Description
Object description
British cadet with Royal Naval College, Osborne, GB, 1913-1916; midshipman served aboard HMS Emperor of India, Grand Fleet in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 1916-1917; officer served aboard HMS Valhalla, 6th Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters and Baltic Sea, 1918-1919; served as instructor with Navigation School, Portsmouth, GB during Invergordon Mutiny, 9/1931; served with Naval Intelligence Division at HMS President, Admiralty in London, GB, 5/1939-7/1945 including service aboard HMS Enterprise, 4th Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in Norway, 4/1940 and attending Yalta Conference in Soviet Union, 2/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Plymouth and Southsea, GB, 1900-1913: family; education. Aspects of period as cadet with Royal Naval College, Osborne, GB, 1913-1916: reasons for enlisting in Royal Navy; selection process for college; layout of Osborne House; pattern of training; organisation of terms; personal kit; inspection by Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth and Winston Churchill; Winston Churchill's advice to cadets; how cadets with German sounding surname were anglicised on outbreak of First World War; living conditions; further inspections by Winston Churchill.
REEL 2 Continues: how Louis Mountbatten made a complaint about food; memories of Louis Mountbatten; disciplinary methods at Osborne; anticipation of First World War; impact of the First World War on college; transfer to Royal Naval Engineering College at Keyham. Recollections of operations as midshipman aboard HMS Emperor of India, Grand Fleet in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 1916-1917: appointment to ship, 7/1916; skirmishes with Germans; use of kite balloons; ineffectiveness of German submarines; characteristics of ship; use of oil and coal fuels.
REEL 3 Continues: composition of battle cruiser squadrons; Admiral Jackie Fisher's plan for attacking German ships in Baltic Sea; character of HMS Furious, HMS Courageous and HMS Glorious; joining ship at Scapa Flow, 7/1916; reception on arrival; method of coaling ship; duties as midshipman; punishments; disciplining of midshipmen; restrictions on alcohol and use of tobacco; character of gun room; discomforts of service on board ship; morale; recreational activities; blowing up of HMS Vanguard, 9/7/1917.
REEL 4 Continues: attitude towards Germans; reactions to outbreak of First World War, 8/1914; completion of education at University of Cambridge after First World War. Aspects of operations as officer aboard HMS Valhalla, 6th Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters and Baltic Sea, 1918-1919: surrender of German High Seas Fleet, 11/1918; condition of German population in Danzig, Germany; bombardment of Bolshevik forces in Baltic states; exchange of fire with fortress at Kronstadt, Konin Island, Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic; restiveness of lower deck personnel after First World War.
REEL 5 Continues: Aspects of period as instructor with Navigation School, Portsmouth during Invergordon Mutiny, 15/9/1931-16/9/1931: question of handling of naval cut backs; influence of 'sea lawyers'; reasons why Invergordon was affected; account of events of mutiny; reaction to mutiny in Royal Navy at Portsmouth. Aspects of operations as navigation officer aboard HMS Enterprise, 4th Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in Norway, 4/1940: background to return to Royal Navy, 1939; appointment to ship, 4/1940; German Air Force attacks on ship; withdrawal from Norway.
REEL 6 Continues: Recollections of period as officer with Naval Intelligence Division at HMS President, Admiralty in London, GB, 5/1939-7/1945: duties; role of Ian Fleming; loaning his revolver to Captain William Tennant; visit to Dunkirk, France aboard HMS Keppel; recall to London; his attempts to get private yachts to aid evacuation; role of Royal Air Force during Dunkirk Evacuation; coping with flow of signals to Naval Intelligence Division; pressure of staff to go back onto active service; problems of locating German commerce raiders; co-operation with Sidney Cotton to take photographs of German Fleet, 9/1939; Bob Niven's photographic mission with Photographic Development Unit to German ports, 2/9/1939.
REEL 7 Continues: Sidney Cotton's securing honorary commission into Royal Air Force; Sidney Cotton's problems with Royal Air Force; formation of photographic unit under Sidney Cotton; use of Wildt Machine for aerial photography work; story of Winston Churchill smashing milk bottles; amusing incident concerning Winston Churchill's Trinity House uniform; character of Winston Churchill's 'prayers'; Drake's clash with Winston Churchill; example of Winston Churchill's disingenuousness; story of Winston Churchill blocking smoke hatch on roof; hospitality during Quebec Conference, Canada, 8/1943; visit to Heights of Abraham, Quebec, Canada.
REEL 8 Continues: Lord Louis Mountbatten's Habbakuk scheme to convert ice berg to aircraft carrier including a demonstration of the strength of ice; his estimation of Lord Louis Mountbatten work with Royal Navy; story of Prime Minister Winston Churchill interview with a potential head of propaganda; Prime Minister Winston Churchill's attitude to propaganda as illustrated by campaign against German submarines; problems faced by Naval Intelligence Division from Professor Frederick Lindemann and Major Desmond Morton; importance of naval intelligence.
REEL 9 Continues: lack of credit given to Naval Intelligence Division. Recollections of period as delegate at Yalta Conference in Soviet Union, 2/1945: clandestine rail journey to Liverpool, GB; voyage aboard HMT Franconia; hold up on arrival in Sevastopol; devestation of Sevastopol; buildings used for Yalta Conference; everyday life during conference; effects of President Franklin D Roosevelt's poor health; Drake's confession to Soviet Admiral of past anti-Bolshevik activities during dinner party; visit to Crimean War battlefields.
REEL 10 Continue: return to GB via Malta; accident entering Grand Harbour, Valetta, Malta; Drake's role at conference. Recollections of period as officer with Naval Intelligence Division at HMS President, Admiralty in London, GB, 5/1939-7/1945: capture of German spies; Operation Mincemeat; British deception system; example of turning round of German agent; the Double Cross system; use of agents codenamed Snow, Biscuit, Celery and Summer; escape of agent Summer from prison; success of agent Tate; capture of agent Richter.
REEL 11 Continues: work of agent Tricycle; rivalry between MI5 and MI6; setting up of Double Cross system; question of execution of German agents; failure to use agent Dragonfly to aid Combined Operations, 1942; work of agent Garbo in Portugal; death of imaginary agent; deception of Germans over North African landings; unpaid work of Polish agent Brutus; work of agent Zigzag; work of Norwegian agents Mutt and Jeff; deception operations over D-Day landings.
REEL 12 Continues: deception of Germans about accuracy of V weapons; German attempt to exploit the Irish Republican Army (IRA); failure of German agents in Southern Ireland; impressions of Dennis Wheatley; problem of securing ration cards for double agents.