Ludovic Kennedy's Sub-Lieutenant offers a valuable view of the war from a junior officer rather than from a fleet commander. Published in 1942, it follows Kennedy from the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and HMS King Alfred through navigation, weapons, signalling, Morse, and field training. The book connects his father, later lost in the armed merchant cruiser HMS Rawalpindi, with Kennedy's own appointment to the Tribal-class destroyer HMS Tartar. His presence during the hunt for Bismarck later informed another book, The Pursuit, giving the writing unusual first-hand authority. The memoir records wartime naval experience before later memory could smooth its uncertainties.
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Ludovic Kennedy's first war at sea
Sub-Lieutenant follows a junior officer into wartime naval training, HMS Tartar, and the hunt for Bismarck.