Description
Object description
British cadet served at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, GB, 9/1940-12/1940; midshipman served aboard HMS Suffolk, 1st Cruiser Sqdn and HMS Ashanti, 6th Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 2/1941-12/1942; officer served with Combined Operations in GB coastal waters and Mediterranean, 1/1943-7/1943; served aboard HMS Impulsive, 6th and 23rd Destroyer Flotillas, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, Arctic, North Atlantic and English Channel during Normandy Landings, 12/1943-2/1945; served aboard HMS Escapade, Escort Group B3 in GB coastal waters, 1945; served on shore duties at HMS Royal Arthur, Corsham, GB, 1946-1947; served with INS Venderuthty in Cochin, India, 1948-1950; served aboard HMS Loch Arkaig in GB coastal waters, 1951-1952; served with Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve at HMS Claverhouse at Leith, GB, 1952-1954; commanded HMS Tagarin in Sierra Leone, 1954-1956; served as staff officer with Joint Services Movements in Southampton, GB, 1956-1958; served with Naval Intelligence in Taiwan, 1958-1960; served with Joint Services Movements in Southampton, GB, 1960-1963; attachment to Lord Louis Mountbatten's Staff in GB, 6/1963; served with Admiralty Chemical Department, HMS Phoenix in GB, 1966-1968; served with HMS Tamar in Hong Kong, 1966-1968
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Hockcliffe, GB, 1923-1940: family; education; interest in Royal Navy whilst holiday sailing off Portland. Aspects of period as cadet at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, GB, 9/1940-12/1940: sitting civil service exam; train journey to Dartmouth; origins of cadets; arrival at college; instruction on use of hammock; instructors; accommodation; further details of instructors; daily routine and pattern of training; navigational training; alcohol consumption.
REEL 2 Continues: further details of training; question of receiving seniority; sporting activities; fate of three friends appointed to HMS Suffolk; car accident, 12/1940. Recollections of operations as midshipman aboard HMS Suffolk, 1st Cruiser Sqdn and HMS Ashanti, 6th Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 2/1941-12/1942: appointment as midshipman to HMS Suffolk, 2/1941; operational history of ship; different messes on board; joining ship on River Clyde, 2/1942; origins of midshipmen on board; behaviour of captain towards officers; story of captain's reaction to request from engineering officer; description of Scapa Flow; midshipman training; watches and stations kept.
REEL 3 Continues: description of air defence position; making 'Kai'; action station in After Director; ship's aircraft; clothing worn; personnel in After Director; description of Craig Computer; memories of director officer Lieutenant Commander Alfred Havers; convoy escort duties; stationing in Denmark Strait to monitor German battleship Bismarck's movement, 5/1941; first sighting of German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, 23/5/1941; character of ship's radar operators; opening water tight doors; duties reporting German battleship Bismarck's bearing and range.
REEL 4 Continues: role of ship shadowing German battleship Bismarck; sight of sinking of HMS Hood, 24/5/1941; reaction to stopping for survivors; loss of radar contact with German battleship Bismarck during night, 24/5/1941; opinion of German Navy; aftermath of operation to sink Bismarck; nature of operation to attack German bases in northern Norway, 7/1941; duties in charge of ship's motor cutter; ship's instructor officer; shortening of wartime training.
REEL 5 Continues: reasons for preference for small ships; stories illustrating status of midshipmen; destroyer time in HMS Ashanti; memories of captain Commander Richard Onslow; painting sold to captain Commander Richard Onslow of United States Navy destroyer at Iceland; loss of wartime paintings; return to HMS Suffolk and attending gunnery, torpedo, anti-submarine and signal courses, 11/1942-12/1942. Recollections of operations as officer with Combined Operations in GB coastal waters and Mediterranean, 1/1943-7/1943: arrival with flotilla at Westcliff-on-Sea; move to Scotland; flotilla office and accommodation.
REEL 6 Continues: setting up laundry; flotilla officers; memories of Commander Robert Ryder VC; arrival of landing craft; conditions on board Belgian Merchant Marine vessel, SS Leopoldville; description of Royal Marine manned LCA (G); embarkation of troops on board; nature of landing beach on Sicily, Italy, 7/1943; problems launching landing craft; running aground during landing of Canadian Army troops on Sicily, Italy, 7/1943; wounding of coxswain; wading ashore; request to return to general service; return voyage to GB. Recollections of operations as officer aboard HMS Implusive, 6th and 24th Destroyer Flotillas, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, Arctic, North Atlantic and English Channel during Normandy Landings, 12/1943-2/1945: appointment to destroyer at Scapa Flow, GB; visit to dentist whilst awaiting return of ship from Arctic; ship's officers.
REEL 7 Continues: reception on arrival on board; navigation; role of destroyers in escorting convoys; organisation of Arctic convoys; refuelling in Kola Inlet, Soviet Union; ashore at Polyarno, Soviet Union; participation in Convoy JW57; description of bridge of destroyer; account of sinking of HMS Maharatta by German submarine U-990 in Arctic, 25/2/1944.
REEL 8 Continues: rescue of only two survivors of HMS Maharatta, 25/2/1944; meeting of ship's officers over captain Lieutenant Commander Philip Bekenn's behaviour during HMS Maharatta rescue and subsequent apparent lack of interest from admiral at Scapa Flow, GB; removal of captain and arrival of new captain; memories of Captain Charles Battersby; duties escorting troopships across North Atlantic prior to invasion of Normandy, France; joining armada for D-Day; transporting Major-Generals Miles Dempsey and Frederick Browning during Normandy Landings, D-Day, 6/6/1944.
REEL 9 Continues: reads extract from book relating to Convoy JW57 and sinking HMS Maharatta, 25/2/1944; burials of sea; story of burial at sea in which body did not initially sink; zig-zagging course at sea; chart provided for Operation Neptune; location of ship off Sword Beach, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944; role of Royal Artillery bombardment officer attached to ship; memories of Major-General Miles Dempsey; sight of landings on Sword Beach, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944; landing Major-Generals Miles Dempsey and Frederick Browning ashore by motor boat; use of churches to aid navigation; sinking of HMS Isis; opinion of planning for Operations Overlord and Neptune.
REEL 10 Continues: Aspects of operations as officer aboard HMS Escapade, Escort Group B3 in GB coastal waters, 1945: description of Hedgehog Mortar; reasons for previous damage to ship by firing of Hedgehog Mortar; memories of captain Lieutenant Commander Home Kidston; rounding up German submarines, 5/1945; anti-submarine exercises after end of war; conflict with captain Lieutenant Commander Home Kidston over designation of cabins; captain's relations with officers; reaction to VE Day, 8/5/1945; question of chances of promotion at end of Second World War; leaving ship, 1945. Recollections of various appointments as officer with Royal Navy in GB, India, Sierre Leone, Taiwan and Hong Kong, 1945-1968: training petty officers and ratings at HMS Royal Arthur Corsham, 1946-1947; attachment to Indian Navy.
REEL 11 Continues: fate of captain Lieutenant Commander Charles Battersby; duties at INS Venduruthy, Royal Indian Navy at Cochin, India, 1948-1950; appointment to HMS Loch Arkaig, 1951-1952; attending anti-submarine training course; shore duties with Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve at HMS Claverhouse in Leith, GB, 1952-1954; memories of Philip Mountbatten, later Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; appointment to and duties commanding HMS Targarin, Sierra Leone, 1954-1956; running down of naval facilities; start of diamond mining in Sierra Leone.
REEL 12 Continues: rejection of offer to smuggle diamonds back to GB; intelligence role in Sierra Leone; appointment to Joint Services Movements at Southampton, GB, 1956-1958; training for intelligence role in Taiwan; naval intelligence role in Taiwan, 1958-1960; description of Taiwan; attitude of Americans to his presence in Taiwan; consequences of overstaying pass; dinner with General and Madame Chiang Kai Shek; attending unveiling of statue to General Claire Chennault.
REEL 13 Continues: American facilities in Taiwan; trips to Hong Kong; opinion of General Chiang Kai Shek; return to Joint Services Movements in Southampton, GB, 1961-1963; work for Lord Louis Mountbatten with Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) officials, 6/1963; final dinner with Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) officials and insult to Iranian party; opinion of Lord Louis Mountbatten; meeting with Lady Edwina Mountbatten; appointment as training officer and senior instructor at Admiralty Chemical Department at HMS Phoenix, Portsmouth, GB, 1963-1965; role of establishment.
REEL 14 Continues: appointment to HMS Tamar in Hong Kong, 1966-1968; role and duties; relations with Chinese staff; attitude to leaving Royal Navy, 1968; return to civilian life; memories of sunken French Navy destroyer Maillé Brézé in River Clyde, 1941; story of civil unrest in Sierra Leone