McCurrach, Rob Roy (Oral history)

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Description

Object description

British engine room artificer served aboard submarine HMS Unity, 6th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 1939-1940 including sinking during collision with SS Alte Jarl in Blyth Harbour, 29/4/1940; served aboard submarine HMS Utmost, 6th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters, 8/1940; served aboard submarine HMS Tigris, 2nd and 3rd Submarine Flotillas in North Atlantic and Arctic, 9/1940-1/1942

Content description

REEL 1 Aspects of training as engine room artificer with Submarine Service, 1939: background to joining Submarine Service after general naval service; question of anonymity of service in battleships; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 9/1939; training in submarines, autumn 1939; operation of submarines and their destructive power. Recollections of operations as engine room artificer aboard submarine HMS Unity, 6th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 1939-1940 including sinking during collision with SS Alte Jarl in Blyth Harbour, 29/4/1940: drafting to submarine in Blyth; the crew; story of engine room artificer who only made one trip; retrieving bolt in engine room sump. REEL 2 Continues: background to gaining place on board submarine; method of ascertaining speed of submarine; repairing instrument to measure speed of submarine; going to sea in foggy conditions, 29/4/1940; ramming of submarine by Norwegian vessel SS Atle Jarl, 29/4/1940; moving up into coning tower, climbing down onto casing and abandoning submarine, 29/4/1940; swimming towards boat; climbing into boat; period aboard Norwegian vessel SS Alte Jarl; casualties and survivors from sinking; location of damage to submarine in collision; recovery from sinking; return to North Shields; informing family and going on leave. REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as engine room artificer aboard submarine HMS Utmost, 6th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters, 8/1940: drafting to submarine; exercises off Scotland; inhospitality of police in Rothesay, 8/1940; contracting pleurisy and hospitalisation. Recollections of operations as engine room artificer aboard submarine HMS Tigris, 2nd and 3rd Submarine Flotillas in North Atlantic and Arctic, 9/1940-1/1942: drafting to submarine; officers on board; torpedo attack on U-58 off Lorient, France, 2/9/1940; sinking of German tanker Thorn by gunfire off Saint-Nazaire, France, 3/4/1941; operating in Bay of Biscay; reaction to sinking of HMS Hood, 5/1941. REEL 4 Continues: orders to intercept German battleship Bismarck in North Atlantic, 5/1941; visits to his psychic aunt; transfer to Polyarnoe, Soviet Union, 26/7/1941-4/9/1941; fraternisation with Soviets; recreational activities ashore in Polyarnoe, Soviet Union; drinking with Soviet boilermaker; visits to cinema; attending ceremony where Soviet Air Force personnel received decorations. REEL 5 Continues: return to barracks after ceremony; lack of mail; techniques employed by female barbers in Polyarnoe, Soviet Union; story of hearing that the submarine was to return to GB; Soviet method of loading torpedoes onto submarines; nature of return voyage to GB, 11/1941; role of submarine during Operation Claymore, Lofotens Islands, Norway, 25/12/1941; conditions during patrol off Norway; physical state of legs on arrival. REEL 6 Continues: reaction to returning from patrol; clothing worn in Arctic; conditions for look outs in conning tower; provisioning for going on leave; leaving submarine, 1/1942; award of Distinguished Service Medal.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1945-1989 (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Wood, Conrad (Recorder)
McCurrach, Rob Roy (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 1986-04
Dimensions: whole: Duration 180, Number Of Items 6
Catalogue number: 9578

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McCurrach, Rob Roy (Oral history)

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