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The author served in the RN from 1914–1947. In 1939 he was on Nelson as staff intelligence officer, a role which gave him a wide perspective reflected in the text. He served on the Home Fleet flagship until 1943 and there are very full accounts of the Norwegian Campaign and the Bismarck chase, before going to SEAC. Although a little irritatingly written in the third person, this is an interesting account from a well-placed and well-connected career officer.

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The author joined the RN as an apprentice artificer and after almost five years training joined the battleship Emperor of India. He then served in a variety of cruisers and destroyers and was serving in Ajax when war was declared. He saw service at the Battle of the River Plate, at Crete, and Matapan. In June 1942 he returned to the UK and joined 22 MTB Flotilla as CERA at Lowestoft. He next saw service in the repair ship Greenwich at Iceland, and finally joined Euryalus for service with the Pacific Fleet.

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He joined Ganges as a Boy Seaman in 1937 and soon after the war started joined Bedouin as a Torpedoman. A busy war followed; Norway, the Lofoten Raid; Arctic, Atlantic, and Malta convoys, in the last of which she was sunk in June 1942. Picked up by an Italian `hospital ship, the second half of the book describes his experiences as a POW in Italy and Germany.

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Admiral Hall had an unusually long career of 41 years, ending as Hydrographer of the Navy. During the war he served in hydrographic ships and the minesweepers Derby and Fraserburgh and notably leading a COPP party in the Far East.

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A brief and unoriginal retelling of the Royal Family's connection with the RN from William IV to Prince Philip in WWII.

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The autobiography of a quiet war. He volunteered in 1941 from university as a CW rating and did his three months sea time on Carnation on the Liverpool-Gibraltar route. His service on an anonymised but easily identified Easton, which he heartily disliked was in the Mediterranean before he transferred as liaison officer to the French corvette La Moqueuse in 1943. Half of the book concerns his quiet but happy service on her in the Levant and later the South of France. An excellent memoir.

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First published in 1944 under the pseudonym Nicholas Drew.

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HARVEY-JONES, Sir John. Getting It Together. 378p., illus., index. London: Heinemann, 1991. ISBN: 0434313777.

At 13 he entered Dartmouth and in 1940 went straight into action. Torpedoed twice in the next two years he gravitated to submarines. In 1945 he was sent to learn Russian and on leaving the service rose to become chairman of ICI.

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Contains sections on Prince Louis of Battenberg, Lord Louis Mountbatten, and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. This last is particularly interesting as it gives the best account of his wartime service, which is much less well-recorded than the spectacular rise of his uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten.

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Hayes entered Dartmouth in 1926 and the first half of the book addresses the prewar years. In August 1939 he was appointed Navigator of Cairo as the Reserve Fleet mobilised. After three months on the East Coast he spent a year ashore then transferred to Repulse. He was with her for the Bismarck hunt and her journey to Singapore where he survived her sinking. He performed some naval liaison duties in Singapore and was then evacuated to Java in Jupiter then traveled in a Dutch coaster to Colombo. Repatriated to the UK he joined London in Scapa as Staff Officer Operations to Admiral Hamilton. This made him an eyewitness to PQ17. 1944 was then spent, still with Hamilton, ashore in Malta. The last two years of the war are described in only two pages. A final section covers his postwar career.

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The autobiography of a policeman with the Met. In 1943 he was called up and trained as a radar mechanic. His training and shore-based service are briefly described.

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The enjoyable autobiography of a warrant officer engineer. He served in the RN from 1925 to 1947. He was on Ark Royal from the start of the war until her sinking. He then stood by Aries, building in Canada and served with her in the Mediterranean.

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Of farming stock, he went to Dartmouth in 1924. In September 1939 he was First of Decoy on the China Station. She was immediately transferred to Malta then moved to Gibraltar and finally to join the Fleet at Alexandria. After brisk action and the evacuations of Greece and Crete, he was given command of Hotspur in mid-1941. More action included the sinking of U 79 until in February 1942 she moved to join the Eastern Fleet in Ceylon. In October he was relieved and returned to England to stand by Brecon, which commissioned in December 1942. She spent some time with the Home Fleet then Herrick returned to the Mediterranean for Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio. In February 1944 he returned to England and a spell teaching at Collingwood. In January 1945 he was appointed to and stood by Cockade, then building but not completed before war's end.

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HICHENS, Antony. Gunboat Command: The Life of ‘Hitch’ Lieutenant Commander Robert Hichens. DSO*, DSC** RNVR 1909-1943. xvii, 348p., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime, 2007. ISBN: 1844156567.

A member of RNVR, he was called up in October 1939 and after training joined the minesweeper Halcyon. In April 1940 he moved to Niger, but after Dunkirk switched to Coastal Forces. It was here that he built a towering reputation for fresh thinking and innovation as well as great gallantry until his death in 1943. Written by his son and based on his diaries.

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HICKLING, Harold. Sailor at Sea. 224p., illus. London: Kimber, 1965.   

The enjoyable but guarded memoirs of a seaman. Hickling served in both world wars and, saw action at the 1914 Battle of the Falklands. In WW2 he commanded the dummy ships of Force W then the cruiser Glasgow and later the Normandy Mulberry harbours, retiring as an admiral in 1947.

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The biography of one of Britain's most loved post-war admirals. He joined the navy as a Special Entry Cadet in January 1939. At the start of the war he joined Belfast and after her mining, Valiant. In October 1941 he joined Highlander as a sub lieutenant but within a few weeks contracted diphtheria. On his recovery he was appointed to Ashanti and served on her for three happy years. He saw Arctic convoys, the Pedestal convoy, the Torch landings, and Channel sweeps and earned a DSC and no less than three mentions in despatches while rising to be First Lieutenant. At the end of 1944 he joined the Long Gunnery Course where he was serving at war's end.

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A happy autobiography of a regular naval career. He served from battleships to minesweepers during the war and from Norway to D-day as well as a training post at Dryad.

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An enjoyable memoir of the RN in the thirties. The last twenty pages describe his war. The autumn of 1939 was spent in Harrier at Dover and at the end of the year he went to Vernon for the Long T Course. His war soon came to an abrupt end in May 1940 when he was wounded with the Ijmuiden demolition parties.

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His active war career is touched on in a mere half dozen pages.

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He joined Dartmouth in 1936 passing out in summer 1940 and was posted to Valiant in Alexandria where he served through the hard war of the fleet for 18 months. The book is based on his midshipman's diary and ends early in 1942 when he passed his exams to become a sublieutenant. Excellent.

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