| ID | Description | Categories | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2522 | HOWLETT, Lorna. The Oranje Story. 72p., illus. [Gerringong, NSW]: Oranje Hospitalship Association, 1991. ISBN: 0646064096. In early 1941, the Dutch government-in-exile offered the ship to the Australi-an and New Zealand governments as a hospital ship. Capable of 26 knots, Oranje was the fastest hospital ship in the world, and represented a valuable addition to the Allies’ medical capability. Originally staffed and operated by a Dutch crew, with a small complement of New Zealand and Australian staff, it later carried a largely Australian, and eventually a largely New Zealand medical staff. The Oranje completed 41 war voyages, covering over 382,000 nautical miles and carrying some 32,461 patients. It was then used to repatriate many Dutch internees from the Far East. A second revised edition was published in the UK in 1995, ISBN: 0951581562. |
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| 2523 | LAMONT, Daniel. Sea-Girt Citadel: Surgeon Goes to War in Shetland. [v], 130p., illus. [Lerwick]: Shetland Times, 1973.
An autobiography. The author was Surgeon-Consultant to the Shetlands throughout the war and as such treated many servicemen and merchant seamen. |
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| 2524 | LONG, Helen. Change into Uniform: An Autobiography, 1939–1946. ix, 158p., illus. Lavenham: Dalton, 1978. ISBN: 0900963913.
The entertaining biography of a deb turned naval nurse who served at Haslar and in Alexandria. |
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| 2525 | MACE, Martin F. They Also Served: The Story of the Sussex Lifeboats at War 1939-1945. 72p., bibliog., illus. Storrington: Historic Military Press, 2001. ISBN: 1901313034.
An unambitious but competent retelling of the major incidents in which the lifeboats were involved. |
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| 2526 | MALSTER, Robert. Saved from the Sea. 296p., bibliog., illus., index. Lavenham: Dalton, 1974. ISBN: 0900963328.
Lifesaving services off the East Anglian coast. It includes a chapter covering WWII. |
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| 2527 | MILLIGAN, Christopher S., & FOLEY, John C. H. Australian Hospital Ship Centaur: The Myth of Immunity. xix, 340p., bibliog., illus., index. Hendra: Nairana, 1993. ISBN: 0646137158.
A full review of what happened and the aftermath including the rumours which surrounded her loss to Japanese submarine attack. |
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| 2528 | MITCHELL, Alan. No Man Despairs: The Story of Matthew Banks, Plastic Surgeon. 222p., illus., index. London: Harrap, 1958.
Banks was an Australian doctor enlisted in the RANVR. In 1939 he joined the AMC Moreton Bay as her surgeon. When she reached the UK he undertook medical research for the RAF, then went to HMS Condor at Arbroath to train, practice medicine, and write papers on FAA training. In 1942 he was appointed principal medical officer to Furious. Chance and an appendix operation moved him as medical liaison officer to the USAAF Eighth Air Force before he was posted to Kanimbla. In late 1944 he joined a plastic surgery team in England and devoted the rest of his career to this specialty. |
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| 2529 | MUSSEN, R. W. The Story of a Naval Doctor. viii, 283p., illus. Brighton: [author], 1983. ISBN: 0950950408.
Surgeon Rear-Admiral Mussen's autobiography, with only 35 pages on WWII. From 1939 to 1942 he was a specialist at Haslar and from 1942 to 1945 he was in the US to liaise with the US Surgeon General. |
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| 2530 | OVERILL, Tony. Crash Boats of Gorleston: An Illustrated History of 24 RAF Air Sea Rescue Unit Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk. xviii, 134p., illus. Bognor Regis: Woodfield, 2005. ISBN: 1903953847.
Set up in 1940, this was arguably the busiest and most successful ASR base in the UK. |
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| 2531 | PARKIN, Betty C. Desert Nurse. 171p., illus. London: Hale, 1990. ISBN: 0709041381.
Parkin was an army nurse, but spent some time on hospital ships. A slight and romanticised memoir. |
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| 2532 | PEREIRA, W. D. Boat in the Blue: The Wartime Story of an RAF Air Sea Rescue Crew and Their Boats. 208p., illus. Cheltenham: Line One, 1985. ISBN: 0907036228.
RAF rescue launch memoirs, from training to operations in the Straits of Dover and East Anglia, then support for D-Day before moving to Gibraltar at the end of the war. |
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| 2533 | PHILIP, Hugh. Two Rings and a Red: A Naval Surgeon's Log. 135p. London: International, 1947.
A jokey censored account of the career of a Surgeon Lieutenant RNVR. He served at a trawler base, at a submarine depot ship for two years, on a Q-ship, briefly with MGBs, then headed east with another submarine depot ship. |
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| 2534 | PILBOROUGH, Geoffrey D. Royal Air Force Rescue Boats of World War Two. 5 vols.in 4, illus. London: Canimpex, 1992–95. ISBN: 0951026682 (Part 1); 0951026690 (Part 2); 1898875022 (Parts 3 & 4). Four very slim volumes lovingly recall these craft. A fourth volume is entitled Commonwealth Rescue Boats of World War Two (ISBN: 1898875065). |
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| 2535 | PITCHFORK, Graham. Shot Down and in the Drink: RAF and Commonwealth Aircrews Saved from the Sea 1939-1945. xii, 276p., bibliog., illus., index. Richmond: National Archives, 2005. ISBN: 1903365872.
A description of the creation and evolution of the service is followed by geographically arranged individual tales. |
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| 2536 | PLUMRIDGE, John H. Hospital Ships and Ambulance Trains. 203p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Seeley, 1975. ISBN: 0854220879.
About half of the book covers the history of British hospital ships and all known vessels used in this role up to the end of WWII. The 1939–45 period is covered in 20 pages. |
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| 2537 | PRITCHARD, John. An Introduction to Royal Air Force High Speed Rescue Launches, 1938–45. [2], 21p., illus. Ware: [author], 1974.
An illustrated guide to the various types of launch. |
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| 2538 | RICHARDS, Stanley T. Operation Sick Bay: The Story of the Sick Berth and Medical Assistant Branch of the Royal Canadian Navy, 1910–1965. xx, 267p., bibliog.., illus., index. West Vancouver, B.C.: Cantaur, 1994. ISBN: 0969336217.
A general history with a good account of WWII experience. Includes some good personal accounts. |
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| 2539 | ROWE, Alan. Air Sea Rescue in World War Two: A First-Hand Account of the Royal Navy North Sea Rescue Motor Launches by Alan Rowe with the collaboration of Andy Andrews. viii, 120p., illus. Stroud: Sutton, 1995. ISBN: 0750909110.
Two participants give a lively account of the topic spiced with autobiography and reminiscence. |
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| 2540 | SCHOFIELD, B. B., & MARTYN, L. F. The Rescue Ships. xx, 172p., illus., index. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1968. ISBN: 0851580076.
Describes the careers of some 29 ships specially converted to accompany convoys and to rescue the crews of torpedoed merchantmen. |
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| 2541 | SMITH, A. E. Three Minutes of Time: The Torpedoing of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur. 78p., illus. Tweed Heads: Lower Tweed River Historical Society, 1991. ISBN: 0646076310.
Centaur was torpedoed off the Australian coast in May 1943, with huge loss of life. This memorial volume describes the ship and her passengers as well as the events of the sinking as part of a campaign to erect a memorial at Point Danger. |
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