Private Papers of Lieutenant L H Blaxell OBE DSC RNVR

Privately printed memoir with illustrations (202pp), written in 1988, describing in detail his enlistment in the Royal Navy, his basic training in the shore establishment HMS COLLINGWOOD (April - June 1940) and service as an ordinary seaman in the destroyer HMS WITHERINGTON (July 1940 - January 1941) in Home waters and on short range North Atlantic convoy escort; his time as a cadet rating in the RNVR officers' training establishment HMS KING ALFRED (January - May 1941), his appointment as a Sub Lieutenant RNVR into Coastal Forces and service as 1st Lieutenant in MGB 55 (4th MGB Flotilla) based on Weymouth for operations in the English Channel (July 1941 - June 1942) and MGB 322 based on Dover until he was wounded in an action on 19 - 20 July 1942; his convalescence in a hospital near London (July - November 1942) and appointment as 1st Lieutenant in MTB 638 (32nd MTB Flotilla), based on North African ports for service in the Mediterranean (November 1942 - August 1943) and then in MTB 667 based on Malta and La Maddelena (September - November 1943); his command of MTB 307 (10th MTB Flotilla), based on Alexandria and Castelorizzo, for offensive patrols in the Aegean including a successful daylight attack on an enemy convoy (November 1943 - February 1945); his brief service in the destroyer HMS EASTON (March - May 1945) and then in the Home Fleet destroyer HMS OFFA, including spells as a guardship in North German ports and an official visit to Sweden (August 1945 - April 1946). The memoir contains useful details about conditions during his training and on the lower deck and about his professional and social life as a junior officer

Privately printed memoir with illustrations (202pp), written in 1988, describing in detail his enlistment in the Royal Navy, his basic training in the shore establishment HMS COLLINGWOOD (April - June 1940) and service as an ordinary seaman in the destroyer HMS WITHERINGTON (July 1940 - January 1941) in Home waters and on short range North Atlantic convoy escort; his time as a cadet rating in the RNVR officers' training establishment HMS KING ALFRED (January - May 1941), his appointment as a Sub Lieutenant RNVR into Coastal Forces and service as 1st Lieutenant in MGB 55 (4th MGB Flotilla) based on Weymouth for operations in the English Channel (July 1941 - June 1942) and MGB 322 based on Dover until he was wounded in an action on 19 - 20 July 1942; his convalescence in a hospital near London (July - November 1942) and appointment as 1st Lieutenant in MTB 638 (32nd MTB Flotilla), based on North African ports for service in the Mediterranean (November 1942 - August 1943) and then in MTB 667 based on Malta and La Maddelena (September - November 1943); his command of MTB 307 (10th MTB Flotilla), based on Alexandria and Castelorizzo, for offensive patrols in the Aegean including a successful daylight attack on an enemy convoy (November 1943 - February 1945); his brief service in the destroyer HMS EASTON (March - May 1945) and then in the Home Fleet destroyer HMS OFFA, including spells as a guardship in North German ports and an official visit to Sweden (August 1945 - April 1946). The memoir contains useful details about conditions during his training and on the lower deck and about his professional and social life as a junior officer

Cataloguer RWAS

Catalogue date 1991-08