Instance, Howard Joseph (Oral history)

British seaman served aboard HMS Royal Oak, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, 6/1939-10/1939 including sinking at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, 14/10/1939; petty officer served on shore duties at HMS Excellent, Whale Island, GB, 1940-1941; served aboard HMS Witherington, 15th Destroyer Flotilla in North Atlantic, 1941-1942; served aboard HMS Aberdeen, 41st and 40th Escort Groups in North Atlantic, 1943-1944

REEL 1 Recollections of period as seaman aboard HMS Royal Oak in GB coastal waters, 6/1939-10/1939 including sinking at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, 14/10/1939: joining ship, 6/1939; working up at Portland; reaction to hearing declaration of Second World War at Scapa Flow, 3/9/1939; confidence in security of Scapa Flow against submarine attack; reasons why ship stayed as anti-aircraft defence ship at Scapa Flow; duties including teaching; relations between officers and lower deck; amusing story of discipline measures taken against boy seaman; gap in the defences at Scapa Flow; torpedoing of ship by German submarine U-47, 14/10/1939; his actions on first torpedoing; recieving burns during secondary explosions; abandoning ship; noise of ship turning over. REEL 2 Continues: period in water and attempt to avoid swallowing oil; rescue from water by raft; initial treatment for burns; evacuation in hospital ship; hospitalisation in Invergordon; treatment for burns to his hands; medical treatment prior to drafting to HMS Excellent at Whale Island, 1940; his state of health since burning on board HMS Royal Oak; attitude towards German submarine crew responsible for sinking; activities of Royal Oak Survivors Association. Aspects of operations as petty officer aboard HMS Witherington, 15th Destroyer Flotilla in North Atlantic, 1941-1942: joining destroyer, 1941. REEL 3 Continues: North Atlantic convoy duties; collision with Norwegian vessel in fog in Cape Cod area, 2/1941. Recollections of operations as petty officer aboard HMS Aberdeen, 41st and 40th Escort Groups in North Atlantic, 1943-1944: joining ship; convoy work between GB and Freetown, Sierra Leone; use of decoy tactics against German submarine packs; spoof tactics employed during Operation Strawberry; prior recollection of sinking submarine aboard HMS Witherington off coast of Canada; decoy tactics employed by German submarinest; attitude towards German submarine crews; reasons why German submarine was defeated; losses during convoys, 1941; escorting American troops into Northern Ireland.