Dodds, John Edmund (Oral history)

British boy seaman served aboard HMS Cumberland and HMS Duchess on China Station and GB coastal waters, 1939 including sinking of HMS Duchess in collision with HMS Barham off Mull of Kintyre, 12/12/1939; seaman served aboard HMS Havock, 2nd and 22nd Destroyer Flotillas in GB coastal waters, Norway and Mediterranean, 2/1940-4/1942 including grounding off Keibra, Tunisia, 6/4/1942; internee in Laghouat Camp, Algeria, 4/1942-11/1942

REEL 1 Background in Harrow, GB, 1920-1937: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training as boy seaman in Royal Navy, 1937-1938: enlistment; training at HMS Wildfire at Sheerness. Aspects of period as boy seaman aboard HMS Cumberland and HMS Duchess on China Station and GB coastal waters, 1939: joining HMS Cumberland in Hong Kong; protection of boy seamen from homosexual advances; contact with Japanese; conditions on board HMS Duchess; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; sailing to GB with HMS Barham; collision between HMS Duchess and HMS Barham and subsequent sinking in fog off Mull of Kintyre, 12/12/1939; rescue by HMS Barham, 12/12/1939. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Havock, 2nd Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters and Norway, 2/1940-6/1940: joining ship, 2/1940; opinion of officers; encounter with German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, 4/1940; his action station on X Gun. REEL 2 Continues: memories of captain of X gun 'Blood Reed'; impressions of First Battle of Narvik, 10/4/1940; sight of loss of HMS Hunter during First Battle of Narvik, 10/4/1940; casualties aboard ship during First Battle of Narvik, 10/4/1940. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Havock, 2nd and 22nd Flotillas in Mediterranean, 6/1940-4/1942 including grounding off Keibra, Tunisia, 6/4/1942: move to Mediterranean, 6/1940; torpedo attack on Italian battleship Littorio during Second Battle of Sirte, 22/3/1942; damage done to ship during Second Battle of Sirte, 22/3/1942 REEL 3 Continues: how ship ran aground off Kelibia, Tunisia, 6/4/1942. Aspects of period as internee in Laghouat Camp, French Algeria, 4/1942-11/1942: capture by Vichy French forces; internment in Laghouat Camp; treatment by Vichy French captors; punishment for insulting French officers; attempted tunnel escape. Aspects of operations as seaman aboard HMS Havock, 2nd and 22nd Flotillas in Mediterranean, 6/1940-4/1942: role of ship during Battle of Cape Matapan, 27/3/1941-29/3/1941; German Air Force attacks during evacuation of Crete, Greece, 5/1941; award of Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) for actions on Malta, 4/1942; nature of bombing on Malta; attitude of Maltese civilians to British military presence.