This book provides both a personal story and a deep insight into life in the Royal Navy during the mid 20th Century. It contains fascinating details of daily life aboard ship as well as exciting accounts of wartime action in North Atlantic convoy duty - including the infamous sinking of two U-boat aces "Otto Kretschmer in U-99" and "Joachim Schepke in U-100" in a single night.Walter Edney joined the Royal Navy in 1934 at the lowest rank: a boy seaman. Over the next 25 years, he rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a Commissioned Officer and the commander of HMS Fenton. To do this he had to cross a huge class divide between "lower ranks" and "higher ranks" and his promotion was exceptional.This book is taken directly from his personal memoirs written based on the detailed dairies that he kept through his life. As a result it provides a first-hand account of Naval life as well as a warm personal story.During his career, Walter Edney served on HMS Iron Duke, HMS Nelson, HMS Maidstone, HMS Vanoc, HMS Sheffield, HMS Constance among others. Before WW2 he showed the strength of the British Empire aboard HMS Nelson. During WW2 he fought on a tiny destroyer in the North Atlantic, protecting convoys of merchant ships against U-boat attack. He also landed at Anzio in Italy to provide a communications centre. After the war, in HMS Sheffield he toured the major ports of North and South America to show the flag and celebrate with the expatriate British communities. In the Korean war he patrolled Korean waters under threat of hostile fire and, finally, during the Cyprus crisis he patrolled in the Mediterranean Sea.Throughout all this he raised a family of four children and was devoted to his wife, Thelma, who he married during WW2.This book is an authentic account of Navy life written by hands that had done all the jobs from scrubbing the decks to saluting the Duke of Edinburgh.
About the Author: Walter P. Edney was a remarkable man. Born in 1918 to a very humble family, he joined the Royal Navy, aged 15, at the lowest possible rank. During the next 25 years, through both World War II and the Korean War he rose to become a Commissioned Officer and commander of his own ship. It was rare in those days for men to cross the divide from seaman to officer. In the late 1950's he left the Navy and started his career anew as a repair man for dishwashers, driving from home to home in a small van. He again rose through the company to become the National Service manager for Colston Ltd. in the UK. Walter P Edney died in 2003 not long after the death of his wife Thelma to whom he was devoted. He remained a humble man throughout but was, at the same time, a superb leader having the reputation of being hard but scrupulously fair and a man of the highest integrity.