Interview with William Sydney Edward Lashmer,

British boy seaman and seaman served aboard HMS Mohawk, 4th and 14th Destroyer Flotillas in Mediterranean and North Sea, 9/1939-4/1941 including sinking in Mediterranean, 16/4/1941; seaman served aboard HMS Southern Prince in North Sea and English Channel, 1941-1944; served aboard HMS Boxer in GB coastal waters, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Bournemouth and Isle of Wight, GB, 1922-1939: family; education. Aspects of training as boy seaman with Royal Navy in GB, 1939: reasons for enlistment as boy seaman; training at HMS Wildfire; reaction of boy seamen to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of operations as boy seaman and seaman aboard HMS Mohawk, 4th and 14th Destroyer Flotillas in Mediterranean and North Sea, 9/1939-4/1941: drafting to destroyer at Malta, 9/1939; duties and action stations including fuse setting; German Air Force attack on ship in Firth of Forth off Rosyth, 16/10/1939; mining of HMS Kelly off River Tyne, 14/12/1939; recapitulation of German Air Force attack on HMS Mohawk in Firth of Forth, 16/10/1939; duties during campaign in Norway, 4/1940-5/1940; collision with tug off Scotland, 1940; move to Mediterranean 7/1940; in action at Battle of Cape Matapan and rescue of Italian Navy survivors, 27/3/1941-29/3/1941; attempts to intercept Axis convoys in Mediterranean including torpedoing of ship, 16/4/1941; period in sea after sinking and rescue by HMS Nubian. REEL 2 Continues: treatment of survivors at Sidi Bishr, Alexandria, Egypt, 4/1941. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Southern Prince in North Sea and English Channel, 1941-1944: drafting to minelayer; mine-laying duties; problems laying acoustic mines; loading oil drums aboard HMS Jervis Bay on River Tyne; conversion of ship into transport at Barry; transporting Royal Marines to Normandy, France, 6/1944; use of smoke floats to lay smoke screens off coast of Normandy, France. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Boxer in GB coastal waters, 1944-1945: character of radar ship; interrupted voyage to Far East, 1945. Reflections on service with Royal Navy: attitude to having served with Royal Navy in Second World War; memories of evacuation of British Embassy staff from The Hook of Holland, Netherlands to Tilbury, GB, 11/5/1940.