Interview with Kenneth Leo Byrne

British boy seaman served aboard HMS Prince of Wales in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 2/1941-11/1941; served aboard HMS Prince of Wales, Force Z in Far East, 12/1941, including sinking off Malaya, 10/12/1941

REEL 1 Background in Liverpool, GB, 1924-1940: family; education; reasons for wishing to join Royal Navy, 1938. Aspects of training as boy seaman with Royal Navy in GB, 1940: reporting to HMS St George, Douglas, Isle of Man, 1/1940; nature of training at HMS St George, Douglas, Isle of Man; reasons for electing Devonport Home Division; drafting to HMS Prince of Wales; memories of German Air Force bombing during leave in Liverpool, 12/1940. Recollections of operations as boy seaman aboard HMS Prince of Wales in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 2/1941-11/1941: joining ship at HMNB Rosyth, 2/1941; action station; role as commander's messenger; living conditions on board; question of ship's working up; in action against German battleship Bismarck, 5/1941. REEL 2 Continues: state of ship's bridge after action against German battleship Bismarck, 24/5/1941; burial of dead at sea; period of repair at HMNB Rosyth; visit from King George VI; voyage to Newfoundland during Atlantic Charter signing, 8/1941; memories of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D Roosevelt. Recollections of operations as boy seaman aboard HMS Prince of Wales, Force Z in Far East, 12/1941, including sinking off Malaya, 10/12/1941: voyage to Singapore, Malaya, 11/1941-12/1941; use of anti-aircraft guns in Singapore, Malaya, 7/12/1941; opinion of Imperial Japanese Navy sailors, 12/1941; relations with HMS Repulse's crew; role in gun house as sight setter; Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service torpedo and bomb hits on ship, 10/12/1941; approach of HMS Express to collect wounded; belief that ship was unsinkable; reasons why he escaped from port side; rescue by HMS Express; reaction to entering water; lack of panic during abandoning of ship; how HMS Express disconnected from sinking HMS Prince of Wales; arrival of Royal Air Force aircraft overhead; sight of crew who did not try to save themselves. REEL 3 Continues: sight of shipmate dying from burns. Aspects of period on shore duties with Royal Navy in Singapore, Malaya and escape to Ceylon, 12/1941-2/1942: reception on arrival in Singapore; duties in Singapore, 12/1941-2/1942; advice from his officer to escape from Keppel Harbour; boarding HMS Kedah in Keppel Harbour, 2/1942; boarding USS West Point from HMS Kedah; conditions on board USS West Point; disembarking in Ceylon. Aspects of service as seaman with Royal Navy, 1942-1945: joining HMS Royal Sovereign, 4/1942; communications on board HMS Royal Sovereign; background to joining HMS Valiant; attitude to serving on board HMS Valiant; period at Royal Naval Torpedo School, HMS Defiance, Devonport; joining corvette, HMS Stonecrop, 1943; convoy duties off West Africa, 1943-1945; attitude to having served in Royal Navy during Second World War; formation of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse Survivors Association.