A naval officer involved in sinking the Bismarck and who wrote a sailing book for children has died at the age of 88.

Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Brooke, DSC, was a young officer in the battleship Prince of Wales when she took part in the action to sink the German Bismarck in the Atlantic in May 1940.

He was still aboard the Prince of Wales, when with the battle-cruiser Repulse, she was sunk by Japanese aircraft off Malaya. He survived only to be taken to a POW camp in Singapore from which he escaped in 1942.

He wrote a book about yachting for children, Radar Mate, published in 1970. He is survived by his wife Venetia and three daughters.