Interview with Percy Thomas Price

British seaman served aboard HMS Hood during Spanish Civil War, 1936-1938; served aboard HMS Javelin, 7th Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, 1939-1941; petty officer served aboard HMS Pozarica in Arctic and Mediterranean, 1942-1943; served aboard HMS Rhododendron in Mediterranean, 1943; served aboard HMS Welcome and HMS Carisbrooke Castle in North Atlantic, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Tooting and Mitcham, GB, 1919-1934: family; education. Aspects of training as boy seaman at HMS Ganges, Shotley, GB, 1934-1935: reasons for joining Royal Navy, 1934: initial reaction to discipline; question of benefits of training. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Hood during Spanish Civil War, 1936-1938: joining battlecruiser, 1936; problems of ventilation on board; duties and danger of accidents in turrets; role of ship during Spanish Civil War; contact with German Navy seamen in Tangiers, French Morocco; escorting Captain David 'Potato' Jones into Bilbao. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Javelin, 7th Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, English Channel and North Sea, 1939-1941: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 9/1939; action station; attacks on German submarines during convoy escort duties off east coast; rescue of pilot from ditch Bristol Blenheim aircraft, 1940; accident with ship's motor boat in River Humber; German Air Force aircraft attacks in Norway, 1940; evacuating troops from De Panne, Belgium, 5/1940; weapons left on board by troops during Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940. REEL 2 Continues: damage inflicted on ship during bombardment of Cherbourg, France; memories of Lord Louis Mountbatten; reaction to death of shipmate; further memories of Lord Louis Mountbatten. Recollections of operations as petty officer aboard HMS Pozarica in Arctic and Mediterranean, 1942-1943: drafting to auxiliary anti-aircraft ship at Milford Haven, GB; relations between gunnery ship; memories of Godfrey Winn; start of Convoy PQ17 from Iceland, 6/1942; scattering of Convoy PQ 17, 7/1942; anti-aircraft armament of ship; rescue of German Air Force pilot by float plane; attitude towards Convoy PQ 17 scatter order; taking refuge at Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, Soviet Union, 7/1942. REEL 3 Continues: period in harbour at Matochlin Strait, Soviet Union; German Air Force attacks on leaving Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, Soviet union; laying up at Archangel, Soviet Union, 7/1942-8/1942; relations between seamen and Soviet civilians; ship's giving air warnings by radar; American seamen desperation for alcohol in Archangel, Soviet Union; lack of storage and transport facilities in Archangel, Soviet Union; role of ship during Operation Torch, 11/1942; sinking of ship of when he was ashore collecting supplies at Bougie, French Algeria, 13/2/1942; return to GB aboard HMT Empress of Russia. Aspects of period as bosun aboard HMS Rhododendron in Mediterranean, 1943: generosity of United States Merchant Marine merchant seamen; duties; bartering with Free French Naval Forces; attitude to serving in Mediterranean. Aspects of period as petty officer aboard HMS Welcome and HMS Carisbrooke Castle in North Atlantic, 1944-1945: joining HMS Welcome, 1944; role of HMS Carisbrooke Castle; bartering with fishing vessels; role of HMS Welcome on fishery protection duties after Second World War; later story of invaliding out of Royal Navy, 1960.