Shortly after the end of the War, he was promoted sub-lieutenant and served in the sloop HMS Clematis in the Red Sea and at Aden.

While there, her bridge was adorned with a huge stuffed hippopotamus head, acquired by Broome from Formby Golf Club during a spree ashore.

After the end of the Norwegian campaign, Veteran was assigned to counter a threatened German invasion, and was damaged by an acoustic mine.

With Veteran laid up for extensive repairs, Broome was then assigned as Staff Officer to Admiral Sir Percy Noble, the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Approaches Command.

After several months in this duty, he temporarily served as Captain (D) at the base at Londonderry Port in Derry and then commanded the First Escort Group, (EG1) in the destroyer HMS Keppel.

One brief stay at Lisahally was enlivened by the capture of a German spy who was attempting to escape to the Irish Free State in a stolen motor boat.

The Arctic convoys were reckoned to be very hazardous missions, as they faced not only U-Boats but also German aircraft and surface ships, including the powerful battleship Tirpitz.

A squadron of British and American cruisers was assigned to protect the convoy, and the Home Fleet, with its battleships and aircraft carriers was at sea, but distant.

After a brief spell in the Mediterranean, during which EG1 played a peripheral part in Operation Pedestal, HMS Keppel was paid off late in 1942.

(Broome was aware that not only was anyone connected with PQ 17 liable to have that episode on their record, but also that his habit of drawing and circulating acerbic caricatures of senior officers had made him unpopular with some.)

It concentrated on Allied blunders and shortcomings, alleging that Broome's decision to withdraw his destroyers was the primary cause of the disaster to the convoy.

He was successful, winning £40,000 in damages and securing the withdrawal of all copies of the offending book from circulation (it has since been republished, with corrections.)

The damages payment (donated by Broome to charity) was the highest paid in English legal history until Jeffrey Archer's controversial action against the Daily Star newspaper.