| Entry Text: | SEYMOUR, Philip. Where the Hell Is Africa? Memoirs of a Junior Naval Officer in the Mid-Twentieth Century. xiv, 342p., illus. Edinburgh: Pentland, 1995. ISBN: 1858213002.
Aged 13, he entered Dartmouth in 1939 and this autobiography reflects the careers of his classmates as well as his own. In January 1943 he joined Revenge at Mombasa and spent nine months in south and east African waters before she returned to the UK to refit. After leave he joined Enterprise in Glasgow and after an extensive work-up she was based at Plymouth for Biscay and Channel sweeps, which brought real action. In April 1944 he went to the destroyer Orwell for his small ship time. She was part of the D-Day covering forces. That August he was promoted Acting Sublieutenant and soon joined MTB 476, in which he saw hard action in the winter months covering the Antwerp convoy route. After VE Day he was appointed to Lauderdale, fitting out for the Far East. She was in Walvis Bay at war's end. The book also covers his postwar career and is an enjoyable if slight memoir. |
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