Description
Object description
British signaller served aboard HMS Bazely with 4th Escort Group operating in North Atlantic, Western Approaches and Mediterranean, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Herne Bay, 1924-1942: family background; social circumstances; education; work with electricity company, 1938-1942; outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; German air raids and crashed aircraft; supplementing rations from stores washed ashore from wrecks; story of exchanging lodgings fro army rations; volunteering to join Royal Navy, 1942. Recollections of conditions of service lifestyle and daily routine during training as signaller at HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness, 4/1942-10/1942: reception and kitting out; chalet accommodation; route marches; food rations'; Morse code and semaphore training; drill; abbreviations, code books and flags; boat drill; relationship with recruits and instructors.
REEL 2 Continues: divisional officer; fire watch patrols and cockroaches found in kitchen; visits to Skegness; recreations; passing out. Period at Signal School, Cookham Camp, Rochester, 10./1942-: hockey activities; drafting procedure. Voyage aboard Queen Elizabeth to Halifax, Novas Scotia, 10/1942-11/1942. Period at HMS Asbury Shore Station, Asbury Park, 11/1942: prior train journey; accommodation in Berkeley Hotel; recreational visits to New York. Period in Fargo Barracks, Boston, 11/1942-12/1942: diphtheria scare; work in dockyard office; relationship with IS civilians. Recollections of initial period as signaller aboard HMS Bazely, c12/1942-1/1943: US style facilities; preparing ship; recreational visits ashore and hospitality of US civilians; communications messdeck and bunk beds; welded construction; wireless room; commissioning ceremony, 28/2/1943; sea trials.
REEL 3 Continues: Period of working up trials at Bermuda, 1/1943: prior engine room fire and repairs; story of abandon ship and action station exercises; opinion of various officers including Lieutenant Commander Brock, Lieutenant David Seeley and Signal Officer David Jefferson; opinion of Leading Signalman George Roachford and Signaller Fred Hampson; visits to St Georges;. Voyage back to GB, 1943: collection of mines; engine problems and repairs; escorting HMS Queen Elizabeth; ship's roiling and seasickness; signallers' watch system; story illustrating signalling abilities of Lieutenant Commander Brock. Recollections of period with 4th Escort Group based at Pollock Dock, Belfast, Northern Ireland, c2/1943-12/1944: formation of 4th Escort Group; Atlantic convoys; depth charge attack on U Boat; duties as signaller; convoy discipline; personal morale.
REEL 4 Continues: taking on stores at Argentia; general messing system and food; rum ration; crew morale; story of meeting future wife in Belfast; relationship with Irish civilians; convoy to West Africa, 8/1943, including sinking U Boat on return voyage and flying 'Jolly Roger' on return to port; story of failed attempt to sink Warfield with 3" guns and depth charges and her subsequent explosion; story of evading glider bomb while acting as support group during action in Bay of Biscay, 11/1943; opinion of Lieutenant Commander Cooper; visit to Azores; stories of leave in Herne Bay including finding body of German airman at sea, unexploded bomb carried through town and daylight bombing raid on Canterbury. Period escorting troop convoys through Mediterranean to Naples, Italy, 12/1943-10/1944: lack of action; relationship with Italian civilians during visits ashore at Naples; naval regatta.
REEL 5 Continues: story of collision with Wisteria in Straits of Gibraltar; story of identical twins practical joke during visit to Gibraltar; ship's photographer; story of aftermath of Christmas celebrations on leaving Algiers harbour, 25/12/1944-26/12/1944; question of promotion. Period on anti-submarine patrols based at Pollock Dock, Belfast, 10/1944-8/1945: sinking of U-Boat, 20/1/1945; story of human remains collected after sinking U Boat, 21/4/1945; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; escorting last convoy to Polyarno, Soviet Union, 5/1945; paying off at Chatham, 8/1945. Period at Cookham Camp and Corsham Signal Schools, 8/1945-10/1945. Period as signaller aboard HMS Jaseur at Liverpool, ca 10/1945-12/1945: hammocks; canteen messing; demobilisation, 1/1946. Post-war career: award of BEM; return to work with electricity company; work for family pleasure boat and fishing firm; career with Post Office; effects of war service.
REEL 6 Continues: review of activities and role as officer with Sea Cadets; background to formation, annual reunions at Skegness and committee activities with HMS Royal Arthur Assoc, 1988-2003.