Category: Royal Navy: Miscellaneous Works

A general history with full coverage of WWII. Sixteen chaplains died in action and each one is noted. There is also good coverage of the monotony of life, even for a chaplain, on an AMC.

A series of detailed technical essays by those associated with the development of naval radar.

A second volume of technical essays.

The mysterious story of the Q-ship HMS Fidelity. The author's obsession with her led to years of research and discussions with two of the ten survivors, as a means of piecing together her strange tale. A second edition was published in 1999, a third in 2000 and a fourth in 2010.

The autobiography of the daughter of Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton. She was first married to an officer in the Devons based in Malta from 1939-42 and tells an engaging tale of the siege, cipher work and marmalade making for submarine crews. Evacuated to the UK, she worked for Admiralty Intelligence thereafter.

A biography of Claude Péri and Madeleine Bayard which tells of their remarkable wartime adventures, work in SOE and eventual death when he captained Fidelity. An interesting new perspective on the murky tale.

Although there are only twenty or so pages on WW2, this is a fascinating and almost by definition beautifully illustrated work.

Admiral Morris was Hydrographer of the Navy in 1985–90 and brings a deep understanding to the subject, which is fully and effectively covered.

Tells of her lifetime travelling the world as the wife of a Surgeon Rear Admiral from the 1920's through to the 1950's. Includes two episodes where the family stayed in Simonstown

Memoirs of a naval chaplain, with 40 pages on WWII, mainly based at Simonstown.

A sketch of the life of a promising young Englishman killed in the war. A budding film-maker and head of the Admiralty's Educational Film Unit, he was killed in a plane crash.

From the lewd to the maudlin, these songs catalogue Jack's work and play in peace and war.

A dozen radio broadcasts on the work of the RN, giving personal impressions of incidents covering the whole range of the war at sea.

Thomson was recently retired when recalled to act as censor. He describes the unenviable tightrope between informing the public and helping the enemy.

Only two volumes were published and were arranged alphabetically covering Abdiel to Buzzard.

BROOME, Jack. Make Another Signal. [v], 255p., illus. London: Kimber, 1973. ISBN: 0718301935.  

An anthology of signals from the Glorious First of June onward, but concentrating on WWII. Really a second edition of his earlier book Make a Signal. Illustrated with the author’s own drawings.

JAMES, Tony. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary 1905–1985. 144p., illus., index. Liskeard: Maritime Books, 1985. ISBN: 0907771211.

A class list with leading details of each vessel plus brief notes on service and many illustrations.

SIGWART, E. E. Royal Fleet Auxiliary: Its Ancestry and Affiliations 1600–1968. [iix], 221p., illus., index. London: Coles, 1969. ISBN: 0229985815.

A description of each ship and of its career, with a short introductory essay on the service.

SMITH, Peter C. Royal Navy Ships’ Badges. 96p., bibliog.,  illus., index. St Ives: Balfour, 1974. ISBN: 0859440117.

A representative sample of forty badges, with histories of the ships which bore them.  

RAVEN, Alan. Warship Perspectives, Camouflage Royal Navy.  4 vols., illus. Lynbrook, N.Y.: WR Press, 2000-2003.

The volumes are arranged chronologically.

JONES, Julia. Uncommon Courage: the Yachtsmen Volunteers of World War II. x, 310p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Adlard Coles, 2022. ISBN: 9781472987105.

The story of the Royal Navy Volunteer Supplementary Reserve. Almost two thousand amateur sailors signed up to the Reserve as war loomed. The author discovered her father’s papers in the attic and they told of his service in this very mixed group. They served in everything from minesweeping to Ian Fleming’s Commandos and the author brings their hugely varied service to life.

HODGES, Peter. Royal Navy Warship Camouflage 1939–1945. 80p., illus. London: Almark Publishing, 1973.

A brief well-illustrated account.

WEBB, Adrian James. Churchill’s Secret Chart Makers: The Road to D-Day and Beyond in Somerset 1939-45. xii, 252p., bibliog., illus., index. Taunton: Harry Galloway Publishing, 2024. ISBN: 9781862410527.

The untold story of the RN Hydrographic Department based in Taunton, Bath, Exeter and Froome.  During the war they produced over thirty million charts and navigational products distributed to almost 5000 allied vessels. A fascinatingly detailed account.

An anecdotal history of the Royal Naval Patrol Service. It used converted trawlers to tackle the myriad inshore tasks deemed suitable for minor vessels, yet they faced the same hazards as any fleet unit.

A general history of naval signals, which covers several major actions of WWII through their signals at Narvik, the Bismarck chase, PQ17, Force K, the sinking of the cruiser Haguro - plus a selection of the Navy's famous wit. Reprinted by Douglas Boyd in 1994.

The wartime memories of a yachtswoman who was involved in running the tenders for seaplanes arriving in the Menai Straits.

Not really relevant to the story of the war, but the book is a mine of information. Aimed in part at "temporary sons of the sea."

A transcript of eight BBC broadcasts and a lecture given at the University of Oxford, all made by the Chief of Naval Information, Rear Admiral Dickson. Although the war was almost over, they are notably bland and intended to inspire rather than inform.

In 1942 the RN began to receive small craft from the US for harbour duties. Volunteer ferry crews were raised from the Small Vessels Pool set up for the Dunkirk evacuation. This is the story of the long voyage of HM Fleet Tender 22 from New York to Malta via the South Atlantic, in late 1943, under the captaincy of Temporary Lieutenant (RNVR) Admiral the Honourable Sir Herbert Meade Featherstonhaugh, GCVO, CB, DSO. A splendid tale.

Botlea was fitted out as a decoy ship. She later converted to an AMC.

In reality a history of the men from the Humber who served on the C Class cruisers and Armed Merchant Cruisers. Illustrated profusely and well.

Over thirty pages on their technical work in WWII.

This review of the postmarks and cancellation stamps of the Royal Navy is one of the more esoteric of naval byways.

An engaging account of her childhood, which usefully complements her father's memoirs. Only the final pages cover the war.

The Secretary of the Allied Forces Mascot Club lists the strange variety of birds and beasts to have served in action. There is a section on naval mascots.

Gives an account of the dummy warships used in both world wars to deceive the enemy. Much of the book concerns the WWII career of Centurion which was disguised as Anson for part of the war. Reprinted by White Lion in 1977.

The brief account of the nomadic wartime travels of a well-connected naval wife who traversed the globe from Malta to the United States following her husband.

A Chief Petty Officer in the Supply Branch gives his memoirs of service from 1925 to 1947. In 1939 he was in Liverpool in the Indian Ocean, Far East, and Mediterranean. After a short spell at Chatham he joined Heythrop in Northern waters. The rest of the war was spent in shore jobs in London, Trinidad, Grimsby, and Ceylon.

Despite bad eyesight, he got an engineer's berth aboard an A/S yacht. When put in for a commission, he was failed because of his eyesight and this process is graphically described. In a final chapter he tells of his return to sea with the Admiralty Ferry Service.

A noble attempt to make a technical subject accessible. Developments are related to naval actions, which makes the whole more comprehensible.

A yacht of the Auxiliary Patrol Service with a veteran RNVR crew, mined with only two survivors in June 1940. She caught the public imagination following a Times leader.

The autobiography of a young civilian girl in war. Much of the book concerns the end of the war in Falmouth when she was courting a volunteer naval officer serving on an LCT. Captures the spirit of the time.

This book covers all nonflying personnel from WAAF's to Air-Sea Rescue. The approach is chronological from the formation of the RFC until WWII, then tends to look at them by group rather than chronologically. There is some minimal naval information.

The strange story of a largely Free French manned Q-ship which was eventually sunk in the Atlantic in December 1942. Originally published in France in 1956.

A full history, half of which is devoted to WWII. Fairly general.