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His autobiography to 1941, with thin disguises for the names of people and ships. In the chaotic early days of the war, he served on a trawler in Norway, in the small ships of Dunkirk, went to King Alfred and then to a new corvette in the Atlantic. Published under a pseudonym, the author's real name of Harling was used for a later edition. Under that name his service in the Atlantic is also described.

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The memoirs and views of Admiral Dreyer, who was recalled to active service in 1939. He then served as commodore of convoys, inspector of merchant ship gunnery, chairman of the U-boat assessment committee, chief of naval air services, and deputy chief of naval air equipment before his final retirement in 1943.

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The privately printed autobiography of a senior paymaster. In 1939 he took over various Scottish RAF stations and converted them to Fleet Air Arm bases. Late in 1942 he moved to Warspite and served with her in the Eastern Fleet then later the Mediterranean. In May 1944 he moved ashore to the Naval Control Commission for Germany and latterly was Command Supply Officer Germany before retirement.

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Almost half the book covers his war service. He was a member of the RNV(S)R and in 1939 was given command of the armed yacht Grey Mist of the Dover Patrol, before serving on the staff of Admiral Cunningham in the Mediterranean in various capacities. His involvement in all sorts of escapades is recalled with considerable gusto.

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DUFF, Douglas V. On Swallowing the Anchor. 224p., illus. London: Long, 1954.   

Covers the same ground as May the Winds Blow!, but his unorthodox war is again recorded in engaging style.      

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Durham entered Dartmouth in 1934 and by 1939 was a midshipman on Barham. He was quickly transferred to be second-in-command of the trawler Beryl, part of the A/S defences at Alexandria, but after a few weeks transferred again to Norfolk returning to join the Home Fleet. A winter on the Northern Patrol was followed by transfer to the destroyer Echo and the Norwegian Campaign. In late summer he joined Renown, which became a mainstay of Force H. At the end of 1940 he returned to Portsmouth for technical training and in mid-1941 then stood by Laforey. She was soon based at Gibraltar as part of 19DF. She took part in the Madagascar campaign then the Pedestal convoy. On her return to the UK to refit he volunteered for submarines. His first patrol was in Graph - the captured U 570 - but in July 1943 he joined Stoic as First Lieutenant. After working up she went to the Eastern Mediterranean and then Trincomalee. Patrol work followed then transfer to Fremantle. In February 1945 she returned to the UK and Durham joined a party preparing for the surrender of U-boats. In May he even sailed U 776 up the Thames to Westminster. As the war ended he took his "Perisher", the submarine commanders' course.

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Eadon volunteered in 1942 and after seatime on Berwick in the Arctic and training at King Alfred he joined Formidable at Gibraltar in the cypher office. He saw the attacks on Sicily and Salerno then returned to the Clyde to stand by Indefatigable, as an Air Landing Control Officer. In July 1944 she attacked Tirpitz and in November left to join the Pacific Fleet. Almost two-thirds of the book is devoted to his experiences in the Far East. The work is notably laced with the reminiscences of almost 50 shipmates.

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Edwards came from an acting family and took to the boards. He was called up in 1940 and after training at Skegness, where he received RDF instruction, he joined the newly RDF equipped Wren. He survived her sinking and moved to Fernie, escorting Channel convoys. In December he moved to King Alfred, then became an RDF instructor in Holyhead. In April 1942 he joined Eclipse with the Home Fleet. After six months he joined Formidable, which took part in the Torch landings and Mediterranean service. At the end of 1943 he transferred to the Azores and a succession of shore based appointments. After the war he became a leading figure in the City. An engaging view of a wonderfully varied life.

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In 1939 he was Governor of the Royal Merchant Navy School but on the declaration of war he was quickly restored to the Active Service List and took command of the new HMS Medina set up on the Isle of Wight for training FAA entries. In 1942 he moved to Glasgow as Chief of Staff to Admiral Troup, Flag Officer Glasgow. In 1944 he moved to Liverpool to command trawler forces and just after VE Day he became Chief of Staff at Liverpool. A rather formal memoir.

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Short biographies of Ramsay, the planner of invasions; Agnew, the leader of Force K; Fraser, who sank the Scharnhorst; Murray of the Royal Canadian Navy; Sherbrooke, who won the VC in the Battle of the Barents Sea; Syfret, who held several successful seagoing commands, and Troubridge who commanded forces in the Mediterranean invasions.

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A rather slight and disappointing account of his naval career. He joined the RN in 1937 and in September 1939 was a midshipman in Kent on the China Station. In May 1940 he joined Encounter as a sublieutenant and sailed to the Far East. When she was sunk at the Battle of the Java Sea he was captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW in Indonesia. After the war he became a career diplomat.

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Kerans commanded the Amethyst in her famous 1949 escape from the Yangtse. There is a brief account of his career.

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Finch joined as an apprentice in 1928 and in 1939 was on the newly completed Belfast. He served with her prize crews on the Northern Patrol and stood by her while repairing from mine damage until January 1942 when he moved to Excellent for diving experiments. This was followed by a brief spell with Maidstone at Gibraltar then appointment as Warrant Engineer on King George V in 1943, then in the Mediterranean. The following year he transferred to the FAA. A rather stiff account of a little remarked area.

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A short autobiography, largely concerned with the role of Warspite at Salerno in 1943.

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A happy autobiography. During the war he commanded Wakeful until sunk at Dunkirk. He next joined Pridham-Wippell's staff in the Mediterranean, where he was at Matapan then closely involved in the Greek and Cretan evacuations. After the Second Battle of Sirte there followed a spell setting up port operations as the 8th Army advanced. He then took command of Musketeer in 1943, mainly on Arctic convoys, and helped sink the Scharnhorst. In November 1944 he took four M class destroyers to the Aegean and was soon embroiled in the Greek Civil War. His war ended in the Plans Division of the Admiralty.

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An autobiography which includes his wartime service in the RNPS and Coastal Forces. He served on the Tree Class minesweeper Bay from commissioning until late 1941 and gives a good account of the ship in convoy duty off Kent.

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Magennis joined up in 1935 and in October 1939 he joined the new Kandahar and served with her until her sinking in 1941. He was then drafted to submarines. After training he volunteered for X-craft and in March 1943 moved to their new base at Loch Striven. He was in the passage crew of X 7 for the attack on the Tirpitz. Early in 1945 they moved to the Far East where Magennis won his VC for his part in the attack on the cruiser Takao in Singapore.

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He began the war with the Home Fleet in Fortune. After successful A/S work, she fought in Norway, before moving south to join Force H. He next spent a spell in the Admiralty before standing by Pathfinder in January 1942. She went to the Mediterranean, seeing action first with the Pedestal convoy then at the Torch landings. In January 1943 she returned to the UK and spent five months in the Western Approaches. Then it was back to the Mediterranean for the Sicily, Salerno, and Corsica landings. Forbes spent the rest of the war in shore appointments.

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As an RNVR midshipman, he went straight to King Alfred when war was declared. He served first on the drifter Shower based at Loch Ewe, then in late 1940 went to Tynedale which was based at Portsmouth then Plymouth for coastal convoy work. In mid-1941 he was transferred to Coastal Forces and after training took command of ML 292. He transferred to MASB 39 in Essex and spent eight months on air sea rescue work then moved to MGB 9 at Ramsgate and later MGB 118. After heavy action he took over MTB 435, ran her aground and was court-martialled and dismissed his ship. He was promptly appointed as a junior officer on Musketeer and by May 1944 was her gunnery officer on Arctic convoys. At the end of the year he moved to a staff job in Freetown, where he stayed until the end of the war. An interesting memoir from an avowedly difficult character.

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FOX, Hubert. Letters from Sea. 67p., illus. Torquay: Goss Albion, 1985.

In 1939 he was First Lieutenant on Boadicea and in 1940 moved to command an MTB flotilla. In the spring of 1942 he joined to the staff of Admiral Pegram in Freetown and after 12 months there returned to the UK. In early 1944 he became Staff Officer Operations to a D-Day Assault Group and that autumn moved to the Mediterranean to undertake a similar job in the Adriatic. Finally he was an Operations Officer for the projected invasion of Malaya. These are literally letters and show the usual wartime caution and censorship. Another edition was published by Merlin Books in 1996. (ISBN: 086303750X).

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