Description
Object description
British boy signaller served aboard HMS Nelson in GB coastal waters, 1939-1940; signaller served aboard HMS Beverley, 6th Escort Group in North Atlantic, 1940-1941; served aboard submarine HMS Tribune, 6th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 8/1942-11/1942; served aboard submarine HMS Tribune, 8th Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 11/1942-3/1943; served aboard submarine HMS Uproar, 8th Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 4/1943-5/1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Portsmouth, GB, 1922-1938: family; education. Aspects of period as boy seaman at HMS Ganges, Shotley, GB, 1938-1939: opinion of training and discipline; climbing the mast. Aspects of operations as boy signaller aboard HMS Nelson in GB coastal waters, 1939-1940: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; mining of battleship in Loch Ewe, 4/12/1939; duties as boy signaller; opinion of signalling in Royal Navy, 1939-1940; the 'Break F' method; signalling equipment; reputation of different ships and why ships are happy ones; story of torpedoing of HMS Fiji off Hebrides, 1/9/1940. Aspects of period as signaller aboard HMS Beverley, 6th Escort Group in North Atlantic, 1940-1941: volunteering for service on lend lease town class destroyers after period in Victory Barracks, Portsmouth, 10/1940; character of town class destroyers; bombing of convoy by German Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor.
REEL 2 Continues: reasons for unpopularity of Lieutenant Commander John Grant; opening fire on German submarine trailing convoy; attitude towards German submarine crews; advantages and disadvantages of closed bridges. Recollections of operations as signaller aboard submarine HMS Tribune, 6th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters and Arctic, 8/1942-11/1942: volunteering for Submarine Service; joining submarine after training in Blyth; relations between officers and ratings in submarines; escorting Convoy PQ 18 in Arctic, 10/1942; how submarine HMS Tigris failed to attack Tirpitz off Norway, 10/1942; attack on submarine by RAF Bristol Blenheim; layout of submarine; signalman's duties on board. Aspects of operations as signaller aboard HMS Tribune, 8th Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 11/1942-3/1943: move to Mediterranean, 11/1942; attack on submarine by Italian destroyer Uragano off Capri, Italy, 22/11/1942.
REEL 3 Continues: nature of depth charge attack, 22/11/1942; accidental bombing of submarine by Vickers Wellington (HX 749) off Algiers, French Algeria, 25/12/1942; landing agents in Corsica, France, 7/1/1943; procedure for going into action; torpedoing of German merchant vessel SS Felix (ex-SS Dalny), 10/1/1943; his punishment for drunkenness. Recollections of operations as signalman aboard submarine HMS Uproar, 8th Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 4/1943-5/1944: joining submarine, 4/1943; cramped conditions; smell of submariniers; patrolling off Italian coast; surface attack on Italian naval auxiliary Brindisi off Bari, Italy, 6/8/1943; attack on suspected minelayer SS Andrea Scarallino off Elba, Italy, 22/9/1943; question of attitude towards victims of submarine attacks; coping with Italian toilets in one piece overall; attack on tanker MV Champagne off Corsica, France, 27/9/1943; last war patrol off Toulon, France, 3/1944-4/1944.
REEL 4 Continues: in action during last patrol including attack on submarine U-466 off Toulon, France, 30/3/1944; degree of accuracy of German film 'Das Boot' (1981); securing of hatches in submarines; use of blue unction against crab lice; elementary medical provision in submarines; return to GB, 5/1944.
