The House That Jack Built; The Story of H. M. S. Excellent
Aldershot: Gale and Polden Limited, 1955. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Format is approximately 5 inches by 7.5 inches. xii, 183, [1] pages. DJ has some wear, soiling, tears and chips and is in a plastic sleeve. Some edge soiling. Frontispiece. Foreword by Admiral of the Fleet Lord Chatfield. Illustrations. Appendix One through Four (Appendices include documents, chronology, register of tenders and gunnery firing ships, and list of officers). Index. Inscribed by the author to Admiral R. D. Oliver on the fep stating "Who's work in 1930 made this volume possible in 1955". Also includes a TLS from the author to Admiral Oliver asking permission to quote from the Admiral's work on the H.M.S. Excellent. There is also an ALS from the author to the Admiral with a question about a Commander from the 1830s. There is a final, ALS forwarding this copy of the book and again thanking him for his help. This latter note had been taped to the inside of the front cover (and is now unattached) and there is tape residue there. Vice Admiral Robert Don Oliver CB CBE DSC DL (17 March 1895 – 6 October 1980) was a Royal Navy officer who was appointed Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. Oliver served in WWI taking part in the Battle of the Falkland Islands, fighting at Gallipoli and undertaking mine-laying off the German and Belgian coast. He served in WWII and was commanding HMS Devonshire on 21 November 1941 when he was informed that German U-boats were going to be surfacing near him, to refuel from a merchant raider, the cruiser Atlantis. Using the intelligence, Devonshire sunk Atlantis. He later commanded the gunnery school HMS Excellent. He retired in 1948. More