HMS KING GEORGE V IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, 1943 [Allocated Title]

Silent amateur film of scenes on board the battleship HMS King George V when she was assigned to Force H in the Mediterranean, shot by ship's photographer Douglas Rendell at the time of Operation 'Husky' (the invasion of Sicily), 10 July 1943.

START 10:00:00 One of HMS King George V's four Vickers Supermarine Walrus seaplanes bounces on the water as she touches down on the starboard side of the battleship and taxies alongside as one of its Fleet Air Arm crew members gets out to hook up the aircraft with the crane (not seen). A member of the crew wearing a Mae West life jacket is in the Walrus's forward gunner's position as the aircraft is lifted out of the water with her undercarriage wheels down.

10:00:49 Filmed from the main deck of HMS King George V, her sister ship HMS Howe (wearing a distinctive Admiralty disruptive camouflage scheme) steams at high speed on the port bow and then on her starboard bow. A large young man in spectacles identified by Rendell as Royal Marine bandsman 'Fatty' Fordham is seen at No. 1 breakwater on the foc'sle. Douglas Rendell, smaller and much thinner, poses for the camera with A and B turrets and the bridge behind him. Scenes on deck showing A and B turrets trained on the port beam, 'Fatty' Fordham and Rendell surveying their surroundings from the ship's portside railings and Rendell and a stoker petty officer strolling on the main deck with HMS Howe visible in the background.

10:01:49 Framed by the 5.5-inch dual-purpose (DP) gun barrels on turret S1, the fleet aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable on King George V's starboard quarter and, further astern, HMS Howe; there is a Vickers Supermarine Seafire parked on a pylon forward of the bridge superstructure. Three ratings on the seaplane catapult deck looking across to the aircraft carrier as a signal is flashed by lamp from her bridge. Good shots of HMS Indomitable off King George V's starboard quarter and, on the aircraft carrier's starboard quarter, HMS Howe.

00:02:58 Looking up at the Type 273 surface warning radar 'lantern' on the cross trees of King George V's foremast. A view looking towards the bow and HMS Howe steaming on the starboard bow, with spray breaking over the foc'sle as high speed is maintained; crewmen on the main deck by A turret. Another view of HMS Howe on the port side, framed by a 5.5-inch (DP) gun barrel. Filmed in bright sunlight, the Dido Class anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Sirius steams at high speed on HMS King George V's port quarter and makes a turn to her starboard to pass astern of the battleship.

END 00:04:03

16mm