Book reviews

Lieutenant Kenneth Robert Hudspeth, RANVR was one of manyRoyal Australian Naval personnel whose service in Royal Navy units during the darkest days ofWorld War 2 has gone largely unnoticed in ...

This story was first published in the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) Volunteers’ quarterly magazine, ‘All Hands’, Issue 129 in December 2024. The author, Geoff Barnes is a volunteer with ...

Salt Horse – Memoir of a Maverick Admiral, Claude Lionel Cumberlege. Published by Whittles Publishing Ltd, Dunbeath, Caithness KW6 6EG, Scotland. Admiral Claude Cumberlege RN wrote his memoirs in 1936-38, ...

Abide With Me – The HMAS Voyager Tragedy by Elizabeth McCarthy This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the collision between HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Voyager off the New South ...

Gordon’s Nuggets: The Principles of War and How They Help in Love, Life & Work by Gordon Ramsay.The book is now available through the Society’s website shop and all good booksellers. ...

By SBLT Cináed Finall RAN We are pleased to publish this essay, which was written in 2023 in support of the inaugural Information Warfare Officer Course dux award. Cináed joined ...

Where the Flaming Hell are we? This new wartime history by Craig Collie paints a vivid picture of Australian and New Zealanders desperately fighting in Greece and Crete and as ...

The Yachties. Australian Volunteers in The Royal Navy 1940-45. By Janet Roberts Billett. Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty Ltd., North Melbourne Vic. 3051 In 1940 the Royal Navy anticipated a shortage ...

Shanghai Demimondaine: From Sex Worker to Society Matron. This biography by Nick Hordern was published earlier this year by Earnshaw Books of Hong Kong. Paperback 262 pages available from Amazon ...

“Safe to Dive – Submarine Support in Sydney 1914 to 1999” by John Jeremy was published by The Naval Historical Society of Australia in 2023, under licence agreement with the ...

Royal Yachts Under Sail by Brian Lavery, Seaforth Publishing, Bransley, 2022. A well-presented hardcover using quality paper enhancing colourful pictures and illustrations. While only 160 pages it packs a huge ...

Lost Women of Rabaul by Rod Miller, 2022, Big Sky Publishing, Newport, NSW, PB 350pp, RRP $32.99 This review first appeared in Reconnaissance, the magazine of the Military History Society ...

By Bjarne (Barney) Kristensen The 18 August 2023 marked fifty years since the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam (The Vietnam War) with commemorations conducted throughout Australia. In this paper I ...

Love, Oil and the Fortunes of War is a fictionalised history by Sydney-based author Paul Ashford Harris. Published by Ventura Press in 2023, a paperback edition of 288 pages and ...

Nelson’s Lost Son. The recently published Nelson’s Lost Son is the second part of a trilogy by author Oliver Greeves. Part One, Nelson’s Folly, was reviewed in the December 2021 ...

The Scrap Iron Flotilla by Mike Carlton. William Heinemann Australia. Paperback of 448 pages. rrp $34.99 On Sunday September 3rd 1939, history was tumbling over itself. In the mess decks ...

The Hunt for the Storozhevoy; the 1975 Soviet Navy Mutiny in the Baltic. By Michael Fredholm von Essen. From Helion Books, Europe At War Series No 19. Published 2022. This ...

The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania and Mutiny in the South Pacific. This 327-page paperback edition written by Brandon Presser was published by Icon Books of London in ...

Portrait of a Working Dockyard. This photobook by Berylouise Mitchell comes in a limited edition, handmade in A4 landscape format by Australia’s premier photobook printer MomentoPro in Sydney and sells ...

Flying Stations II. The Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Air Arm 1998-2022. This fine book edited by Lieutenant Commander Desmond Woods OAM RAN is published by the RAN Fleet Air Arm ...