Interview with Kenneth Taylor

British supply assistant served aboard HMS Viscount, 19th Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 11/1941-11/1942; officer served aboard HMS Byron, B1 Escort Group, Nore Command and 21st Escort Group in United States of America, North Atlantic and GB coastal waters, 10/1943-10/1945

REEL 1 Background in Manchester, GB, 1920-1940: social circumstances; education; work for family printing firm; declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training as seaman at HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness, GB, 3/1940-4/1940: volunteering for Royal Navy, 10/1939; kitting out; chalet accommodation; nature of training. Aspects of training as seaman at HMS Glendower, Pwllheli, GB, 4/1940-5/1940: tented accommodation; latrines; nature of training. Aspects of period as supply assistant on shore duties with Royal Navy in GB, 5/1940-11/1941: duties in clothing stores at Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport; duties at HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness. Recollections of period as supply assistant aboard HMS Viscount, 19th Destroyer Flotilla in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 11/1941-11/1942: nature of destroyer; joining ship as advance party during refit at Devonport, 11/1941; supply office; absence of training; requisition of stores; necessity of writing up ledgers after inspection by supply officer; accommodation in stokers' mess; canteen messing system and rations; minimal duties; hammocks; action station with ammunition party; action station on chartroom plot; North Atlantic convoys; radar installation. REEL 2 Continues: story of writing off stores to 'enemy action' after ramming and sinking German submarine U-661 in North Atlantic, 15/10/1942; background to application for commission. Aspects of period as officer cadet at HMS King Alfred II, Hove, GB, 1942-1943: accommodation; navigation training; seamanship; question of adequacy of training. Voyage to New York, 1943. Aspects of period as officer with HMS Saker, New York, United States of America, 1943: voyage from GB to New York, United States of America; hotel accommodation at HMS Saker; American hospitality. Recollections of operations as officer aboard HMS Byron, B1 Escort Group, Nore Command and 21st Escort Group in United States of America, North Atlantic and GB coastal waters, 10/1943-5/1945: commissioning ship at Boston, United States of America, 30/10/1943; nature of Captain Class frigate; problems with cafeteria messing system and reversion to canteen messing; opinion of officers including captain Lieutenant Kenneth Southcombe; duties as watchkeeping officer; duties as supply officer; story of losing confidential codes and books; inexperience as officer; working up trials at Bermuda, 11/1943-12/1943; relation with British civilian population at Bermuda; ankle injury; period based at Londonderry, Northern Ireland; removal of American manufactured fittings; cold conditions on Arctic convoy; escorting Pipeline Under The Ocean parts round coast; story of girlfriend serving with Women's Royal Naval Service; story of collision with HMS Tanatside, 16/12/1944. REEL 3 Continues: hunter/killer anti submarine role and use of radar; opinion of Lieutenant David Reppard; evacuation of captain Lieutenant Kenneth Southcombe with appendicitis, 12/11/1944; opinion of new captain Lieutenant John Burfield; crew morale; sinking of German submarine U-1001 using Hedgehog Mortar, 8/4/1945; story of commanding boarding party and petty officer accidentally firing Lanchester Submachine gun during surrender of German submarine U-1009 at Loch Eriboll, GB, 5/1945; voyage back to return ship to United States of America, 10/1945. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Navy in GB, 1945-1947: taking assault craft to Loch Fyne; period aboard HMS Princess Iris; attitude to peacetime Royal Navy. Post-war life and employment career: work on custom and excise duty with Allied Control Commission, Germany, 1947-1949; employment with paper company; question of effects of service with Royal Navy.