Burwell, Samuel (Oral history)

British seaman served aboard HMS Carlisle, HMS Farndale and HMS Hydrangea during Norwegian campaign, in Mediterranean and Atlantic, 1940-1944

REEL 1 Background in Hull, 1921-1939: family; education. Aspects of period with Humber Division, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1939: memories of Tom Boyd; arrival of HMS Calcutta, summer 1939; reaction to call up for training at Chatham, 8/1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War at Chatham Barracks, 3/9/1939; amusing story of skating-rink accident at Rochester; job marking magnetic mines at Chatham. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Carlisle in Mediterranean and Norway, 1940-1942: drafting to ship at Devonport; CW candidate system; calibre of his gun crew; conditions in air defence position up the mast in Bay of Biscay; working up trials and firing at Queen Bee drones in Mediterranean; ashore in Malta, 1940. REEL 2 Continues: return to GB; amusing story of seaman who married a school teacher; guard duties off Firth of Forth bridge; move to Norway, 4/1940; contrast between British troops and French mountain troops; problems of dealing with tactics employed by Junkers Ju 87 Stukas; theory behind gun barrages; problems of operating in fjords; question of Lieutenant Richard Stannard winning Victoria Cross for action aboard HMS Arab at Namsos; capsizing of HMS Afridi; effect of German bombing on crew in Norway; move to Eastern Mediterranean for convoys to Malta; showing the flag at Piraeus, 4/1941; direct hit on Number 2 gun off Crete, 5/1941; award of Distinguished Service Medal for Norwegian operations; question of over-specialisation in ships; interception of Germans caiques off Crete, 5/1941; question of picking up survivors from sinking ships; convoy work in Red Sea including German Air Force attack on Thistlegome in Bitter Lakes. REEL 3 Continues: in rest camp at Diatallawa, Ceylon, 1941; anticipations of start of Japanese war; relations with civilians in Ceylon; return to Alexandria and drafting of original Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve compliment. Aspects of operations as seaman aboard HMS Farndale, 1942: drafting to ship; voyage from Alexandria to GB; problems with radar; use of bosun's chair and blowlamp. Period on shore duties in GB, 1942: search for jobs in Chatham Barracks; cancellation of draft to HMS Walney; studying to become radar mechanic at Battersea Polytechnic. Recollections of operations as radar mechanic aboard HMS Hydrangea in Atlantic, 1942-1944: drafting to ship at Falmouth; attitude of telegraphists to radar mechanics; convoy duties; problem with melting capacitors; short attachment to French ship; value of radar mechanics on board ship; problem with radar equipment; amusing story of hospitalisation for malaria and dysentery in Lagos. REEL 4 Continues: duties with shore patrol in Lagos; ship's duties off West Africa; question of failure of officers to train ratings; ashore in Bermuda; cost of joining Freemasons lodge in Bermuda; leaving ship on return to GB. Period on shore duties in GB, 1945: reasons for transferring from radar to radio duties; role as instructor in HMS Scotia, near Ayr; story of missing AVO meter at HMS Scotia; demobilisation. Attitude to having served in Royal Navy in Second World War. Memories of Tom Boyd in Gibraltar.