Description
Object description
British seaman served aboard HMS Louis operating in Atlantic, Mediterranean and Western Approaches, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Barking, 1925-1942: social circumstances; education; learning bricklaying; work as apprentice carpenter; outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; suspension of building work; clerical work at chemical works; landmine blast damage to home; Anderson shelter; blackout; recreations; rationing; fire watching at chemical works; German air raids and personal morale; background to volunteering to join Royal Navy, 3/1943. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine at HMS Collingwood, Gosport, 3/1943-6/1943: reception; vaccinations; hut accommodation; delayed issue of uniform; food rations; drill; seamanship training.
REEL 2 Continues: rifle raining; assault course; PT; guard duties; kit and hut inspections; relationship with recruits and instructors; canteen; recreational visits to Gosport; aptitude tests and assignment for training as gunner. Period of training as anti-aircraft gunner at HMS Excellent Shore Station at Whale Island and Southport, ca 6/1943-8/1943: nature of discipline; pistol, Lewis gun and Sten gun training; gun drill on 8 barrelled pom-pom; firing at drogues; training on Oerlicken and twin Bofors; aircraft recognition; Oerlicken simulation trainer; deflection shooting and use of sights.
REEL 3 later introduction of tachometric sight. Voyage aboard Queen Elizabeth to New York, US, 10/1943: question of US posting and secrecy; conditions; duties on AA guns; presence of Lord Halifax; question of seasickness; first impressions of New York. Period at HMS Saker Shore Station, Asbury Park, 10/1943-11/1943: hotel billets; guarding cells; recreational visits to New York and US hospitality. Recollections of period at Boston, 11/1943-12/1943: waiting for completion of ship; reactions to racial segregation; relationship with US sailors; first impression of HMS Louis and question of all welded construction; speed of completion of ship; commissioning ceremony. Recollections of initial period aboard HMS Louis, 12/1943: messdecks including bunks and question of US facilities; action stations on Oerlicken gun and depth charges; cleaning and stoppage clearance in Oerlicken gun.
REEL 4 Continues: cleaning ship; lookout duties on bridge; watch system; seasickness during working up tirals, 12/1943; ship's rolling and effect of rough seas; working up trials at Bermuda; question of inability to swim; joint shore patrol with US sailors and visits ashore at Bermuda; escorting convoy from Argentia, Newfoundland to GB, 1/1944, including dropping back to escort tank landing craft, ship's rolling, effects of rough weather and seasickness. Recollection so period with 15th Escort Group based at Pollock Dock, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1/1943-6/1945: shore leave and question of precautions against IRA activity; refit; anti-submarine training exercises; uniform; food; cocoa; rum ration.
REEL 5 Continues: rum ration; escorting Atlantic convoys, 4/1944-5/1944, including sings of approach to land, importance of proper disposal of rubbish and effects of rough weather conditions; screening and escort operations during D Day operations in English Channel, 6/1944; anti-submarine patrols and sinking of U445 in Mediterranean, 24/8/1944; use of hedgehog mortars; rumour of 1 ton depth charges; nature of anti-submarine patrols off Scottish and Irish coasts; relationship with lower deck; recreations ashore at Belfast; daily routine; latrines and laundry; importance of hygiene; relationship with leading semen and officers; duties as officers' steward.
REEL 6 Continues: home leave in Barking; Vi riads; escort duty with convoy JW61 to Murmansk, Soviet Union, 10/1944, including special clothing, size of escort, aircraft carriers, cold conditions, absence of German attacks and impressions of visit ashore at Polyarnoe; return convoy RA61 to GB, 11/1944; anti-submarine patrols; hedgehog mortars; action station duties on depth charges; personal morale; effects of rough weather conditions; continuation of sea patrols after VE Day, 8/5/1945; paying off and reactions to leaving ship, 6/1945. Period at HMS Victory Barracks, Portsmouth, 6/1945-8/1945. Period at HMS Golden Hind Shore Station, Sydney, Australia, 9/1945-11/1945: voyage out, 8/1945.
REEL 7 Continues: voyage out and reaction to news of atomic bomb, 8/1945. Period as gunner aboard Admiralty Floating Dock 17 at Sydney, 11/1945-5/1946: composition of crew; move to be serviced in dock; recreations ashore; pistol training; question of demobilisation. Voyage back aboard HMS Indefatigable to GB, 5/1946: food stores carried; guard duties and stealing from food stores; prickly heat; reception on arrival home. Demobilisation, 9/1946. Post-war career: work as bricklayer; question of acclimatisation to civilian lifestyle; question of emigration; building own house; attitude to membership of service associations.
