Private Papers of Commander P F Cole DSC RN

Photocopy of a ts memoir (32pp), written in the 1990s and with excisions, covering in a disjointed order his service as a Merchant Navy/RNR officer in the late 1930s; his transfer to the Royal Navy in 1938; his service as a Sub Lieutenant in the destroyer HMS HYPERION from May 1939 until she was mined in the Mediterranean in December 1940 and had to be sunk, then briefly in the battleship HMS VALIANT including the Battle of Matapan (March 1941) and the cruiser HMS ORION at the time of the evacuation from Crete (May 1941); his appointment as 1st Lieutenant of the destroyer HMS JAGUAR in the eastern Mediterranean from July 1941 until she was torpedoed and sunk while escorting a supply convoy to Tobruk in March 1942; his service as 1st Lieutenant of the destroyer HMS OBEDIENT in the Home Fleet (July 1942 - early 1944) including coming under fire from the German heavy cruiser HIPPER during the Battle of the Barents Sea in December 1942; his command of the destroyer HMS HOLDERNESS (April 1944 - summer 1945) which was principally employed on North Sea and English Channel convoy escort and other duties; and his post-war service as a course officer at the training establishment HMS RALEIGH (October 1945 - 1947), as 1st Lieutenant of HMS MULL OF KINTYRE (1948 - 1950) and of HMS GANNET, the RN Air Station at Eglinton in Northern Ireland (1950 - 1951), as Deputy Senior Officer, Reserve Fleet at Chatham (1951 - 1953), as a staff officer under Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean in Malta (1953 - 1955) and in shore appointments in the United Kingdom till he was placed on the retired list in 1958.

Photocopy of a ts memoir (32pp), written in the 1990s and with excisions, covering in a disjointed order his service as a Merchant Navy/RNR officer in the late 1930s; his transfer to the Royal Navy in 1938; his service as a Sub Lieutenant in the destroyer HMS HYPERION from May 1939 until she was mined in the Mediterranean in December 1940 and had to be sunk, then briefly in the battleship HMS VALIANT including the Battle of Matapan (March 1941) and the cruiser HMS ORION at the time of the evacuation from Crete (May 1941); his appointment as 1st Lieutenant of the destroyer HMS JAGUAR in the eastern Mediterranean from July 1941 until she was torpedoed and sunk while escorting a supply convoy to Tobruk in March 1942; his service as 1st Lieutenant of the destroyer HMS OBEDIENT in the Home Fleet (July 1942 - early 1944) including coming under fire from the German heavy cruiser HIPPER during the Battle of the Barents Sea in December 1942; his command of the destroyer HMS HOLDERNESS (April 1944 - summer 1945) which was principally employed on North Sea and English Channel convoy escort and other duties; and his post-war service as a course officer at the training establishment HMS RALEIGH (October 1945 - 1947), as 1st Lieutenant of HMS MULL OF KINTYRE (1948 - 1950) and of HMS GANNET, the RN Air Station at Eglinton in Northern Ireland (1950 - 1951), as Deputy Senior Officer, Reserve Fleet at Chatham (1951 - 1953), as a staff officer under Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean in Malta (1953 - 1955) and in shore appointments in the United Kingdom till he was placed on the retired list in 1958.

Cataloguer RWAS

Catalogue date 1998-06