Journal of a Young Midshipman: The Royal Navy and the Crisis in the Mediterranean 1940-41

336 pages

Capt Andrew Welch

The first thing that I noticed about this book was how heavy it was. The whole book is printed on photographic quality paper and that is because about 25% of the pages have photos or sketches on them. Midshipman John Hashim’s son asked Brian Lavery to edit his father’s journal and the result is a fascinating glimpse of life in three cruisers (HM Ships Liverpool, York & Ajax), the destroyer HMS Kandahar& finally the battleship, HMS Valiant in the Eastern Mediterranean from May 1940 to July 1941.

The ‘S.519 Journal for the use of Junior Officers afloat’ has been discontinued, but I suspect that many retired members will remember it well. It had to be written up weekly (as I remember) and was seen by the Mid’s Training Officer and Commanding Officers, from time to time.  I have not been able to ascertain exactly when the Mid’s Journal was withdrawn, but it probably followed shortly after the introduction of the Task Book – which was being trialled in the Fleet in 1969.

John Hashim’s journal contained the usual sketches and diagrams of everything from the layout of the gunroom to the Kitchen Rudder. Many period photos and diagrams have been added to help illuminate the text. Hashim certainly had an ‘interesting’ time as a Mid. Liverpool was torpedoed returning from a Malta convoy run and he transferred to York, who was hit by an Italian exploding motor boat and subsequently abandoned in Souda Bay. His brief periods in Ajax and Kandahar included the evacuation of Crete and the, little-known, operations of the coasts of Syria and Lebanon.  Finally, his journal shows that life in a capital ship in wartime was still very formal and mostly spent at anchor waiting for the next major operation.

The strength of this book is the perspective of wartime life as seen by a 17–19-year-old junior officer. His understanding of the overall progress of the war could only be based on what he was being told, so some of his thoughts and opinions may now seem to be naïve. However, his first-hand accounts of the torpedoing of Liverpool and the destruction of York and the aftermath of both these losses are worth reading. Recommended.