Tony Ditcham had a varied and incident packed career in The Royal Navy. The experiences he garnered made him one of a small band of veterans who served in several theatres of the Second World War, and as such his memoir must be one of the most comprehensive available.

As well as the authors skills as a naval officer he is just as adept with the pen. These two skills make this book a really enjoyable read. Full of descriptive accounts of some of the most well known actions of World War 2 including: D-day, the sinking of The Scharnhorst, The Battle of the North Cape, The Arctic Convoys, and defending British coastal shipping lanes from E-boat attack. He finished his wartime stint on route to The Pacific.

The excellent photographs, maps and documents enhance the book as in many other instances and as noted before, the authors clean and descriptive text make this a highly recommended read. Life at sea leads to long periods of boredom and sometimes loneliness but Mr Ditcham conveys many moments of humour that must have been priceless at such times.

If you only read one book in a quest to learn what life at sea with the RN during WW2 was really like then you could do far worse that to choose "A Home on the Rolling Main".