Interview with Barney Barnfield

British boy seaman trained at HMS Ganges, Shotley in GB, 1936-1937; served aboard HMS Hermes and HMS Diomede in GB coastal waters, 1938-1939; served aboard HMS Fame, 8th Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters, North Atlantic and Norway, 9/1939-10/1940; seaman served aboard HMS Centurion in GB coastal waters, North and South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, 1940-1942

REEL 1 Background in Cranham, GB, 1921-1936: family; employment prospects. Recollections of period as boy seaman at HMS Ganges, Shotley, GB, 1936-1937: interest in Royal Navy; opinion of training received at HMS Ganges; pay; climbing the mast; discipline; morning routine; character of instructors; pattern of instruction; punishment for inattention; description of 'Shotley Routine'; attempt of recruit to escape; reasons for being considered for officer training; presence of 'Barnados Boys' amongst recruits. Aspects of period as boy seaman aboard HMS Hermes and HMS Diomede in GB coastal waters, 1938-1939: smoking 'Tickler' tobacco; conditions on board ships particularly destroyers. REEL 2 Continues: desire for sea time; canteen messing; use of Royal Sailors' Rest and Salvation Army in Plymouth; joining Temperance Society and League of Purity; amusing story drinking in parents' pub in Cranham; duties as messenger aboard HMS Diomede. Aspects of operations as boy seaman aboard HMS Fame in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 9/1939-3/1940: rescue of survivors from sinking of SS Athenia in North Atlantic, 3/9/1939; attempt to hunt for German submarine that had sunk HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow, 14/10/1939; shooting down of German Air Force reconnaissance aircraft by ship. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Fame, 8th Destroyer Flotilla in Norway, 1940: move to Narvik, Norway, 13/4/1940; action station in A Turret; duties as lookout to spot German Air Force Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive-bombers; transporting French Army alpine troops, 18/4/1940. REEL 3 Continues: plans to board German merchant ships in Skagerrak; story of escorting gold convoy in North Atlantic; working routine on board destroyer; fatigue during operations; question of sea sickness; an homosexual encounter on board; entertainments on board; evacuation of civilians; role assisting land forces; shelling by German Army railway gun; misfire on X Gun; recovering German torpedoes; evacuation of 1st Bn Irish Guards from Bodo, 30/5/1940; continuous bombing by German Air Force aircraft; rescue of crew from submarine HMS Shark, 6/7/1940; German Air Force bomb hit on stern of vessel, 6/7/1940. REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as boy seaman aboard HMS Fame, 8th Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 6/1940-10/1940: punishment for unauthorised trip ashore at Grimsby; duties as call boy; method of communicating with officers; how ship ran aground at Whitburn, 16/10/1940. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Centurion in GB coastal waters, North and South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, 1940-1942: volunteering for Operation Doris; drafting to battleship at Plymouth; briefing by Prime Minister Winston Churchill on role of as block ship at Taranto Harbour, Italy; description of ship; rescue of survivors in North Atlantic; taking on water at St Helena and receiving provisions at Cape Town, South Africa; conversation with Captain Waters; effects of heavy storm off Zanzibar in Indian Ocean; sight of bombing of HMT Georgic at Port Tewfik, Egypt, 22/5/1941; role of ship as decoy on Malta convoys; fate of HMS Centurion as block ship for Mulberry Harbour in Normandy, France, 6/1944.