Private Papers of Captain G W Hawkins CBE RN

Printed transcription (126pp) of his recorded recollections of service in the Royal Navy between 1926 and 1958, joining as a Special Entry Cadet from Clifton College, first posting to HMS DURBAN, 5th Light Cruiser Squadron, on the China Station and from 1928 on the West Indies Station, returning to the UK in 1930 and transfer to HMS MARLBOROUGH, 3rd Battle Squadron (Atlantic Fleet), for a brief period before being sent on a series of officer training courses, posting as a sub-lieutenant to the newly-built destroyer HMS BOADICEA in 1931 for Mediterranean Fleet service based on Malta until 1933, brief service in HMS IRON DUKE in 1934 followed by gunnery officer training at Greenwich, subsequent postings to the staff of the Vice Admiral, Malta (1936) and to HMS CURACAO and HMS BITTERN (notably conducting stabilizer fin trials) in the years before the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, appointment as gunnery officer to the light cruiser HMS KENYA on Atlantic and Arctic convoy patrols, and notably as part of the Combined Operations raiding force on the Vaagso and Maaloy islands (Norway) in December 1941, appointment to the Admiralty's Naval Ordnance Division at Bath in early 1942, with some experiences of the German air raids on the city, transfer to the naval planning staff for Operation Neptune (proposed Normandy landings) in September 1943, based at Norfolk House in London until early 1944 and then at Southwick Park near Portsmouth, following the naval staff under Admiral Bertram Ramsay to northern France after the D-Day landings in June 1944 and remaining there until later in the year, appointment in early 1945 to command the heavy cruiser HMS SUFFOLK in the Eastern Fleet during the final stages of the war against Japan, postwar appointments in the late 1940s including working for the Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Air), Admiral Charles Lambe, to the US Naval War College in Rhode Island, and to the staff of the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Arthur John Power, based on Malta, 1948 – 1950, assuming command of the naval air station HMS SISKIN at Gosport during 1951 – 1952, then of HMS CRANE and 3rd Frigate Squadron (Far East), 1953 – 1955, based on Hong Kong and Singapore, concluding his naval service as Director of Tactics and Staff Duties (DTSD) at the Admiralty, 1955 – 1958.

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