Citizen Sailors: The Royal Navy in the Second World War

by Glyn Prysor

'The deck and the bridge were pointing to the sky at an alarming angle and our thoughts were to get the devil out of it and into the water. Almost in unison we shouted "for God's sake jump boys".'


Citizen Sailors is a groundbreaking people's history of the Royal Navy in the Second World War. Drawing on hundreds of contemporary diaries and letters, along with memoirs, oral history and official documents, Glyn Prysor tells the human story of Britain's war at sea.

The sailors of the Royal Navy fought from the very first day of the war until the very last. They played a vital part in a truly global war, from America to Australia and from the Arctic to South Africa. They fought in every conceivable vessel: vast aircraft carriers and cramped corvettes, fast motor boats and rickety minesweepers, Swordfish biplanes and ageing submarines.

Seen through the eyes of sailors themselves, this is a compelling account of life in the wartime Royal Navy: humanity and horror, triumphs and tragedies, nerve-wracking convoys and epic gun battles, devastating aerial bombardment and swashbuckling amphibious landings. Citizen Sailors puts the Royal Navy and its sailors back at the heart of the story of Britain's Second World War.

Genres: History, Naval History, World War II, Nonfiction

552 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Mr Michael R Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who served in the Royal Navy for 34 years, joining in 1970 i found this book immensely interesting. I also had relatives served in both the Royal and Merchant Navies during World War 2 so this book was a 'must' for me.
It a book containing many fascinating accounts by those who were there, humourous, tragic and sometimes, so utterly pragmatic under very harrowing circumstances. The way their stories, interwoven in the timeline of WW2, can annoy as the contributors duck in and out of the narrative.

What did “Citizen Sailors” bring to the Navy, from the book, both good and bad.
However the Royal Navy became a better service due to their contribution.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Citizen Sailors focuses on a human story of the Royal Navy during the second world war. As books go it's an ok read how ever it does not flow well as it goes backwards and forwards and is also too long in places. As a human story it's very good how ever don't expect a lot on the evacuation of Dunkirk or the D-Day landings as these elements are covered very briefly which for me was a bit of a disappointment. This aside if you like a human side of the second world war I can recommend this book.

[Chris Royals · Rating 5 out of 5]

Key reading to understand life in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
Whilst often out of our public image, the RN was Britain’s most powerful combat arm throughout the War and the key reason why Germany did not attempt to invade in 1940. This book does justice to the men who fought from the very first to very last minute of the War, across all corners of the globe.

[Andrew McClarnon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough and very human insight into the WW2 Royal Navy, succeeding in showing how the famous stories of ships and battles overlay the day to day life of the crew, working in an institution, yet coping with extreme experiences.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good oral history of Royal Navy in WW2.

[Nick Boldrini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing new in terms of history here, but a very good book in terms of giving a sense of how those on and below the decks responded to and experienced the war at sea.

[Count of the Saxon Shore · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Tonight I am visiting the pictures after a walk round the Hoe and the Barbican. Whenever I visit this part of the town, I think of the thousands of sailors from Drake’s time until now, who have trodden the same stones. It is impossible not to be stirred by the thoughts that along these narrow lanes the men went to join the ships which fought the Spanish Armada, with Blake against Van Tromp, with Rodney at the ‘Saints’, with Howe on ‘The Glorious First of June’, at Trafalgar, and not so many years ago at Jutland. I wonder if in years to come, other sailors will think of us?


"I felt an extraordinary numb bang on my fingers on my left hand, and heard the loudest noise I’ve ever heard – a short sharp scream of metal. I looked at my fingers. My index finger was hanging nearly off and I felt no pain. I then felt the back of my right leg with my right hand and felt nothing but hot rawness but again, no pain … I held my finger between my centre finger and thumb. I saw the side of the bridge. It was splattered with blood and there was a piece of meat about the size of a large mouthful sticking to some woodwork and slipping down. I looked round to see if anyone else had been hit – they hadn’t – and that meat was a bit of me! I heard the Captain shout down a voice pipe, ‘Doctor to the bridge!’"