Crawford, Michael Lindsay Coulton (Oral history)

British officer served aboard submarine HMS Sealion in Mediterranean and North Sea, 1939-1940; served aboard submarine HMS Upholder in Mediterranean, 1940-1941; commanded submarine HMS Unseen in Mediterranean, 1942-1944

REEL 1 Recollections of operations as officer aboard submarine HMS Sealion in Mediterranean and North Sea, 1939-1940: background to joining Submarine Service, 1938; character of submarine; service in Mediterranean; return to GB; abortive attempt to engage U-boat off Dutch coast; patrols off Stavanger during Norwegian campaign; damage to periscope by German tug and subsequent depth charging off Norway, 8/1940; personal morale during depth charging; postings on leaving submarine. Recollections of operations as officer aboard submarine HMS Upholder in Mediterranean, 1940-1941: voyage to Malta from GB, 12/1940; problems of docking next to HMS Illustrious in Malta, 1/1941; reasons for relative lack of success during first patrols; turning Axis convoy around with star shell; boarding German destroyer aground off Tunisia, spring 1941; cancelled plan to land commandos at Taorimina, Sicily; sinking of Italian liner Conte Rosso off eastern Sicily, 5/1941. REEL 2 Continues: successful attack on convoy in which Neptunia and Oceania sunk, 9/1941; opinion of Lt Commander Malcolm Wanklyn VC; conditions in Malta; near accidental attack on submarine HMS Truant; snap attack on Italian cruisers off Sicily. Comparison between living in German and British submarines as experienced in captured U-boat HMS Graf, 3/1942. Recollections of operations commanding submarine HMS Unseen in Mediterranean, 1942-1944: damage during working up patrol; putting into Falmouth with casualty on route to Mediterranean, 10/1942; attacks on submarine by Axis destroyer off Toulon, France, 11/1942; carrying supplies to Malta, 11/1942; successes off North African coast, 1/1943. REEL 3 Continues: further successes off Sicily early 1943; special operations aiding charioteers for inspection of Sicilian beaches, summer 1943; beach marking duties during Sicilian landings, 7/1943; sandfly fever attack during landings; failure to hit mine laying cruiser off Italian coast, summer 1943; rescue of survivors from torpedoed ship; destruction of Italian schooner off Albania, summer 1943; his attitude to picking up Axis survivors; operations in Tyrhennian Sea, late 1943; operations off south of France, 12/1943 including heavy depth charging on last patrol; return to GB, 1/1944. Reasons for scrapping of submarine HMS Oberon, summer 1944. Reasons for missing war in Far East in submarine HMS Tireless, 1945.