Description
Object description
British Engine Room Assistant served aboard HMS Blankney in Arctic, North Atlantic, English Channel, North Sea and Mediterranean, 1942-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Crewe, 1917-1941: social circumstances; education; work as apprentice plater in Railway Works, 1932-1938; membership of Boilermakers' Union; work as qualified plater for various engineering firms and shipyards in North West region, 1938-1939; musical activities; work as semi-skilled polisher working on engines at Rolls Royce Aircraft Factory, 1939-1940; question of men actively seeking reserved occupation status; initial failed attempts to join Royal Navy due to reserved occupation status; communal air raid shelter; German air raids; rationing.
REEL 2 Continues; background to call up, ca 1/1942. Period on basic training as stoker at Malvern, 1/1942-2/1942: question of status as semi-skilled polisher rather than qualified plater; barracks accommodation; drill; dental treatment; vaccinations; PT; relationship with recruits and instructors. Period at Drake Barracks, Devonport, 3/1942: trade test as plater; qualification as Engine Room Artificer. Recollections of service as ERA aboard HMS Blankney, 1942-1946: joining ship at Scapa Flow, 4/1942; nature of mess deck; hammocks; watch system and duties in engine room.
REEL 3 Continues: training in boiler and engine room certificates under supervision of Engine Room Officer Tiffin; examples of repair work required when in harbour; opinion of various officers including Captain Powlett and Lieutenant Welsh; crew morale and discipline; canteen messing and food; rum ration; cocoa; tobacco ration; recreations and question of gambling; ERA's mess.
REEL 4 Continues: musical and concert party activities; ablutions; washing clothes; condensation problem; putting out stabilizers; seasickness; flank escort role during Russian convoy PQ16, 5/1942; effects of cold weather conditions; repairing boiler room water gauges; stripping and cleaning boilers in harbour; escorting convoy to Malta, 6/1942; German air attacks; action stations in boiler room; story of making smoke during clash with Italian Fleet off Pantelleria, 15/6/1942; effects of damage to fan maintaining boiler room pressure; method of making smoke.
REEL 5 Continues: communication between bridge and engine room and response to orders on telegraph and revolutions dial; manoeuvring necessary due to attacks on convoy during Operation Harpoon, 6/1942; problems with minefield and sinking of polish destroyer on entering Malta harbour; German air attacks on Malta; oiling ship; visits ashore at Malta; personal morale; leave ashore at Gibraltar; move to Scapa Flow, 6/1942; distant cover role with during Convoy PQ17, 6/1942; problems with ice on upper deck; role escorting Convoy PQ18 to Archangel, Soviet Union; question of boredom and fatigue; picking up survivors from Convoy PQ17; visits ashore at Archangel and relationship with Soviet civilians; damage in collision with Soviet ferry.
REEL 6 Continues: convoys in Arctic and White Sea including clash with German destroyers off Norway and escorting aircraft carrier; visits to canteen at Scapa Flow; question of fights; exams prior to qualification for engine room certificate and promotion to chief petty officer.1943; engine room watch duty; development of links between ship and Nantwich; visits on leave to Nantwich council as local man; escorting Convoy KMF17 to Algiers; attachment to 58th Destroyer Division escorting Canadian troops during landing and advance along coast during operations in Sicily, 7/1943, including story of firing at German tank, surrender of Pozzallo and minor collision with HMS Brissenden; repairs at Malta; story of arriving early off Salerno prior to invasion of Italy, 9/1943.
REEL 7 Continues: story of close escape from Stuka dive bomb attacks off Salerno, 9/1943; shore bombardment during Salerno landings, 9/1943; precautions required in engine room when firing main armament; escorting convoys in Mediterranean based at Malta, 1943-1944; relationships with soldiers; story of sinking of U371, 4/5/1944; effects of depth charges; opinion of Lieutenant Commander Bromley; opinion of Engine Room Officer Kinilato and ERAs; boiler clean at Portsmouth, 5/1944; story of escaping being disciplined for leaving ship when technically on duty in harbour, 5/1944; opinion of Lieutenant Brown; role covering D-Day landings, 6/6/1944; reports of accidental RAF attack on British minesweepers.
REEL 8 Continues: view of Normandy beachheads; role escorting troop ferryboats; to Ostend including submarine contacts and story of captain's loud hailer exchanges with ferrys; period based at Sheerness; refit in preparation for Far East service at Simonstown, South Africa, 7/1945; refit in Liverpool, 11/1944; use of German boat to check for mines on entrance to French port; VE Day celebrations, 8/5/1945; reaction to question of Far East service; return to GB, 12/1945; period at Simonstown, 7/1945-12/1945; role as ERA mess caterer and operation of canteen messing system; preparing ship for Reserve Fleet. Demobilisation, 7/1946. Post-war career: work as engineer at gas works and dairy; effects of war service; membership of Royal Naval Assocation.
