Interview with Peter McSweeney

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Description

Object description

British boy seaman trained aboard HMS Caledonia at HMNB Rosyth in GB, 1937-1938; served aboard HMS Belfast, 18th Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 8/1939-11/1939; boy seaman and seaman served aboard HMS Enterprise, 4th Cruiser Sqdn in GB coastal waters, Norway, Mediterranean, North and South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 1939-1943; petty officer served as diver in GB, Malta and with Naval Party Mike in Italy, 1943-1946; various drafts with Royal Navy, 1947-1971

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Doncaster, GB, 1923-1937: family; education. Aspects of enlistment and training as boy seaman with aboard HMS Caledonia, 1937-1938: enlistment in Royal Navy, 1938; medical examination; reaction to getting into Royal Navy; reception on arrival aboard HMS Caledonia at HMNB Rosyth; role of instructors; use of hammock; food; relations between boy seaman and other seamen ranks; pattern of training; character of Rosyth Dockyard; treatment of boy seamen; attitude to prospect of war; recreational activities. Recollections of operations as boy seaman aboard HMS Belfast, 18th Cruiser Sqdn, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 8/1939-11/1939: drafting to cruiser in Portsmouth; characteristics of cruiser; degree of contact with ship's captain; mess deck; move to Scapa Flow; gunnery training on QF 4 Inch Naval Gun. REEL 2 Continues: duties on board; daily routine; rations; capture of German passenger vessel SS Cap Nord in North Atlantic, 9/10/1939; move to HMNB Rosyth; mining of ship in Firth of Forth, 21/11/1939; damage to ship; reaction to mining of ship; hearing radio broadcasting by William Joyce 'Lord Haw Haw' stating that HMS Belfast had been sunk. Recollections of period as boy seaman and seaman aboard HMS Enterprise, 4th Cruiser Sqdn in GB coastal waters, Norway, Mediterranean, North and South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 1940-1943: messing facilities; training as torpedoman; operation of torpedoes; recreational activities; convoy escort duties in South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 1941. REEL 3 Continues: action stations as boy seaman; searching for Axis submarines; ashore in Gibraltar; composition of Force H; attitude towards attack on Vichy French Navy, 3/7/1940; rapid promotion through Seaman Branch; rum ration; attitude towards potential of sinking; morale on board ship; in action off Norway, 4/1940. Aspects of period as petty officer diver at Royal Navy School of Diving, Whale Island, GB, with Naval Party Mike in Italy and Malta, 1943-1946: arrival at Royal Navy School of Diving Whale Island; character of diving suit; diving training; pressure; work carried out underwater; drafting to Fort Verdala, Malta. REEL 4 Continues: attachment to Naval Party Mike in Italy; dealing with German mines; return to Malta; story of rescuing survivors in Indian Ocean; transfer to Malta; incident of suffering from nitrogen in blood. Recollections of various draftings as petty officer and chief petty officer with Royal Navy, 1947-1971: drafting to HMS Decoy; health problems with kidneys; drafting to depot ship HMS Montclare; award of British Empire Medal; surveying wreck of HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow, 1952. REEL 5 Continues: effects of kidney problem; standing by HMS Norfolk at Swan Hunter Ltd Shipyard at Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1967-1968; changes in Royal Navy between 1937 and 1968; sea trials with HMS Norfolk, 1968; starting career after leaving Royal Navy; role as coxwain to Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth, 1960-1961; duties at HMS Terror, Singapore, Federation of Malaya, 1962; opinion of naval married quarters; attitude to having served in Royal Navy.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Interwar (content), Second World War (content), 1945-1989 (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Baker, Lindsay (Recorder)
McSweeney, Peter (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 2005-01-12
Dimensions: whole: Duration 150, Number Of Items 5
Catalogue number: 27451

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Interview with Peter McSweeney

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