Lt Cdr Ben Warlow (1938-2023) was a Supply Officer in the Royal Navy from 1958 to the late 1990s and served much time at sea, including in two wars. It was my privilege to serve with him from 1973-75 in the commando carrier HMS Bulwark (1948 -converted to the commando role late 1950s). In 1983-84, Ben was given six months, in between appointments, to write this short history of the Supply and Secretariat Branch of the Royal Navy - this book is the result.

The Supply and Secretariat Branch of post-Second World War times, more commonly known as the Supply Branch, is now called the Logistics Branch. A Purser is first mentioned in the fourteenth century but there was no formal Royal Navy until national navies started to appear in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries - the King's Ships had become the Royal Navy and, arguably, the naval officer - and the naval profession - was in being from 1660, the time of Samuel Pepys in the Admiralty.

Ships have been going to war for some 2,600 years and, for however long, and in whoever's service, the officers and men onboard needed food, drink and supplies. This is the business of the Purser in one form or another but that person may sometimes just have been the Cook, with others having responsibility for 'storing ship' and provisioning.

Ben has written the story of the branch that provides support in England's (later the UK's) ships of war, and in warships - food (victualling), drink, stores, pay, cash, administration, personnel records, naval law and more. My old boss tells the story well, with detail where necessary, and broad brush to move the story along and so as not to bog the general reader down.

Privately published by the Royal Navy in 1984, seldom are copies for sale online but there are copies in the relevant libraries. Nearly forty years on from his work being printed, it's time to bring the story up-to-date ... ( )