SUBMARINE commanders of the future have been given the chance to learn from the past thanks to a generous donation of books from a retired serviceman.
Former submariner, David Parry, recently donated over 280 books – around 120 of them sourced from the Royal Navy Submarine Museum’s archives - to the Submarine Command Course (SMCC), the intensive training course for submariners also known as ‘Perisher’.
During his Royal Navy career, David served with submarines HMS Amphion, Narwhal, Andrew and Conqueror.
He went on to enjoy a career in the high-tech and space industries and it was on his retirement that he rekindled his interest in the submarine service, choosing to research the history of the Perisher course as part of his PhD at King’s College London in 2017, in line with the 100th anniversary of the course.
After visiting Faslane during his research David was inspired to help out current students.
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“I was extremely grateful to the SMCC staff and students for allowing me to visit and wanted to do something to show my thanks,” he said.
The books donated are mainly autobiographic, biographic or technical, and while most are about the Royal Navy there are also many about the German, American and Russian submarine services as well.
David said: “If Perisher students do not know their historical birthright there is little chance of other submariners, of any rank or rate, knowing the stories of those who have gone before.
“I hope the books I have provided may go some way to improving that situation.”
David is hopeful that soon his own work - Perisher: the making of a submarine commanding officer - will join the other titles already on the shelves of the SMCC library when it is published.
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