Rockley, Joseph Frederick (Oral history)

British seaman served as stores assistant aboard HMS Hood in GB coastal waters, Mediterranean and Atlantic, 1938-1940; served on shore duties at Royal Naval Barracks, Portsmouth, GB, 1940-1941; petty officer served aboard HMS Sirius in Mediterranean and Atlantic, 1941-1945

REEL 1 Background in Devonport, Plymouth and Brighton, 1918-1936: family; education; employment; story of his father's naval service in China, 1905. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Navy in GB, 1936-1938: background to enlistment, 1936; initial training with Writer and Supply Branch at HMS Victory barracks, Portsmouth; physical effects of training; opinion of training; work of writers and stores assistants; first voyage to Mediterranean aboard HMS Lucia. Recollections of period as stores assistant aboard HMS Hood in Mediterranean, 1938-1939: initial impressions of ship; reasons why HMS Hood was a happy ship; ship's reputation as a TB ship; allocation to mess; discipline aboard; an example of discipline he was subjected to; shore leave in Parma, Spain and Marseille, France. REEL 2 Continues: behaviour of crew ashore; explanation of term 'stripey' and other naval terms; Spanish civil war patrols; provisioning British Consul in Barcelona; degree of interest and knowledge of political situation in Spain; contact with crew of Deutschland, Gibraltar, autumn 1938; reputation of ship and nickname of 'The Seven Bs. Recollections of operations as stores assistant in GB coastal waters, Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1939-1940: security precautions due to upsurge in IRA activity, early 1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; German Air Force attack in North Sea and subsequent repairs in Liverpool, autumn 1939; recall to ship on loss of Rawalpindi. REEL 3 Continues: role as part of outer screen of fleet during Norwegian campaign; joining Force H in Mediterranean; under fire from Dunquerque at Oran, summer 1940; pursuit of Strasbourg at Oran; reactions on board to attack on French Navy at Oran; reinforcing Malta with aircraft, 1940; opinion of Italian Navy, 1940; Italian Air Force high level attacks on ship; reasons for leaving HMS Hood, 10/1940. Aspects of period on shore duties in Royal Naval Barracks, Portsmouth, 1940-1941: sheltering from bombs in barracks; fire bomb attack, 10/1/1941; helping evacuation of patients from Royal Hospital, 10/4/1941; damage to Royal Naval Barracks and his role with first aid party, 10/3/1941; feeling of greater danger on land than during sea service; civilian morale; reasons for some people's dislike of air raid shelters. REEL 4 Continues: conditions in air raid shelters; bombing of Guildhall; effects of bombing on attitude towards Germans; use of British Restaurants. Recollections of operations as petty officer aboard HMS Sirius in Mediterranean and Atlantic, 1941-1945: adoption of ship by Portsmouth city; characteristics and living conditions on board; working up exercises; memories of Operation Pedestal in Mediterranean, 8/1942 including loss of HMS Eagle; his action station; importance of Operation Pedestal; patrolling from Simonstown, autumn 1942; problems encountered by ship in severe weather conditions; reception from civilians in Simonstown. REEL 5 Continues: torpedoing of HMS Scylla off West Africa, autumn 1942; role of ship during landings at Oran, 11/1942; providing anti-aircraft cover between Bone and Algiers; interception of Axis convoy with Q Force, 12/1942; reasons for not picking up survivors from Italian ship; threats from Axis torpedo bombers; use of Restribution Red paint off Tunisia, 4/1943; work of Polish destroyer Bliskowica off North Africa, spring 1943; lack of opposition during Sicilian landings, 7/1943; bombardment of Sicilian coast; escorting HMS Abdiel in Taranto harbour and rescue of paratroopers during subsequent mining, 9/1943. REEL 6 Continues: supporting ground forces in Salerno bridgehead, 9/1943; German glider bomb attacks at Salerno; work in Dodecanese Islands; bomb damage during operations in Dodecanese Islands, 17/10/1943; repairs at Massawa in former Italian Eritrea, winter 1943-1944; shift system worked during repairs in Massawa; recreational activities ashore in Eritrea; in advanced party to Alexandria to wait for arrival of ship; return to GB, 6/1944; support for airborne forces in Normandy, summer 1944. REEL 7 Continues: role of ship covering landings in South of France, 8/1944; move to Naples; visit to opera in Naples; role dropping Greek Sacred Heart Sqdn on Biskopi Island in Dodecanese Islands; embarking POWs from Biskopi Island; tension with Greek Communists at Mytilene, 10/1944; transfer of Gurkhas to Salonika, 11/1944; attitude of Greeks in Salonika to Royal Navy personnel; securing fish supplies in Greece, late 1944; provisioning minesweepers sweeping approaches to Dardanelles, late 1944; embarking Anthony Eden on board at Malta, 1/1945; firing of shots on ship by Jewish insurgants in Palestine, 1945. REEL 8 Continues: 'Medloc' system of repatriation, 12/1945; VE Day celebrations in Alexandria, 5/1945; relations with Egyptians during Second World War.