

The year is 1780 and seventeen-year-old Alan Lewrie is a brash, rebellious young libertine. So much so that his callous father believes a bit of navy discipline will turn the boy around. Fresh aboard the tall-masted Ariadne, Midshipman Lewrie heads for the war-torn Americas, finding out rather unexpectedly that he is a born sailor, equally at home with the randy pleasures of the port and the raging battles on the high seas. But in a hail of cannonballs comes a bawdy surprise. . . .

Alan Lewrie Bibliography

1. The King's Coat (1989)
2. The French Admiral (1990)
3. The King's Commission (1991)
4. The King's Privateer (1992)
5. The Gun Ketch (1993)
6. For King and Country (omnibus) (1994)
7. H.M.S. Cockerel (1995)
8. A King's Commander (1997)
9. Jester's Fortune (1999)
10. The King's Captain (2000)
11. Sea of Grey (2002)
12. Havoc's Sword (2003)
13. The Captain's Vengeance (2004)
14. A King's Trade (2006)
15. Troubled Waters (2008)
16. The Baltic Gambit (2009)

Novels

• What Lies Buried: A Novel of Old Cape Fear (2005)

USS Bennington (CV/CVA/CVS-20)

The USS Bennington was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington (Vermont). Bennington was commissioned in August 1944, and served in several of the later campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning three battle stars.

Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career she spent most of her time in the Pacific, earning five battle stars for action during the Vietnam War. She served as the recovery ship for the Apollo 4 space mission.

She was decommissioned in 1970, and sold for scrap in 1994.

References

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