Selby, Francis Gordon (Oral history)

British seaman served aboard submarines HMS Oberon and HMS H44, 7th Submarine Flotilla in North Sea, 7/1940-9/1940; served as coxswain aboard submarine HMS Upholder, 10th Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 12/1940-1/1942; served aboard submarine HMS P39 on Malta, 2/1942-3/1942 including sinking by German Air Force in Malta Dockyard, 26/3/1942; served aboard submarine HMS Sickle, 8th Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 1943; served aboard submarine HMS Storm, 4th and 8th Submarine Flotillas in Far East, 2/1944-4/1945

REEL 1 Background in Swindon, London and Oxford, GB, 1919-1935: family; education; reasons for joining Royal Navy, 1935. Aspects of period as seaman with Royal Navy in GB coastal waters and Mediterranean, 1935-1939: opinion to service aboard HMS Ramilles; patrolling aboard light cruiser HMS Galatea during Spanish Civil War, 1937-1938; reasons for joining Submarine Service, 9/1938; experiences in 'O' Class submarines, 1939. Aspects of operations as seaman aboard submarines HMS Oberon and HMS H44, 7th Submarine Flotilla in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 1939-1940: nature of service; war patrols from Harwich into North Sea, 7/1940-9/1940. Recollections of operations as coxwain with submarine HMS Upholder, 10th Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 12/1940-2/1942: trials at Barrow-in-Furness, GB, 10/1940; arrival in Mediterranean, 12/1940; memories of Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Wanklyn; sight of German Air Force attacks on HMS Illustrious in Valetta Harbour, Malta, 1/1941; procedures on patrol in Mediterranean; patrol in which Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Wanklyn won Victoria Cross for sinking troopship SS Conte Rosso off Sicily, Italy, 24/5/1941; destruction of German merchant vessel SS Arta beached on Kerkennah Islands near Sfax, Tunisia, 26/4/1941; method of turning back Axis convoy, summer 1941; sinking of Italian troopships MV Oceania and MV Neptunia in convoy off Tripoli, Libya, 18/9/1941. REEL 2 Continues: high morale aboard submarine, 1941; question of why Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Wanklyn was so successful during 1941; sinking of Italian submarine Ammiraglio Saint-Bon off Milazzo, Sicily, Italy, 5/1/1942. Aspects of period as seaman aboard submarine HMS P39 on Malta, 2/1942-3/1942: joining submarine, 2/1942; destruction of submarine by German Air Force in Malta Dockyard, 26/3/1942. Aspects of period as seaman with Submarine Service on Malta and in GB, 1942-1943: evacuation of submarines from Malta, 4/1942; story of sinking of HMS Olympus by mine off Malta, 5/1942; return to GB aboard HMS Welshman; training aboard submarine HMS L26 in GB, 6/1942-6/1943; patrolling aboard HMS Sickle, 8th Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 4/1943. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Storm, 4th and 8th Submarine Flotillas in Far East, 2/1944-4/1945: patrolling out of Trincomalee, Ceylon in Indian Ocean; contrast in patrols in Mediterranean and Far East; memories of Captain Edward Young; patrolling out of Fremantle, Australia; Japanese prisoner of war brought aboard; living conditions on board; return to GB, 4/1945. Aspects of post-war career with Submarine Service, Royal Navy, 1945-1951: role bringing new German submarine from Norway to GB, 5/1945; opinion of German submarines; reasons for refusing promotion. REEL 3 Continues: role aboard submarine HMS Truculent; role at HMS Dolphin, Gosport, 1949-1959; loss of his training class in HMS Affray, 4/1951; background to becoming Australian citizen after naval service.