Derek Law Bibliography

Full entry text:

GAFFNEY, Patrick. Sons of the Seas: Royal Naval Stories and Tales of Foreign Seaports, from 1910-1966. iv, 205p., illus. Kibworth Beauchamp: Matador, 2016. ISBN: 9781784624347.

A rather curious book in which the author tries to describe the naval career of a father he never met thanks to the complicated domestic life of his parents. It covers his father’s service in World War I and his service in WW2 in paddle minesweepers and LSTs, the latter mainly in the Mediterranean. It then covers his brother’s war service in the FAA, while the second half of the book covers his own peacetime service in the RN. Poorly organised and edited, it does however give a real feeling for the impact of war on individuals and on family life and the strains this caused on relationships.