Description
Object description
Memoir (73pp ts, written up from drafts prepared shortly after the end of the war) of his Second World War service as a Gunner in the Royal Navy, joining the escort destroyer HMS TETCOTT in December 1941 soon after her build completion, work-up at Scapa Flow and her first sea-going service as part of military convoy WS18 from Greenock to South Africa in April – May 1942, proceeding from there to the eastern Mediterranean to join the 9th Destroyer Flotilla at Alexandria in June, operating in support of the Allied forces at Tobruk, describing an eventful tanker convoy escort to the beleaguered port and the rescue by TETCOTT's crew of survivors from her sister-ship HMS GROVE after the latter was torpedoed on 12th June 1942, subsequent participation in the early stages of the Alexandria to Malta convoy operation `Vigorous' before being withdrawn, later coming under heavy air attack whilst escorting a Dutch merchantman to Tobruk, proceeding to Haifa (Palestine) in July for convoy escort and anti-submarine patrol duties, including the location and capture of the German submarine U372 in August 1942 (scuttled by its crew), convoy defence duties based on Aden (Red Sea / Persian Gulf) during September before returning to Alexandria the following month to resume Flotilla duties, joining Malta convoys MW13, MW14 and others during November – December 1942, one of his last experiences aboard TETCOTT being the search for and rescue of survivors from the minelayer HMS WELSHMAN, sunk by a U-boat off Tobruk at the beginning of February 1943, transfer to the depot ship HMS WOOLWICH at Alexandria for training as a RN Writer until June 1943 and then to the Combined Operations HQ ship HMS BULOLO for the July 1943 Allied landings on Sicily, spending the remainder of the year in India as part of the staff of the Rear Admiral, Combined Operations (Thomas Troubridge), returning with BULOLO to the Mediterranean in January 1944 in support of the Anzio landings during which the ship had narrow escapes from German air attack, leaving her in March 1944 after a period based at Algiers and a posting back to the UK for the remainder of the war.
Content description
Memoir (73pp ts, written up from drafts prepared shortly after the end of the war) of his Second World War service as a Gunner in the Royal Navy, joining the escort destroyer HMS TETCOTT in December 1941 soon after her build completion, work-up at Scapa Flow and her first sea-going service as part of military convoy WS18 from Greenock to South Africa in April – May 1942, proceeding from there to the eastern Mediterranean to join the 9th Destroyer Flotilla at Alexandria in June, operating in support of the Allied forces at Tobruk, describing an eventful tanker convoy escort to the beleaguered port and the rescue by TETCOTT's crew of survivors from her sister-ship HMS GROVE after the latter was torpedoed on 12th June 1942, subsequent participation in the early stages of the Alexandria to Malta convoy operation `Vigorous' before being withdrawn, later coming under heavy air attack whilst escorting a Dutch merchantman to Tobruk, proceeding to Haifa (Palestine) in July for convoy escort and anti-submarine patrol duties, including the location and capture of the German submarine U372 in August 1942 (scuttled by its crew), convoy defence duties based on Aden (Red Sea / Persian Gulf) during September before returning to Alexandria the following month to resume Flotilla duties, joining Malta convoys MW13, MW14 and others during November – December 1942, one of his last experiences aboard TETCOTT being the search for and rescue of survivors from the minelayer HMS WELSHMAN, sunk by a U-boat off Tobruk at the beginning of February 1943, transfer to the depot ship HMS WOOLWICH at Alexandria for training as a RN Writer until June 1943 and then to the Combined Operations HQ ship HMS BULOLO for the July 1943 Allied landings on Sicily, spending the remainder of the year in India as part of the staff of the Rear Admiral, Combined Operations (Thomas Troubridge), returning with BULOLO to the Mediterranean in January 1944 in support of the Anzio landings during which the ship had narrow escapes from German air attack, leaving her in March 1944 after a period based at Algiers and a posting back to the UK for the remainder of the war.
History note
Cataloguer SWW