Description
Object description
British boy signaller trained as HMS St Vincent, Gosport, GB, 1931; served aboard HMS Rodney in GB coastal waters, 1931-1932; served aboard HMS Dorsetshire in GB coastal waters and West Indies, 1932-1933; signaller served aboard HMS Basilisk in Mediterranean, 1933-1936; served aboard HMS Eclipse and HMS Echo in GB coastal waters, 1936-1937; petty officer served aboard HMS Maori in GB coastal waters, Mediterranean and Atlantic, 1938-1942 including sinking at Malta, 2/1942; Yeoman served on staff of Rear Admiral Destroyers in Mediterranean, 1942-1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1914-1931: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training as boy signaller with Royal Navy at HMS St Vincent, Gosport, 1931: background to enlistment; accommodation and messing at HMS St Vincent; pattern of training; discipline; contact with home; uniform worn; duties as bugler. Aspects of period as boy signaller aboard HMS Rodney in GB coastal waters, 1931-1932: accommodation; signalling duties; situation on board ship during Invergordon Mutiny, 1931. Aspects of period as boy signaller aboard HMS Dorsetshire in GB coastal waters and West Indies, 1932-1933: opinion of service on board; taking deep sea swimming test; exercises off Gibraltar. Aspects of period as signaller aboard HMS Basilisk in Mediterranean, 1933-1936: drafting to ship; destroyer service; life on board.
REEL 2 Continues: character of messing arrangements; organisation of Communications Branch; watch system operated; action station; role of destroyer. Aspects of period as signaller aboard HMS Eclipse and HMS Echo, 1936-1937: drafting to HMS Eclipse; transfer to HMS Echo on promotion to leading signaller; duties as leading signaller. Aspects of period as signaller with Dockyard Signals Station at Devonport, GB, 1938: drafting to station; attitude to service. Recollections of operations as petty officer aboard HMS Maori in GB coastal waters, Mediterranean, during Norwegian campaign and Atlantic, 1938-1942: standing by ship at Govan, 10/1938; leaking of ship during gale in Irish Sea; conditions on board ship; outbreak of Second World War at Alexandria, 3/9/1939; personal morale during action.
REEL 3 Continues: joining flotilla at Rosyth; duties in North Sea; story of hospitalisation of commander; operating off Norway, 1940; casualties; marriage during leave on return to Rosyth; opening of sealed orders at sea; escorting convoy in Atlantic; reports that Bismarck was heading into Atlantic, 1941; orders to hunt for Bismarck; engaging Bismarck, 5/1941; weather conditions; torpedo attack on Bismarck; effects of damage to Bismarck; under fire from Bismarck; final torpedoing of Bismarck.
REEL 4 Continues: witnessing HMS Dorsetshire torpedoing Bismarck; sight of Bismarck sinking, 5/1941; atmosphere on board after sinking of Bismarck; treatment of survivors of Bismarck; return to Mediterranean, 1942; night time clash with Italian convoy; sinking of HMS Maori by German bomber in Grand Harbour, Valetta, Malta, 12/2/1942. Aspects of period as Yeoman on staff of Rear Admiral Destroyers in Mediterranean, 1942-1944: drafting to staff after period at signals station in Malta; drafting to HMS Woolwich; transfer to HMS Jervis; duties in Mediterranean including landings on Italian mainland; damage to HMS Jervis bows from German bombers off Anzio and subsequent voyage down to Naples; how he came to leave destroyer service; return to GB, 1945.
REEL 5 Continues: treatment by Customs officials on return to GB. Demobilisation and return to civilian life, 1945 including receiving demob suit. Reflections on service with Royal Navy, 1939-1945: difficulty of being separated from family; leave; adjusting to civilian life on leaving navy; details of civilian employment; things he missed about naval service; membership of Royal Naval Association; story of resigning as Chairman of Royal Naval Association.