Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Peer review/Robert Peverell Hichens

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Robert Peverell Hichens[edit]

An interesting guy who did not have his own article until today. A pre war motor racer, yachtsman and rower who competed in the Henley Regatta, off shore racing events such as the Fasnet race and the 24 hour race at Le Mans. He joined the Navy during the Second World War becoming the most highly decorated member of the RNVR with two DSO's, three DSC's and three MID, and was recommended for the Victoria Cross after being killed in action in April 1943.

I would like to progress the article but one concern I have is its based very much on his Biography, written by his son. he is mentioned in other books etc which I am attempting to obtain. --Jim Sweeney (talk) 12:44, 29 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

AustralianRupert[edit]

Not a bad article at all, Jim. As you say though, it does rely on a source that has potential COI issues (not that I'm saying that it does, it just might be seen as such at a higher level review), so I recommend not pursuing GA or higher until you can add in more "independent" sources. I've done some copy edit work and I have a few other comments:

  • In the References section, the headings should be capitalised per WP:MOSCAPS;
Done
  • Also in the References section, the title of the Hichens book uses irregular capitalisation for acronyms (Dso, Dsc, Rnvr - these should be DSO, DSC, RNVR). Frequently if one cuts and pastes the details of titles from Google books the capitalisation comes out a bit funky, so that might be what happened here;
Yes copy and paste now changed
  • is E Boat the correct capitalisation? Most references I've seen uses "E boat" or "E-boat". I might be wrong, though;
Our article has E boat so changed
  • there is some overlinking and overmentioning of the awards in the lead;
  • I think the lead should be rewritten with the first sentence focusing on what Hichens is most notable for, i.e. being the most decorated RNVR officer of the war. As it currently reads, he is notable for being a lieutenant commander in the RNVR during the Second World War, which is not his claim to fame.
Reworked
  • ranks should be in lower case unless used as a title, e.g. "Lieutenant Rupert became geographically embarrased on the nav ex", or "Rupert was a lieutenant, who became geographically embarrased on the nav ex"
changed to lower case
  • the alt text could be improved a little, particularly on the image of the subject as it needs to be more discriptive of what the image is portraying, rather than who it is portraying. It is difficult, though, I know and to be honest I am not good at alt text myself;
  • check the years of service in the infobox (you currently have 1936-43), however, in the text it indicates that Hichens was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the TA in 1929 but transferred to the RNVR in 1930, so shouldn't his years of service be 1929-43?
Changed box details
  • citations # 15 and 16 could be consolidated per WP:NAMEDREFS as they appear the same.
changed thought I had caught all these.

Anyway, these are just some comments to get you started. Good effort so far. — AustralianRupert (talk) 11:47, 30 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the review and the copy edit - Alt text is a bummer how do the desc a head and shoulders portrait shot ? --Jim Sweeney (talk) 12:23, 30 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]