A Pair of Steaming Bats - Rocky O'Rourke

Ever wondered what it's really like in the Royal Navy? Then you'll love this hilarious, entertaining and very personal portrayal of the author's 1980s' experiences.

The author - known as 'Rocky' on his first seagoing ship - joined the Royal Navy aged 17 in September 1982, shortly after the Falklands Conflict, and served until 1990 when he left the Senior Service to start a family.

A Pair of Steaming Bats captures the author's training period, first taste of life at sea on a frigate and subsequent drafts including further life at sea on board an aircraft carrier. His experiences both on board and ashore are recounted as he sails from Plymouth and Portsmouth to various corners of the globe. From Mombasa's seedy backstreets and the red-light districts of Hamburg and Amsterdam through to the glorious sandy beaches of the Seychelles and the Bahamas - there is coarseness, sex and drunken shenanigans. The people he encountered - from the poor beggars on the streets of Karachi to the millionaires of the Gulf states - are still fresh in his memory today.

This witty, behind-the-scenes account of life in the Royal Navy combined with the author's stories of his Irish Catholic roots and his upbringing in a Peterborough pub will have you laughing, reminiscing and reflecting on for a long time after you read the final page. You'll find everything in this compelling, no-holds-barred memoir.