Coles, Vernon (Oral history)

British stoker served aboard HMS Faulknor, 8th Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters, Norway, North Atlantic and Mediterranean, 6/1939-8/1941; engine room artificer served aboard X-craft of 12th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters, Norway and Far East, 1942-1944

REEL 1 Background in Tilehurst, GB, 1920-1938: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Navy, 1938-1939: volunteering for Royal Navy, 7/1938; training as stoker. Recollections of operations as stoker aboard HMS Faulknor, 8th Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters, and North Atlantic, 6/1939-3/1940: opinion of Captain Charles Daniel; duties pre-war with Home Fleet; news of loss of submarine HMS Thetis in Liverpool Bay, 1/6/1939; anticipation of coming war, 1939; anti-submarine patrol sweep off Shetland Islands, 3/9/1939; sinking of German submarine U-39 after torpedo attack on HMS Ark Royal, 14/9/1939; contact with crew of submarine U-39; attempt to aid SS Glencoe in North Sea, 11/1939; damage to HMS Nelson from mine in Loch Ewe, 4/12/1939; escort duties in North Western Approaches, 1/1940-2/1940. Aspects of operaitons as stoker aboard HMS Faulknor, 8th Destroyer Flotilla in Norway, 4/1940-5/1940; attack on German ground forces and destruction of German destroyer Z2 Georg Thiele, 13/4/1940; HMS Resolution's broadside against German railway gun at Bjerkvik, 13/4/1940; manoeuvering to avoid German Air Force attacks; attitude to shooting at individual German sniper at Narvik, 16/4/1940; refit in Grimsby; handling of survivors from Polish destroyer ORP Grom, 5/5/1940; move to Gibraltar, 6/1940. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as stoker aboard HMS Faulknor, 8th Destroyer Flotilla in Mediterranean and North Atlantic, 7/1940-8//1941: refusal of French Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul to receive Admiral James Somerville at Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, 7/1940; opening fire on French forts at Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria, 3/7/1940; abortive pursuit of French battleship Strasbourg, 7/1940; French Air Force attack on ship; lack of security in Freetown, Sierra Leone at time of Dakar Raid, French West Africa, 9/1940; rescue of lifeboat survivors from tanker MV British Premier off Freetown, Sierra Leone, 3/2/1941; rescue of Merchant Navy prisoners from German merchant vessel MV Alstertor in North Atlantic, 23/6/1941; action against Italian Fleet during Battle of Cape Spartivento, 27/11/1940; capture of Vichy French merchant vessel MV Charles Plumier, 23/11/1940; opinion of Admiral Dudley North; German Air Force attack on destroyer HMS Fearless, 23/7/1941; propeller damage during convoy duties, 7/1941-8/1941; brief trip ashore in Malta, 7/1941; refitting in Southampton, GB, 8/1941-11/1941; attitude of Captains Charles Daniel and Antony de Salis. Aspects of period as training as engine room artificer and with Submarine Service in GB, 1941-1942: background to becoming an engine room artificer and volunteering for Submarine Service, 4/1942. REEL 3 Continues: missing classroom training; training at sea aboard submarine depot ship HMS Forth; initial reaction to diving; uneventful patrol aboard submarine HMS Sturgeon, 1942; work of engine room artificer in submarines; reasons for volunteering for special service work. Recollections of training and operations with 12th Submarine Flotilla in GB and Norway, 1942-1944: first introduction to midget submarine HMS X4 at Portsmouth, 1942; training with X-craft; team spirit; special aspects of training; allocation to midget submarine HMS X9; question of size of crew; class distinction at farewell party; problems with hemp towing snapping; method of towing midget submarine towards Norway; role of passage crews; mishap to midget submarine HMS X8 and its scuttling; Lieutenant Godfrey Place's keeping mine off his X-craft with his foot; problems of tow rope snapping and loss of midget submarine HMS X9; fate of X-craft which attacked German battleship Tirpitz during Operation Source, 9/1943. REEL 4 Continues: failures of crew of German battleship Tirpitz to foil X-craft attacks; fate of X-craft which took part in attack; standing by HMS X22 at Chesterfield under command of Lieutenant Max Shean; degree of differences between midget submarines HMS X22 and HMS X9; reasons why midget submarine HMS X22 was withdrawn from beach sampling duties of French coast; loss of midget submarine HMS X22; testing midget submarine HMS X24 at Scapa Flow, GB; preparations for attack on dry dock at Bergen, Norway; toilet facilities aboard midget submarine HMS X24; reading from operational report on attack on dry dock in Bergen, Norway, 15/4/1944. REEL 5 Continues: his own memories of operation to sink dry dock at Bergen, Norway, 15/4/1944; problems with obtaining air during return journey; return to GB. Recollections of operations with midget submarine HMS XE4, 12th Submarine Flotilla in GB and Far East, 1944-1945: move to Far East after standing by at Barrow-in-Furness, GB; attitude of United States Navy towards X-craft; plan to cut Japanese submarine cables; practicing with grapnels off Great Barrier Reef, Australia; exercise to attack American ship in Subic Bay, Philippines; cutting submarine cables off Saigon, French Indochina; abortive plan to attack Japanese flying boats in Saigon, French Indochina; reasons for not participating in attack on Singapore Harbour, Malaya. Story of sinking German submarine aboard HMS Faulknor near Gibraltar, 5/1941.