Description
Object description
British officer served aboard HMS Aurora, 18th and 2nd Cruiser Sqdns in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 9/1939-3/1940; served as gunnery officer aboard HMS Prince of Wales in GB coastal waters, North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Far East, 3/1940-12/1941 including sinking off Malaya, 10/12/1941; served as navigation officer with Royal Navy during Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, France, 19/8/1942; commanded HMS Highlander, HMS Helmsdale and Escort Group B4 in North Atlantic, 8/1943-9/1944; commanded HMS Scorpion, 23rd Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 10/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1907-1925: family; education; memories of air raid on Folkestone during First World War. Aspects of service with Royal Navy in GB coastal waters and Mediterranean, 1925-1939: obtaining public school entry into Royal Navy, 1925; attitude towards Invergordon Mutiny, 9/1931; Execise Pirate off Isle of Nigg, 1933. Aspects of operations as officer aboard HMS Aurora, 18th and 2nd Cruiser Sqdns in GB coastal waters, 9/1939-3/1940: character of cruiser on outbreak of Second World War, 9/1939; exercise at Rosyth with French Navy prior to Second World War; German Air Force high-level attacks on ship during sweeps across North Sea. Aspects of period as gunnery officer aboard HMS Prince of Wales in GB coastal waters, 3/1940-4/1941: attitude to appointment to ship; working up of ship at Birkenhead; defects in quadruple 14 Inch Naval Guns; question of shipping water in King George V class of ship; his duties at Birkenhead; damage to ship during air raid, 8/8/1940-9/8/1940; grounding of ship on bomb craters in basin at Birkenhead; visit by King George VI.
REEL 2 Continues: taking on stores and crew complement at Rosyth, 2/1941; character of gun trials at Scapa Flow; morale of crew. Recollections of operations as gunnery officer aboard HMS Prince of Wales in GB coastal waters, North Atlantic and Mediterranean, 5/1941-10/1941: first news of breakout of German battleship Bismarck, 5/1941; vulnerability of HMS Hood; pursuit of Bismarck; his checking of flash tight arrangements of quadruple 14 Inch Naval Gun turrets; morale of gun crews prior to action; personnel morale prior to action; first sight of Bismarck; problems with timing of padre reciting prayer over tannoy system prior to action; account of Bismarck action including sinking of HMS Hood, 5/1941; differences in Royal Navy and German range finding equipment.
REEL 3 Continues: reaction to Captain John Leach breaking off action; post-war anecdotes told to him about the Bismarck action; shadowing the Bismarck; his refusal to open fire on USCGC Modoc; result of ship's shelling of Bismarck; damage to ship during action; extraction of unexploded shell from ship; problems with Y Turret after Bismarck action; intended use of ship's Supermarine Walrus during Bismarck action; firing of Y Turret by local control during turning away from Bismarck; crossing Atlantic with Prime Minister Winston Churchill for Atlantic Charter, 8/1941; accompanying President Franklin D Roosevelt during his visit to ship at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, 8/1941.
REEL 4 Continues: character of lunch held aboard, 10/8/1941; participation in Operation Halberd in Mediterranean, 9/1941. Recollections of operations as gunnery officer aboard HMS Prince of Wales, Force Z in Far East, 11/1941-12/1941 including sinking off Malaya, 10/12/1941: voyage to Singapore, Malaya, 11/1941-12/1941; Imperial Japanese Air Force air raid on Singapore, 12/1941; sailing of Force Z, 9/12/1941; nature of Imperial Japanese Naval Service attacks on ship, 10/12/1941; question of success of anti-aircraft fire during action; abandoning ship; rescue by HMS Electra; loss of ship's personnel on bridge; fate of crew after sinking. Aspects of operations as navigatiion officer with Royal Navy during Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, France, 19/8/1942: navigating main landings; abortive attempt to evacuate Blue Beach.
REEL 5 Continues: question of motivation for Operation Jubilee and lessons learnt from operation. Recollections of operations commanding HMS Highlander, HMS Helmsdale and Escort Group B4 in North Atlantic, 8/1943-9/1944: appointments to command HMS Highlander, HMS Helmsdale and B4 Escort Group; aerial combat between Consolidated Liberator and Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor over convoy; problems with weather; near collision between two convoys going in opposite directions; loss of American tanker off Mull of Kintyre and his dismissal by Admiral Max Horton. Aspects of operations commanding HMS Scorpion, 23rd Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 10/1944-5/1945: threats to convoys; segregation from Soviets at Polyarnoe; damage to ship during refuelling from tanker, further details of his dismissal by Admiral Max Horton, 9/1944.
