Interview with Robin Knowling Hopson-Hill

British boy telegraphist served aboard HMS Penelope 2nd Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet and 3rd Cruiser Sqdn, Mediterranean Fleet in GB coastal waters, Arctic and Mediterranean, 7/1941-11/1941; telegraphist served on shore duties with Royal Navy on Malta, 11/1941-9/1942; seaman served as yeoman of signals aboard HMS Beaufort, 5th Destroyer Flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet in Mediterranean, 1/1943-6/1944; served aboard and HMS Berwick, 1st Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in Arctic, 10/1944-5/1945; civilian Family Services Officer during Falklands War in Portsmouth, GB, 4/1982-6/1982

REEL 1 Background in Harpenden, GB, 1923-1939: family; education; helping with evacuation of children from Harpenden. Aspects of enlistment and training as boy telegraphist with Royal Navy in GB, 1939-1941: background to joining Royal Navy, 1939; pattern of training at HMS Ganges, Shotley and HMS St George, Douglas, on Isle of Man. Recollections of operations as boy telegraphist aboard HMS Penelope, 2nd Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet and 3rd Cruiser Sqdn, Mediterranean Fleet in GB coastal waters, Arctic and Mediterranean, 7/1941-11/1941: drafting to cruiser at Newcastle upon Tyne, GB, 7/1941; living conditions on board; use of canteen at Scapa Flow, GB; escorting British force to Spitzbergen Island, Norway, 5/10/1941-9/10/1941; formation of Force K to operate out of Malta, 19/10/1941; incident of ship's cooks poisoning crewmen; interception of Axis convoy, 8/11/1941; reception in Malta after attack on convoy. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as on shore duties with Royal Navy in Malta, 11/1941-9/1942: drafting to HMS St Angelo, Birgu, 11/1941; nature of Axis air raids on Royal Navy Wireless Transmitting Station at Fort Rinella, Kalkara; fate of HMS Penelope in dry dock, 4/1942; relations with Maltese civilians; reception for Operation Pedestal convoy, 8/1942; sight of crew of submarine HMS Upholder relaxing in The Gut, Valletta; narrow escape from sinking of submarine HMS Olympus on mine off Malta, 8/5/1941; evacuation by Royal Air Force Vickers Wellington aircraft, 9/1942; period in Egypt and Palestine after evacuation from Malta, 9/1941-12/1941. Recollections of operations as yeoman of signals aboard HMS Beaufort, 5th Destroyer Flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet in Mediterranean, 1/1943-6/1944: drafting to ship, 2/1/1943; role as navigator's yeoman of signals; destruction of German armoured vehicles defending Augusta Harbour, Sicily, Italy, 7/1943; bartering with civilians in Augusta, Sicily, Italy, 7/1943; living conditions on board. REEL 3 Continues: role of ship off Italian coast, 1943-1944; German Air Force attacks off Rhodes Island, Greece; mutual defence provided by ship and HMS Exmoor; evacuation of troops from Kos Island, Greece; return to GB, 6/1944. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Berwick, 1st Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in Arctic, 10/1944-5/1945: drafting to cruiser, 10/1944; duties as upper yardman; suicide amongst Soviet military personnel who had served with German forces being taken back to Soviet Union, 1945. Reflections of service with Royal Navy, 1941-1945: upper yardsman course at HMS Raleigh, Torpoint, 5/1945-8/1945; his attitude to having served as radio operator; description Royal Navy Wireless Transmission Station at Fort Rinella, Kalkara, Malta; preference for serving in HMS Berwick as opposed to HMS Penelope. Recollections of period as Family Services Officer in GB during Falklands War, 1982: his duties; reaction of next-of-kin to news that their loved ones had become casualties; personal visits by chaplains and Women's Royal Naval Service peronnel. REEL 4 Continues: behaviour of newspaper reporters in trying to obtain stories from wives of HMS Sheffield's crew; contrast between treatment of next-of-kin during Falklands War and Second World War.