- Author
- Nicholls, Bob
- Subjects
- Biographies and personal histories, History - WW1, Book reviews, Biographies
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- HMAS Australia I
- Publication
- September 2002 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
Title: Pioneers of the Royal Australian Navy
Author: Lofty Batt
Publisher: Naval Historical Society of Australia (Inc)
[Ed: The Society recently published this book]
New Zealander Lofty Batt joined the Royal Navy’s 3rd class cruiser HMS Pioneer in New Zealand in 1908 and left the Royal Australian Navy in 1919. In between times he had managed to see most of the world, including time in the United Kingdom training as a gunlayer and rangefinder operator and serving in HMAS Australia throughout the First World War. This book is a reprint of his reminiscences, first published in 1968. Since then his tale has become a vital part of the extremely sparse material on the early days of the RAN. Lofty’s account is a pungent, witty and shrewd description of what life was like on the Lower Deck in those days.
A classic which should be in the library of everyone interested in the early days of our Navy.
(Published by the Naval Historical Society of Australia)