The Price of Admiralty (1944) By Paul & Frances Margaret McGuire
 
This is a naval story with a difference. It is about, about a navy, a ship, and a man. The navy is that of Australian, the man is J H Walker who joined the service in 1915 when the RAN was not four years old as an independent force. Although many ships are mentioned in this account of the RAN up WWII, the sloop Parramatta is central to the story from that time.
 
When the war began Parramatta was close to completion and was commissioned in April 1940 commanded by Walker. By July the ship was in the Red Sea engaged against the Italians, a year later she was in the Mediterranean, helping keep the isolated Tobruk garrison supplied. She was having a busy, exciting, and dangerous war, was overdue for refit and her crew was battle-weary.
 
In late November 1941 Parramatta, on another run to Tobruk, was torpedoed and quickly sank. Only 24 of her 160 crew were saved, Commander Walker was not one of them. So this is the story of a short-lived but gallant ship, with a brave complement, lost far from home, the story too of a young navy and a fine officer.
 
Hard Cover
328 pages
In Good Condition