How long does it take to read The Cruel Sea?
The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat takes about 8 hours 17 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 8 hours 17 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1951. 452 pages, about 124,300 words.
17 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 13 hours 49 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 8 hours 17 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 5 hours 11 minutes |
The page count is the median across 25 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The Cruel Sea is a 1951 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. It follows the lives of a group of Royal Navy sailors fighting the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. It contains seven chapters, each describing a year during the war. The novel, based on the author's experience of serving in corvettes in the North Atlantic in World War II, gives a matter-of-fact but moving portrayal of ordinary men learning to fight and survive in a violent, exhausting battle against the elements and a ruthless enemy. Few books have ever conveyed in such gripping detail the brutal destruction of the Battle of the Atlantic and the endurance of the men who fought it. The novel brought instant fame to its author.
Subjects: Battle of the Atlantic, Campaigns, Fiction, Naval operations, Sea stories, Romans, nouvelles
