Hichens - Gunboat Commander: the Biography of Lieutenant Commander Robert Hichens DSO* DSC** RNVR

It is most unlikely that I would ever have written this book without the help and encouragement of my fellow trustees of Coastal Forces Heritage Trust. They asked me to join them because I was my fathers son and they then supported my amateur efforts at writing naval biography. The web of contacts with ex-Coastal Forces personnel through CFHT has been invaluable.

In order to write this book I have had to learn a great deal about the history of Coastal Forces from 1939 to 1943. Without the help of Geoffrey Hudson, the acknowledged expert on Coastal Forces boats, and Len Reynolds, the author of the most complete history of Coastal Forces, most especially MTBs and MGBs at War in Home Waters , this book would have been so full of errors as to become a laughing stock to the veterans who served during that period. They have been kind enough to supply me with an immense amount of data concerning Coastal Forces in general and the Sixth and Eighth MGB Flotillas in particular. The third source of vital information was Captain Trevor Robotham RN, who took off my back the task of searching Admiralty records via the Naval Historical Branch in Portsmouth. He is the Director of the Coastal Forces Heritage Trust but that research was no part of his duties as Director. Although I had some personal knowledge of my fathers pre war life, my elder brother, Robert Hichens, had far more and from his home in Cornwall was able to dig up a great deal that neither of us previously knew.

I have been in correspondence with a large number of men who served in Coastal Forces, some of them in the Sixth or Eighth MGB Flotillas. I would particularly like to thank Sydney Dobson, sometime Able Seaman in the Eighth Flotilla, Roland Clarke sometime gunner in the Sixth Flotilla, Roland Clarke sometime gunner in the Sixth MGB Flotilla, John Motherwell, sometime Sub-Lieutenant, RCNVR, Charlie Mercer, sometime Oerlikon gunner in MGB 21 , Cameron Gough, sometime Lieutenant RNVR who commanded MGB 81 later in the war, James Shadbolt, sometime Lieutenant RNVR and a member of the Eighth Flotilla as a Midshipman and the late Lieutenant Commander Tom Ladner, RCNVR who commanded MGB 75 . I was also greatly helped by Captain Michael Fulford Dobson RN, who served in fast patrol boats in the 1950s and provided valuable criticism of the book as a whole.

I have quoted from a number of sources but most particularly Peter Dickens Night Action by courtesy of his widow, Mrs Mary Dickens, Major General Strictlands private diaries courtesy of his son, Ben Strictland, Judy Middletons monograph of King Alfred , Peter Scotts Battle of the Narrow Seas and Gordon Holmans The Little Ships . Len Reynolds was also kind enough to let me quote from his book Gunboat 658 , as did Roland Clarke from his book of recollections Perlethorpe to Portsmouth . I thank them all.

The maps were drawn and redrawn by Jane Michaelis as I found more and more places the reader needed to identify. She was both efficient and patient.

If the book is still full of typographical inaccuracies it is not the fault of either Geoffrey Hudson nor Hugh Robinson who both read it and corrected a multitude of errors. It reflects my own lack of attention to detail which I am now too old to curb.

I should also like to thank my long serving and long suffering secretary, Mrs Sheelagh Pigou, who produced multiple drafts with only the most occasional complaint, and Heather Holden-Brown, daughter of a distinguished Coastal Forces commander, who helped me through the publishing jungle but refused to take a fee for it.

Now I have written a book I realize how many unsung heroes there are behind every publication, though I suspect that in my case I owe more to the help of others than is normal.