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A Bit Of A Life

From A Boy Sailor To Demobilisation

In 1932, 16-year-old George Osborne from Manchester joined the naval training establishment of HMS St Vincent which was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy, located in Gosport, Hampshire. and began a naval career that lasted for 14 years. Over the course of those years George served in destroyers, cruisers, battleships, and submarines in peace and in war. He served in European, African, Mediterranean, Indian, and Asian waters. He was sunk in the Mediterranean, but was one of the few lucky survivors, and later, his submarine Tally Ho was rammed by a Japanese destroyer but managed to make it back to the submarine base. He left the Royal Navy when demobilised in 1946 and entered an engineering employment until his retirement and eventual death in 1997. In the course of this time George compiled the diaries of his life and career and we are all the beneficiaries of his efforts by his leaving this outstanding book.

—Foreword, Michael White