Private Papers of Lieutenant Commander J T Morgan RN

Wordprocessed illustrated memoir (102pp), entitled 'A Tel's War' written in 2001, covering his childhood in the north of England and decision to join the Royal Navy as a telegraphist (1923 - 1939); his training in the communications class in HMS GANGES, the boys' training establishment at Shotley (February 1939 - March 1940); his service as a boy telegraphist in the Home Fleet cruiser HMS SUFFOLK in Northern waters until he was wounded when she came under enemy air attack off Norway (March - April 1940); his service from June 1940 - November 1943, ultimately in the rank of acting Petty Officer Telegraphist, in the W/T Department of the battleship HMS NELSON, the flagship of the Home Fleet till March 1941 and then of Force H in the Mediterranean from July - November 1941 and July 1942 - October 1943, including escorting convoys WS7 and WS19 from the United Kingdom to South Africa, service in Operations Halberd - in which NELSON was torpedoed - and Pedestal (both supply convoys to Malta) in September 1941 and August 1942 respectively, and supporting the Allied landings in North Africa and Sicily; his service in the cruiser HMS ARGONAUT in dockyard hands on the Tyne (November 1943 - March 1944); his appointment to HMS MERCURY, the RN Signal School in Hampshire and the shore establishment HMS COLLINGWOOD for further signals training (March - November 1944); his marriage (November 1944) and passage on the EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND via the Panama Canal to Australia (November - December 1944); his appointment, after a brief period of service ashore in Sydney in HMAS PENGUIN, to the British Pacific Fleet destroyer HMS GRENVILLE, the leader of the 25th Destroyer Flotilla (early 1945 - April 1946) which was attached to Task Force (TF) 57 during the Okinawa landings and operations against the Japanese airfields on Sakishima Gunto (March - May 1945) and then to TF 37 off the Japanese mainland (July - August 1945), proceeded to Sydney for maintenance after Japan's surrender and then 'showed the flag' in various ports in Japan before her passage back to the United Kingdom via the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal. The memoir includes some particularly interesting passages about the social heirarchy on the lower deck, shipboard routine and messdeck life, the technicalities of communications work and his extra responsibilities as he was promoted.

Cataloguer RWAS

Catalogue date 2003-10