Kyne, Peter B. "Ranzo Goes to War"

Thirty plus years into his celebrated writing career, Kyne demonstrates that he still has the knack for creating a rip-roarin’ yarn. His hero is 86 year old Asa Holcomb, aka “Ranzo,” a colorful, irascible near-brother to Kyne’s perennial favorites, Cappy Ricks and Pop Bates. Old Asa owns a fleet of steamships operating as the Red Arrow Line and, as 1941 winds down, he makes it clear to 1st Mate Daniel McNamara of the Red Arrow steamer VANGUARD how much he hates the Germans. With the ROBIN MOOR sinking clearly in mind and referred to at least twice in the text, Ranzo hatches a plot to “take on” a German submarine despite the fact the the United States was technically still a neutral nation at the outset of the story. Ranzo captains the VANGUARD trans-Atlantic to South Africa and, just as he hoped, his vessel was intercepted off the coast of Africa by a German U-boat bent on making certain that the VANGUARD’s cargo not reach its British destination. Sly Ranzo has other ideas and, with the help of 1st Officer McNamara and a quart of nitroglycerin, disables the submarine and then notifies a nearby British warship of where to find the sub. Back aboard the VANGUARD, as Ranzo and McNamara ponder what the State Department’s response will be to their privateering, Sparks bursts in with the news of Pearl Harbor. Yes, it’s Dec. 7, 1941 and their piracy has actually been one of the first American salvoes of World War 2!