Official Website of
Bill Green Author
Bill Green
I was born in England. At four years of age I was evacuated and spent the next five years in five different foster homes. Homeless at the age of seventeen, I joined the British Royal Navy.
I served twenty five years in the submarine service, spending many years patrolling the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans during the height of the Cold War. (12 March 1947 to 26 December 1991).
I have escaped from a submarine at a depth of 400 feet, and was part of the crew from the Submarine Escape Training Tank, HMS Dolphin, to set a world record for escaping from a submarine sitting on the seabed 600 feet below the waves of the Mediterranean Sea.
I have crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the United Kingdom to the USA underwater on a Polaris submarine. I have also crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the surface in a WW2 diesel/electric submarine, and I have flown over it in a Boeing 747.
I have been under the Polar Ice Cap on a conventional diesel/electric submarine, and surfaced through a Polynya. (A stretch of open water surrounded by ice)
I also met HM Queen Elizabeth II on three occasions.
I retired from the Royal Navy as a Chief Petty Officer in 1980, and I now live in Perth, Western Australia with my wife and family.
SILENT AND INVISIBLE
A STRATEGIC GAME, THAT HAD THE ADVANTAGE SHIFTING FROM ONE ADVERSARY TO THE OTHER, CREATING AN IMPASSE THAT ENABLED BOTH SIDES TO REMAIN LOCKED IN PERPETUAL HOSTILITIES INDEFINITELY.
INTRODUCTION
Childhood for Bill Green was a nightmare. Abandoned by his parents at four years of age, he was farmed out to five different foster homes. Never knowing where his next meal was coming from, and homeless at age seventeen, he joined the Royal Navy. Through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, he transformed himself from a seventeen-year-old boy with no future, into a British Royal Navy submariner.
“SILENT AND INVISIBLE” is a true story of Bill’s life in submarines at the height of the Cold war. At age nineteen, he did his first patrol in a WW2 diesel/electric submarine, spending weeks below the icy waters of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans secretly gathering information on the Soviet fleet.
During the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, (1962 -1966) Bill spent weeks patrolling the South China Seas in search of Guerrilla forces running arms to mainland Malaya.
As a qualified ship's diver, he was also engaged in clearing ships in Singapore Harbour of limpet mines, whilst helping to clear unexploded WW2 bombs from the Johor Straits.
In 1970, he was part of a team, from the Submarine Escape Training Tank in HMS Dolphin, to set a world record (600 feet) for escaping from a submarine.
After a third near-death experience whilst escaping from a submarine on a routine exercise, he finally decided he had pushed his luck far enough. In this poignant memoir, Bill shares unforgettable fragments of both his personal and submarine life, whilst giving a harrowing glimpse of what it was like to serve in submarines of the Royal Navy amidst the clamour of the Cold War. Chased, harassed, and depth-charged, “SILENT AND INVISIBLE” captures the life and times of those eventful years.
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Escape or Die
A Story Based on True Events
A British Submarine on patrol in the Arctic Ocean is sent to the bottom after being rammed by a Russian warship. Trapped, three hundred feet below the waves, the ten survivors must overcome the obstacles and fear if they are to escape from the freezing murky depths of the Arctic Ocean. With the compartment slowly filling with water from a cracked ballast line, and the air becoming more toxic with every passing minute, a decision needs to be made. Escape from the submarine and chance dying of exposure in the freezing Arctic Ocean. Or chance being picked up by the warship that sent them to the bottom and face an uncertain future in a Soviet jail. Or stay where they are and die a slow agonizing death from Carbon Dioxide poisoning. Based on the author's experiences during his 25 years in the submarine service of the British Royal Navy, he has interwoven them into a story that highlights the dangers faced by submariners during the years
of the Cold War.
The memoir begins in early September 1939 with Billy and his older brother Frankie being evacuated from
the city of Bristol in England to Exmouth and the safety of the coast. After being told by their parents that they were going on their holidays to the seaside, they were put on a train, never to see their mother again. The story progresses through a series of events that change their lives dramatically as they are bandied from one foster home to another. Readers will witness a real-life account of fates that become inextricably entwined amidst the clamour of wartime and the transformational odyssey of two young boys growing up during a volatile period.
By turns harrowing and inspirational, ‘A Penny for Two Ha’pennies’ is a profound read that seamlessly merges history with personal experience and brings down the phenomenon of war into a real and humanized level. Eye-opening and beautiful, this book potently captures the Second World War zeitgeist while actively demonstrating the unwavering essence of the human spirit.
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ABOUT THE BOOK.
SILENT and INVISIBLE: A MEMOIR
When 17-year-old Bill Green returns home from work one day, he finds the house empty and his parents have moved without telling him. Homeless, he joins the Royal Navy. Eighteen months into a 12-year stint, he’s drafted to submarines at the height of the Cold War, a move that defines the next 26 years of his life. His first draft at age 19 sees him patrolling the seas from the Baltic to the Arctic circle gathering intelligence while avoiding harassment and depth charges of Soviet warships constantly patrolling the same waters.
Bill goes on to serve in numerous capacities and locales. As a ship's diver during the Indonesian–Malaysian confrontation, he is employed searching ships for Limpet Mines.
The Indonesian–Malaysian confrontation, also known as the Borneo confrontation, was a violent conflict from 1963–66, that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of Malaysia. The creation of Malaysia was the amalgamation of the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, and the Crown colony British Protectorates of North Borneo, and Sarawak. To thwart efforts to form Malaysia, Indonesia became actively involved in subterfuge operations, and later declared war on Malaysia.
Bill also spent time clearing the Johor Straits of unexploded WW2 bombs. In 1966, he joined the oldest operational submarine in the Royal Navy, HMS Tiptoe. HMS Tiptoe was built in 1944 and served in the Far East, sinking several Japanese ships.
In 1970, Bill was part of the team that set the world record depth for escaping from a submarine; 600 feet. The following year, he became ill and was sidelined for over a year which nearly ended his career.
However, it is the later near-death experience whilst escaping from a submarine 300 feet below the waves in Campbelltown Loch that convinced him he had pushed his luck far enough. In 1980 he retired from the Royal Navy and emigrated to South Africa.
My story
