Sophie Brook can remember the precise moment she decided she would join the Royal Navy. Aged just 12, on a day out during a family holiday in Devon, she watched in awe as two military helicopters performed a majestic bow salute – when the aircraft simultaneously dip their noses mid-air.

Below were those to whom they were paying such striking tribute: a class passing out from the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

'My dad, who had been in the Navy as a pilot flying Gazelle helicopters, explained what was going on, and that was it for me,' Sophie recalls.

'From then on – having seen the impressive nature of it all – I never really looked back.'

Sophie's dream was realised. In 2011, aged 18, and with an A and three B grades at A-level in her back pocket, she turned down an offer to study economics at the prestigious London School of Economics for a military career, first joining the Navy and then the Submarine Service three years later.

She was sure she was embarking on an exciting career that would fulfil all her expectations.

Instead, she claims she was abused, both physically and mentally. Called a 'c***', at times on an hourly basis, she was often punched and hit by one male colleague, and subjected to vicious sexual harassment by others.

One senior officer delighted in inserting his genitals into her pocket. Another exposed himself to her, and another forcibly kissed her. Devastatingly, she discovered she was number six on a so-called 'crush depth rape list', in which...

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