News, Articles and Comment

Ed. With Operation HIGHMAST complete, the author, Commander UK Carrier Strike Group (COMUKCSG), provides a retrospective on the deployment, demonstrating the range of defence engagement, diplomacy and deterrence embodying the flagship mission. A 10 minute read.

Ed. Two letters responding to recent RN developments and advocating for reform.

Ed. It was timely that Dr Nina Baker’s book on the brave Scottish Merchant Navy women who lost their lives in World War II should cross our desks the other week and I am grateful to Lt Cdr Helen Taylor RN for reviewing it. It generated the question, what about the 75,000 members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service known as the WRNS? It was a less enlightened era so their primary purpose was ‘to free up manpower to serve at sea’ but that meant that they got to serve in many important roles across the war effort from parachute packing, to ammunition technicians, photographers, coxswains, drivers, photographers and coders. Our grateful thanks to Dr Jo Strange for the following taken from her book on the history of the WRNS published in 2016.

Ed. Our correspondent comments on NR 114/1’s report on the current status of the Admiralty Interview Board (AIB).

Ed. An information item, notifying relatives of those who served aboard the Second World War Avenger-class escort carrier HMS Dasher.

Ed. Continuing the ‘Fun in the Navy’ theme, the author recalls service aboard the Porpoise-class submarine HMS Sealion.

Ed. The authors reflect on the wartime record of Col Nicoll ‘Nick’ Galbraith, US Army staff officer, who was captured at Corregidor and spent three and a half years as a Japanese POW. Originally published in the Colorado Springs Gazette. A 10 minute read.

Ed. For Remembrance Day, the author provides narratives of two RN submarine patrols, highlighting the versatility and steadfastness of British submariners during ‘the offensive’ as Stephen Roskill phrased it. A 15 minute read.

Ed. The author provides a biographical history of his father, Lt R S Frost RNR, a consummate professional who served aboard liners in the interwar period and met his fate as a Mediterranean submariner during the Second World War. A 20 minute read.