Personal memoirs of an officer in the British Navy who served as a submarine commander in World War II.
More than war adventure, this is an intensely personal history—a sensitive and witty man’s story of himself told with uncommon skill.
William King was for the six years of World War II a submarine commander in the Royal Navy. As such, he lived adventures of the highest drama: the tragic Norwegian campaign, war patrols in the North Sea, the losing struggle for the Far East fought with inferior equipment and outdated submarines, and individual attacks. When the war ended he took to sailing the surface of the seas in small boats.
Commander King’s book reveals more than the drama of physical action. He was a man who worked and played and loved with intensity, who knew fear and yet took great personal risks, who triumphed and despaired. His story is of adventure and of himself, of a great love of the sea, and of moving, human relationships. It will rank with the better books to come from the war.
Genre
Naval History, Sailing, Memoir
About The Author:
William Donald Aelian King
Born
in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, The United Kingdom
June 23, 1910
Died
September 21, 2012
Commander William Donald Aelian "Bill" King, DSO*, DSC, RN.
Graduate of the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. A submarine skipper during WWII, his commands include HMS Snapper (1939–40), HMS Trusty (1941), and HMS Telemachus (1943–45). He was the only Royal Navy submarine captain to serve from the very beginning to the very end of the war, in addition to later becoming the longest living.
During his service in the Second World War, he was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order and Bar (DSO*) and the Distinguished Cross and Bar. He also received the 1939–1945 Star, Atlantic Star, Africa Star, Burma Star, and War Medal 1939–1945.
He married married the author Anita Theodosia Moira Leslie (1914–1984) in 1949, eldest child of the well-known author Sir Shane Leslie and Marjorie (Ide) Leslie.
A highly skilled yachtsman, he singlehandedly circumnavigated the globe in 1973.
In 2009, he was the subject of the documentary film "King of the Waves."
Commander King passed away at age 102 at his home, Oranmore Castle, County Galway, Ireland.