Royal Navy, Rum, Rumour and a Pinch of Salt

By E.T. Ashton

Price:

£9.95

Item attributes

ISBN:

978-0-85174-497-1

Published date:

First published 1985

Item details

Bibliographic Notes

This book is to a large extent the life story of one of the authors, Tom Hayward. He ended his Royal Navy career as Chief Petty Officer, Supply Branch. He then went into the Coastguard Service for several years. His father was in the Royal Navy, and then the Coastguard Service, and so was his father. The book gives an entertaining account of Lower Deck life, as seen through the eyes of one of its senior members. It particularly throws light on the Supply Branch, one of the most essential branches of the Royal Navy; comparatively little has been written about this section of the Service. Additionally, Chief Petty Officer Hayward makes shrewd, and often amusing, comment on naval events, big and small, from the 1920's to the end of World War II. The concluding section of the book deals with service in the Coastguards, a big contrast to his career in the Royal Navy, mainly in big ships. Further comments are made by his co-author, mainly on small ships, of which he had much experience, in frigates during the War, and in a R.N.V.R. squadron for ten years after the War.