Interview with John Albert Hodge

British seaman served aboard HMS Manxman, 1st Minelaying Sqdn in GB coastal waters, Mediterranean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 7/1941-7/1943; seaman served as gunner yeoman aboard HMS Bullen, 19th Escort Group in United States of America, North Atlantic and GB coastal waters, 10/1943-12/1944, including sinking off Cape Wrath, 6/12/1944; served aboard HMS Sussex, 5th Cruiser Sqdn, Eastern Fleet in Indian Ocean and Pacific, 1945-1946

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Peckham, London, GB, 1922-1939: social circumstances, education; employment as shop boy; work barrelling tat and pitch at Ordnance Wharf, Greenwich; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; increased work load. Aspects of training at HMS Ganges, Shotley, GB, 2/1940-4/1940: background to recruitment underage to Royal Navy, 1/1940; kitting out; hutted accommodation; signal training; seamanship training; rifle training; role acting as barrack guard; drafting to Royal Naval Barracks, HMS Pembroke, Chatham, 1940. Recollections of period as seaman aboard HMS Manxman, 1st Minelaying Sqdn in GB coastal waters, Mediterranean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 7/1941-7/1943: escorting prisoners to join ship; initial impressions; reception; relations with crew; mess; hammock; rations; action station on Oerlikon 20mm Cannon; routine duties and cleaning guns. REEL 2 Continues: seasickness; loading with mines at HMSB Rosyth; role as quartermaster; high speed of ship; story of minelaying disguised as Vichy French Navy cruiser off Leghorn, Italy; faulty mines; move to Freetown, Sierra Leone, 4/1942; presence of 'bumboats' at Freetown, Sierra Leone; story of confusion whilst stopping Free French passenger vessel; shore leave in Simonstown, South Africa, 4/1942; picking up gold shipment at Aden Protectorate for French Madagascar; nature of operations at French Madagascar, 5/1942; passing gunnery badge at Mombasa, Kenya, meeting Eastern Fleet in Indian Ocean; visits to Bombay and Calcutta, India and Malta. REEL 3 Continues: visit to Colombo and Trincomalee, Ceylon; visit to Addu Atoll, Maldive Islands; story of disguising ship as island prior to cancellation of operations off Burma; move to Mediterranean, 11/1942; failed Italian Air Force torpedo bomber aircraft attack in Mediterranean; prior recollection of Italian Air Force attack on convoy en route for Malta, 1940; reception at Malta, 1942; unloading merchantmen of munitions and petrol; stories of drinking visits ashore on Malta; hospital eye examination; loading up with mines and minelaying activities off coast of Libya; torpedoing of HMS Manxman by German submarine U-375 off Algiers, French Algeria, 1/12/1942; effects of torpedo hit; taking up action stations on starboard Oerlikon 20mm Cannon; opening fire and dropping depth charges; going below to retrieve kit; arrival of destroyer and use of grappling iron to steady ship; moving equipment onto quayside at Oran, French Algeria, 2/12/1942-5/12/1942; sea burial of casualties; receiving tow from tug to Gibraltar, 18/12/1942-20/12/1942; temporary repairs at Gibraltar; voyage towed by tug in Convoy SL 131 from Gibraltar to South Shields, GB, 23/6/1943-8/7/1943. REEL 4 Continues: decommissioning of HMS Manxman, 7/1943. Aspects of period as seaman at Royal Naval Barracks, HMS Pembroke, Chatham, GB, 7/1943-8/1943: acting as runner to chaplain; parades; effects of German Air Force raids. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Queen Mary from GB to New York, United States of America, 9/1943: opinion of Bofors Gun and success in practice shoot; initial impressions of New York, United States of America. Aspects of period as seaman at Fargo Barracks, Boston, United States of America, 9/1943-10/1943: rations; hospitality of American civilians; fights with United States Navy seamen. Aspects of period as seaman aboard HMS Bullen at Boston, United States of America, Bermuda, North Atlantic and Northern Ireland, 10/1943-4/1944: initial impressions of ship; presence of bunk beds; opinion of welded construction; role as gunner yeoman monitoring magazines and office on port side; opinion of BL 3 Inch Naval Gun; action station on No 2 starboard Oerlikon 20mm Cannon; story of nearly hitting bridge during practice shoot against parachute target; use of Hedgehog Mortar; cruising station on depth charges; working up trials; opinion of gunnery officer Sub-Lieutenant Edward Spencer; sea trials at Bermuda, 12/1943. REEL 5 Continues: story of false alarm during encounter with HMS Goodall whilst escorting convoy back to GB; refit at Belfast, Northern Ireland. Recollections of operations as gunner yeoman aboard HMS Bullen, 19th Escort Group in North Atlantic, 5/1944-12/1944: escort duties with convoys making passage to Iceland; efforts to salvage drifting captured German submarine; escorting HMS Nelson, 6/1944; escorting convoy to Gibraltar; lookout duty in crow's nest; role monitoring magazines and Hedgehog Mortar shells; contact with German submarine; shore leave and naval canteen in Liverpool. Recollections of torpedoing and sinking of HMS Bullen, 19th Escort Group off Cape Wrath, GB, 6/12/1944: report of German submarine and response from escort group; hit on port side amidships by torpedo fired by German submarine U-775; period suffering from concussion; orders to abandon ship; cutting free Carley Float and corks rafts; failed attempt to rescue trapped stoker; swimming to Carley Float and holding on; advice to keep moving; action of Leading Seaman Drew in cutting free line attaching Carley Float to sinking ship; arrival of HMS Hesperus; presence of oil in water; rescue by HMS Hesperus; sight of HMS Bullen sinking; question of saving captain Lieutenant Commander Anthony Parish; reaction to sinking. Aspects of period as seaman at Royal Naval Barracks, HMS Pembroke, Chatham, GB, 1944-1945: reception; compensation claim; survivor's leave and prior report as missing in action; effects of oil; personal morale. REEL 6 Continues: duties as chaplain's messenger. Recollections of operations as gunner yeoman aboard HMS Sussex, 5th Cruiser Sqdn, Eastern Fleet in Indian Ocean and Pacific, 1945-1946: nature of cruiser; cruising station on twin No 3 Oerlikon 20 mm Cannon on starboard side; action station on Oerlikon 20mm Cannon on top of 'B' Turret and effect of BL 8 Inch Mk VIII Guns firing; opinion of gyroscopic Oerlikon 20mm Cannon gun sights and preference for using tracer; mess; ruses as rum bosun; rations; crew morale; storage of Oerlikon 20mm Cannon ammunition; voyage to Malta, 5/1945; story of shooting down aircraft target during practice shoot; shore leave at Malta; sandstorm whilst passing through Suez Canal, Egypt; move to Trincomalee, Ceylon; story of punishment for accidental loss of Oerlikon 20mm Cannon barrel; success in hitting Japanese Kamikaze aircraft during attack whilst escorting minesweepers operating off Penang, Malaya, 26/7/1945; discovery of remnant of Japanese pilot's corpse; repairs at Trincomalee, Ceylon; question of effects of atomic bombs being dropped on Japan, 8/1945; move to Singapore, Malaya; story of visit from Lord Louis Mountbatten. REEL 7 Continues: surrender of Japanese admiral and general; treatment of British prisoners of war by Japanese; question of demobilisation; move to Java, Dutch East Indies; period with shore party guarding dock area at Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies including discovery of Japanese stores, successful air attack at machine gun post, moving into town and putting out fires; fire from ships BL 8 Inch Mk VIII Guns; evacuation of refugees; relief on arrival of British Army troops; return on landing ship tank to Singapore, Malaya. Aspects of period on shore duties in Singapore, Malaya, 1946: awaiting demobilisation,1946: news of receiving Mention in Despatches; stories of duties supervising party of Chinese workers; preparing accommodation for Women's Royal Naval Service personnel; voyage aboard HMS Cleopatra from Singapore, Malaya to GB, 1946; demobilisation at Royal Naval Barracks, HMS Pembroke, Chatham, GB, 4/1946. Post-war life and employment: return to work barrelling tat and pitch at Ordnance Wharf, Greenwich; effects of war service; membership of naval associations.