The Navy Vol_73_No_3 Jul 2011 - Navy League of Australia

PRODUCT REVIEW
BOOKS
Diving Stations:
The Story of Captain George Hunt DSO, DSC, RN
By Peter Dornan,
Pen & Sword Maritime, Barnsley, UK, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1848843219
192 pages hard cover
Reviewed by John Jeremy
In 1945 the Admiralty selected two submarine officers to have their
portrait painted for the Imperial War Museum. One was Lieutenant L. W.
A. Bennington, commanding officer of HMS TALLY HO — the other was
Lieutenant Commander George Hunt. Bennington’s exploits in TALLY HO
are quite well known — those of George Hunt and his ship’s company in
ULTOR are less so but stand out amongst the achievements of Royal Navy
submariners during World War II.
Born in Scotland, Hunt spent his early years in Uganda before being
educated in Glasgow. He joined the Royal Navy Reserve at the age of
13 and joined HMS CONWAY as an officer cadet. In the years before
the war he experienced life in the merchant marine and the Royal Navy
before becoming a permanent officer in the RN at the age of 21 when he
volunteered for service in submarines. His first appointment was to the
small U-class submarine HMS UNITY, operating in the North Sea. In April
1940 the Norwegian merchant ship Alte Jarl collided with Unity, slicing
her open and sinking the submarine rapidly. For his actions during the
sinking Hunt was Mentioned in Dispatches, the first of many awards he
was to receive during the war.
Hunt was soon back at sea and in April 1941 was appointed First
Lieutenant of HMS PROTEUS, operating in the Mediterranean. In March
1942 he returned to the UK to undertake the Commanding Officers’
Qualifying Course. His first command was the submarine HMS H33. H50
followed, mainly employed in training and short patrols close to Britain.
It was not long before Hunt was appointed to command one of the U-class
submarines then building at Barrow in Furness. These submarines
displaced only about 500 tons, carried eight torpedoes and had a range
of only 500 miles. Hunt’s submarine was commissioned as HMS ULTOR
for service in the Mediterranean.
HMS ULTOR had a very active war until her return home in September
1944. During her fifteen patrols she sank 20 enemy vessels by torpedo
and eight by gunfire. Another four ships were damaged. Fifty percent
of the torpedoes fired scored hits. The Admiralty summarised ULTOR’s
achievements in the following words: “It is quite clear … that not only
Lieutenant Hunt, but his officers and the whole of his ship’s company have
achieved and maintained a degree of efficiency which reflects the highest
credit on all of them. Lieutenant Hunt’s own performance … must entitle
him to be classed with our front-rank Submarine commanding Officers.”
For his service in PROTEUS Hunt received the DSC and in ULTOR a bar to
the DSC, Mention in Dispatches, and Distinguished Service Order and Bar.
After the war George Hunt continued his naval service which included
time in the aircraft carriers TRIUMPH and THESEUS and command of
HMS AMBUSH and HMS BIGBURY BAY, in the latter role as Senior Naval
Officer West Indies. In 1958 Captain Hunt became Chief Staff Officer to
the Flag Officer Submarines and in 1960 moved to Bath as Director of
Naval Equipment. He retired from the RN in 1963 at the age of 46 and,
with his wife Phoebe and their daughter, emigrated to Australia, finally
settling in Brisbane where Hunt joined the staff of the shipbuilder Evans
Deakin. In 1965 he took a position with the British High commission,
finally retiring in 1976.
Now in his nineties, George Hunt still lives in Queensland maintaining
an interest in submarines as Patron of the Queensland Branch of the
Submarines Association of Australia.
Peter Dornan, for many years a physiotherapist working mainly in sports
medicine, has written a number of books including three on military
subjects. Diving Stations is a most readable account of George Hunt’s life
and achievements, although some readers might feel that the accounts of
HMS ULTOR’s exploits are a bit matter of fact and lack some of the tension
and excitement which must have been felt by her young crew. Perhaps
this is inevitable when the story is being told so long after the event.
Diving Stations should be read by all interested in submarine warfare.
THE NAVY VOL. 73 NO. 3 31