Sailor's War Lombard-Hobson, Sam

Sam Lombard-Hobson joined the Royal Navy as a seventeen-year-old officer cadet in 1939, just as the world tipped into war. This is his account of six years at sea — convoy runs through U-boat-infested waters, Arctic patrols where ice formed faster than men could chip it away, and the relentless grind of keeping a ship operational when exhaustion became the real enemy. Lombard-Hobson writes without sentimentality or heroics, capturing instead the dark humor, camaraderie, and sheer endurance required to survive the naval war. He commanded motor torpedo boats, hunted submarines, and witnessed the kind of split-second decisions that meant life or death for entire crews. This is a sailor's war, not an admiral's — told from the deck, not the war room. Essential reading for anyone interested in WWII naval history or firsthand accounts of life at sea under fire.