Interview with Roger Gordon Pascoe Collett

British midshipman served aboard HMS Cornwall in South Atlantic Indian Ocean, 1940-1942 including sinking in Indian Ocean, 5/4/1942; officer served aboard HMS Gardenia in Mediterranean, 7/1942-11/1942 including ramming and sinking, 11/1942; served aboard HMS Drury in Atlantic, 1943-1945; served with 8th Destroyer Sqdn during Korean War, 1951-1952

REEL 1 Background in Portsmouth, GB, 1922-1940: family; education; duties as cycle messenger for Auxiliary Fire Service, 1939; German Air Force attacks on Portsmouth and Portchester, 1940. Recollections of operations as midshipman aboard HMS Cornwall in South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 8/1940-4/1942: duties whilst waiting to join cruiser in Freetown, Sierra Leone; opinion of ship; his duties; diving course in Simonstown, South Africa; keeping journals; beatings he received on board; convoy duties; condition of intercepted Vichy French tanker Le Tarn, 19/9/1940; sinking of German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin (HSK-5) and taking survivors on board, 8/5/1941; victory march in Durban, South Africa. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of sinking of HMS Cornwall, Force A in Indian Ocean, 5/4/1942: Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacks on ship; abandoning ship; effects of oil and sun; method of keeping afloat; organisation of survivors; danger from sharks; singing songs; survival tactics; morale of survivors; rescue by destroyers and treatment aboard HMS Enterprise; transfer to HMS Royal Sovereign at Addu Atoll, Maldives. Recollections of operations as officer aboard HMS Gardenia in Mediterranean, 7/1942-11/1942: background to being appointed to corvette; joining corvette in Liverpool, GB, 7/1942; opinion of ship; sinking of ship in collision with HMT Fluellen off Oran, Algeria, 9/11/1942; rescue by HMS Vetch. Aspects of period as guard commander aboard captured Vichy ship in Oran, French Algeria, 11/1942: guard duties; foraging for food; quelling of mutiny; contact with United States Navy personnel on return voyage to GB. REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as officer on shore duties with Royal Navy in GB and United States of America, 1943: story of how his family learnt of his fate; nature of voyage from Oran, French Algeria to GB; amusing story of how he dumped his machine gun and ammunition at Glasgow, GB; standing-by construction of frigate HMS Drury in Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, United States of America. Recollections of operations as officer aboard HMS Drury, 4th Escort Group in North Atlantic, 1943-1945: reasons for changing of ship's name; duties on board; convoy escort work; sinking German submarine U-648 in North Atlantic, 23/11/1943; torpedo which was fired at ship; attitude towards German submarine crews; method of warding off German Air Force glider bomb attack in Bay of Biscay; storm damage to ship; loss of Landing Ship Tank crews in Bay of Biscay; leaving ship, 1945. Aspects of period as officer aboard HMS Bigbury Bay in Far East, 1945-1947: joining ship, 1945; duties in Far East, 1945-1947. Aspects of operations as gunnery officer with 8th Destroyer Sqdn during Korean War, 1951-1952: duties; coastal bombardment work off North Korea; targets engaged. REEL 4 Continues: attitude to 'train busting' work; danger of counter-fire on ships; problems maintaining crew morale; problems with refits; winter weather conditions; shelling of senior Chinese officer's quarters in North Korea; attitude to having served with Royal Navy.