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A thin lower deck memoir of time spent on Sharpshooter in 1941–43, notably on Arctic convoys and from 1943 to 1945 in Ulster in the Mediterranean and Channel and with the Pacific Fleet where she was hit by a kamikaze.

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CUNNINGHAM, A. B. A Sailor's Odyssey: The Autobiography of Admiral of the Fleet, Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope. [4], 715p., illus., index. London: Hutchinson; New York: Dutton, 1951.

A full autobiography, factual rather than critical, of one of Britain’s greatest admirals. He is perhaps best remembered for his total domination of the Mediterranean. A new edition was published by Seaforth in 2022, ISBN: 9781399092951.

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CURTIS, Stanley B. Happy in My Hammock. 130p., illus. Shrewsbury, author, 1992.

An autobiography covering a happy life. It describes the inevitable highs and lows of life in the Royal Navy between October 1935 and March 1948 including his survival following the sinking of Hermes.

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An autobiography. The author joined the RN in 1929 aged sixteen. At the start of the war he was in Glasgow standing by Kelvin and spent an active period with her, mainly in Home Waters before joining Euryalus in 1942 as Captain's Yeoman and seeing bitter fighting in the Mediterranean, which is graphically described. She moved to the Home Fleet in 1944 and he left her to move on to the Pacific.

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A happy autobiography of 36 years at sea in everything from minesweepers to Britannia. "Fish" Dalglish went to Dartmouth in 1927. In late August 1939 he joined Kempenfelt in Portsmouth as Gunnery Officer of the 18DF. Less than a month later he was transferred to Excellent and spent four months there before joining Faulknor as Gunnery Officer of the 8DF. An arduous period followed in Norway then with Force H based at Gibraltar covering Mers-el-Kebir, club runs to Malta, the Dakar affair, sinking U 138 and the support ship Alstertor. A refit in the UK followed in late 1941 then came Home Fleet duty and a Russian convoy. In April 1942 he joined the gunnery school at Chatham and in late 1943 stood by the new cruiser Swiftsure. She commissioned in June 1944 and six months later joined the BPF in Sydney and served there until the end of the war. Almost 50 pages cover this period of his life.

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As a youth he lived on a small brigantine with his widowed mother, often cruising in Norwegian waters. He was commissioned in 1939 and his knowledge of Norway sent him there in April 1940, where he managed a flotilla of small ships. Although these mainly moved troops, he evacuated the population of Narvik against orders. After a spell on an AMC he was based in the Shetlands to run MTB operations to Norway. In mid-1943 he moved to X-craft and later took a parachute course. He then joined 30th Assault Unit a Naval Intelligence Unit, which tried to capture papers and equipment before they could be destroyed. The unit landed on D+4 and kept up with or ahead of forward elements through France and Germany until VE Day. 30AU worked for Ian Fleming and Dalzel-Job is seen by some as a prototype for James Bond.

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He was a bank teller who volunteered as an ordinary seaman in 1939. After training he served on Gloucester in the Mediterranean, then in 1940 returned to the UK as a CW candidate. He moved to Combined Operations and made good progress, eventually leading a beach commando at D-Day.

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He was called up in mid-1941 and after training joined Tynwald and stayed with her until her sinking in the Mediterranean in November 1942. He was then posted to a radar station in Fair Isle, Scotland. After a failed attempt to become a CW candidate he was posted to Scourge where he saw action on Russian convoys and at D-Day. He was eventually commissioned in mid-1945 and sailed for the Far East just as the war ended.

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Davies joined up in mid-1940. After basic training he volunteered for a course as an antiaircraft gunner, then joined ML 216 for two weeks before joining MGB 320. In 1942, after a refresher course at Whale Island he joined MGB 611 and stayed there until 1943 when he returned to Whale Island and trained as a Gunnery Instructor. The book ends as he arrives in Algiers as a newly fledged GI. Although interesting as a lower deck account of Coastal Forces the book is repetitious and rather self-indulgent.

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A witty autobiography with a very few pages on his wartime career mainly helping with Combined Operations training.

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Not a life but a battle history. Born in 1871 he revelled in and sought battle. In 1940, aged 70 he wangled his way back to war in combined ops and travelled to the Middle East with the Commandos, but soon switched to the Indian Cavalry to stay in action. He was captured, pistol in hand in action with the Italians. Repatriated he circuitously made his way back to the Mediterranean as Naval Liaison Officer to a commando unit and travelled and fought in Italy and Yugoslavia seeing action as late as age 73. He moved to the retired list in August 1945.

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DE CHAIR, Henry Graham. Let Go Aft: The Indiscretions of a Salthorse. [iv], 195p., illus. Tunbridge Wells: Parapress, 1993. ISBN: 1898594023.

About one-third of the book covers WWII. In 1939 he was Captain of Thracian in Hong Kong and served there until January 1941 when he returned to the UK. In May he took over Vimy, mainly on the Gibraltar run and then in the South Atlantic. In the spring of 1943 he became First Lieutenant and Training Officer at King Alfred. In early 1944 he moved to Mountbatten’s staff in SEAC. This was soon followed by command of Venus in late 1944 and she soon sailed to join the East Indies Fleet and take part in the sinking of the Haguro and the ending of the war in the Far East. A rather patchy account.                      

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Born in 1900 he followed a naval career and when war began was Second in Command of Newcastle, which began the war on the Northern Patrol. After a refit in spring 1940 and a summer based at Plymouth she went to the Mediterranean and took part in the Battle of Cape Spartivento before joining the South Atlantic Division. In March 1941 he returned to the UK and a year in a staff post at the Air Ministry, followed by command of a large FAA station in the north of Scotland. In late 1944 he returned to London and a staff post at Combined Ops. HQ.

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The adventures of the author (a telegraphist) on the Yugoslav submarine HMY Nebojsa and his subsequent escape after Yugoslavia's capitulation in 1941. Following his escape the author was posted to Queen Elizabeth, the submarine Rorqual, and later retrained in signals and posted to land-based units. From 1942 onward the book quickly covers his preparation as a sleeper in Alexandria (waiting for Rommel!), subsequent postings and migration to Australia to work on the Snowy Mountain hydroelectric scheme.

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He joined up in September 1939. After training he joined Havelock. In April 1941 he went to King Alfred for training and was then posted to ML 273 as First Officer. In late 1942 she went to the Mediterranean and he soon switched to ML 338. In late 1943 he was given command of ML 134 which undertook a lot of minesweeping before he was appointed to Coastal Forces staff at Malta. In late 1945 he returned to courses and shore posts in the UK before demob in 1946.

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Born in 1920, he joined the merchant navy as a cadet and the RNR as a midshipman in 1938. In September 1939 he joined Delhi on the Northern Patrol. When she paid off in January 1940 he joined Keppel at Gibraltar. He was at Oran and the evacuations from the South of France. She was then based at Greenock on North Atlantic convoy work with the odd Mediterranean run. Keppel took part in PQ17 and Pedestal then went for a refit at which point he joined the new destroyer Relentless. After a spell at Scapa she joined the Eastern Fleet at Trincomalee. In 1945 he returned to the UK for a gunnery course then briefly commanded Anthony. An enjoyable but rather vague set of anecdotes.

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A first attempt to describe the twenty-two Americans who were commissioned in the Royal Navy before the United States entered the war. A fascinating tale.

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He joined Renown as a midshipman in 1940, then served in Holderness, Reading and Scorpion, finishing as a Lieutenant having seen service from Kola to Normandy.

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The memoirs of a destroyer captain who saw almost incessant action with Black Swan in Norway, with Guillemot and Verdun on the East Coast, and with Ulster in the Mediterranean, Anzio, Biscay, and at D-Day. He then took passage to the Far East in Glengyle. Reprinted by Seaforth in 2009.

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The television newsreader includes a brief account of his war service. He volunteered in 1942 and after basic training was taught Russian. He then served as an interpreter/liaison officer first at Murmansk and then in occupied Germany.

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