Interview with Ronald Coates-Walker

British seaman served aboard HMS Curacao during Norwegian campaign, 1940; officer served aboard HMS Hoy in GB Coastal Waters, 1941; served aboard submarine HMS Universal, 8th Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 7/1943-9/1944; served aboard submarine HMS Trusty, 7th Submarine Flotilla in GB Coastal Waters, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Kingston upon Hull, GB, 1920-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as seaman with Humber Division, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in GB, 1938-1939: enlistment in Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1938; anti- aircraft training at HMNB Chatham, 8/1939. Recollections of operations as seaman with HMS Curacoa, 1st Anti-Aircraft Sqdn, Home Fleet in Norway, 4/1940: his duties on board; convoying troops to Åndalsnes, 4/1940; heavy German Air Force attacks on ship at Åndalsnes, 24/4/1940; burial of dead at Scapa Flow, GB. Aspects of operations as navigation officer aboard HMS Hoy in GB coastal waters, 1941: joining ship in Kingston upon Hull; incompetence of captain; German Air Force raid on Kingston upon Hull; replacement of captain. Aspects of period of training with Submarine Service in GB, 1941-1942: reasons for joining Submarine Service; training in submarine HMS H34; narrow escape from loss of submarine HMS Untamed in Firth of Forth, 14/4/1943. Recollections of operations as officer aboard submarine HMS Universal, 8th Submarine Flotilla in Mediterranean, 7/1943-9/1944: duties on board; lack of formality on submarines; patrols from Algiers, French Algeria to French and Italian coastlines; attack on tankers off La Spezia, Italy. REEL 2 Continues: an error which led the submarine to sink rapidly; surfacing at night; use of La Maddalena base; use of two periscopes; taking Italian fugitives on board; decline in number of targets in Western Mediterranean, 1944; success against German merchant vessels President dal Piaz and Canosa off Cassis, France, 24/6/1944; awards to submarine's officers; recall to GB, 9/1944; targets attacked during operations in Mediterranean; depth chargings; opinion of skill of Italian Navy anti-submarine crews; infestation of submarine with rats and cockroaches; age of submarine's officers; attack by bed bugs in Algiers, French Algeria; return to GB, 1944. REEL 3 Continues: story of marriage of his captain Lieutenant Charles Gordon; memories of Lieutenant Edward Marsden-Smedley. Aspects of period as officer with submarine HMS Trusty, 7th Submarine Flotilla in GB Coastal Waters, 1944-1945: role of submarine during Commanding Officers Qualifying Course known as the 'Perisher' training courses at Scapa Flow; accidental depth charge attack on submarine by Royal Canadian Navy destroyer HMCS Haida, 9/3/1945. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Navy in GB, Northern Ireland and Norway, 1945: role taking over German Navy submarine fleet at Bergen, 5/1945; accidental fire board German Type 21 Submarine at Lisahally, Northern Ireland; prior recollection of role with Chatham 190th Battalion, Royal Navy during Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940; appointment standing by submarine HMS Teredo; treatment of naval reservists, 1945; drafting to landing ship tank; obtaining place on Ministry of Labour business course after VJ Day, 15/8/1945. REEL 4 Continues: Reflections on service with Submarine Service: attitude to having served with Submarine Service during Second World War; fate of his fellow submarine officers who he served with during Second World War.