Craig, James (Oral history)

British seaman served in GB and Mediterranean, 1936-1952

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Stirling, 1921-1935: family background and social circumstances; education; recreations; Boys Brigade activities; maritime interests; background to volunteering to join Royal Navy, 11/1936; mother's reaction. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine at HMS Ganges Shore Station, Shotley, 11/1936-9/1937: prior journey; reception including first meal, kitting out; initial annexe accommodation; sewing name on kit; drill; boat drill; barrack room accommodation; morning routine; cleaning barrack room. REEL 2 Continues: food rations; divisional inspection parade; education classes; seamanship training; cutters and whalers; masthead drill; rifle training; PT and swimming test; boxing; 6-inch gun drill; basic signal training; preparing for kit inspections; relationship with boy recruits and instructors. REEL 3 canteen; question of recreational visits to Shotley and Harwich; pay; leave; examinations; pay; passing out parade; field gun demonstration at summer fair. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine as boy seaman aboard HMS Revenge based at Devonport, 9/1937-12/1937: question of home port; first impressions of ship; midships boys; messdeck and hammocks; cleaning decks and polishing brasswork; general messing system and role of cook of mess; food; action stations training as rangefinder in 'A' 15-inch gun turret; director system; morning divisions; working parties; focsle party duties including anchors and cables. REEL 4 Continues: role of duty watch; question of visits ashore to Devonport; question of seasickness. Recollections of period as boy seaman aboard HMS Royal Oak, 2nd Battle Sqdn, Home Fleet, 12/1937-6/1939: first impressions on joining ship at Devonport; discipline; move to Rosyth; story of being late back from leave; punishments; segregation of boy seamen; latrines and showers; washing clothes; relationship with boy seamen, instructors and officers; recreational trips organised by padre; action stations as reserve rangefinder on 'A' 15-inch gun turret; optics course; story of dropping paint on deck while painting foremast; exercises during HF cruise in Mediterranean, 2/1938; view of air raid whilst in harbour at Palma, Majorca; gunnery exercises and effect of 15-inch gun firing. REEL 5 Continues: joint Home and Mediterranean Fleet exercises based at Gibraltar; regatta races; visits ashore; return to Plymouth; summer cruise around GB coast including 'showing the flag', open days and exercises; damage control including use of collision mats, shoring up bulkheads and fire fighting; striking top mast to avoid hitting Forth bridge; leave; exercises; ship maintenance and painting ship; continuation training; fleet review mobilisation, 1938; story of arrest of sailor with Irish Republican Army <IRA> sympathies for smuggling revolver; move into seamen's mess as ordinary seaman, 4/1939; specialisation as gunnery control rating; early summer leave, 7/1939; end of ship's commission, 6/1939; subsequent reaction to sinking of ship, 10/1939. REEL 6 Periods in barracks, 6/1939-7/1939. Period aboard HMS Mackay, 7/1939-8/1939: comparison of lifestyle on destroyer and battleship; role attached to submarine flotilla based at Dundee; role as rangefinder trainer; recreational visits ashore; recall to Plymouth on approach of war. Period in HMS Drake Barracks, Plymouth, 8/1939: reactions to ammunition working parties on submarine and aircraft carrier; reactions to approach of war. Recollections of service aboard HMS Renown, 8/1939-11/1940: first impressions on joining ship at Portsmouth; crew morale; question of adequacy of armour; news of outbreak of war during move to Rosyth, 3/9/1939; action station as rangefinder trainer for dual purpose 4.5-inch gun twin turrets and raging on aircraft; working up exercises in North Sea; night exercises and use of star shell; move to join Force H at Gibraltar, ca 11/1939. REEL 7 Continues: composition of Force H; role escorting convoys; return to Rosyth, 4/1940; situation; sweeps in North Sea; rolling in rough weather; encounter with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at Battle of Lofoten Islands, 4/1940, including damage from 11-inch shells, question of adequacy of armour and role as loader with crew of 4.5-inch turret; repairs at Rosyth dockyard; effects of promotion to able seaman, 2/1940; patrols in South Atlantic looking for German ship Graf Spee and ruse to ensure its destruction at Montevideo; return to Force H at Gibraltar; qualification as gun control rating; training on introduction of radar sets; volunteering for destroyer service, 11/1940. Recollections of service aboard HMS Faulkner, 8th Destroyer Flotilla in Mediterranean, Atlantic and Arctic, 1940-1942: reception on joining ship at Gibraltar, 11/1940; role screening Force H. REEL 8 Continues: anti-submarine patrols in Gibraltar Straits; watch system; cruising station duties; on 4.7-inch gun and bridge lookout; ship and aircraft recognition; duties of sea boat's crew including story of rescuing ditched Swordfish crew from Ark Royal; routine cleaning and maintenance duties; recreations and studying seamanship manual; canteen messing system and food; cocoa; rum rations; relationship with ratings, petty officers and officers; crew morale; opinion of 'Hostilities Only' ratings; role escorting Force H and convoys into Mediterranean; story of clash and subsequent pursuit of Italian Fleet. REEL 9 Continues: action stations on rangefinder trainer; attempt to intercept convoy from Southern France and consequent entry into Vichy French territorial waters; high level Italian air attacks including problems with AA armament, bombers concentration on HMS Ark Royal and question of accuracy; Italian torpedo bomber attacks and sinking of HMS Foresight; German air attacks; nature of Malta convoys including German air attacks, E- Boat attacks, attempts to obscure destination, merchant ship losses, question of fatigue, success in hitting torpedo bomber, threat of mines entering Grand Harbour, Valetta, stores carried on upper deck, sheltering in caves during German air attacks during visit ashore and return trip to Gibraltar; personal morale; various convoy destinations and sweeps; U Boat threat to Freetown convoys; opinion of Captain Anthony de Sallis. REEL 10 Continues: opinion of Lieutenant Commander E G May; story of HMS Malaya deterring German pocket battleship; role on early promotion to leading seaman running focsle mess; stories illustrating role as coxswain of motorboat and sea boat; Pedestal convoy; role escorting HMS Warspite during shore bombardment of Genoa, Italy; story of successfully intercepting German supply ship in Atlantic including released British POWs and treatment of German POWs; effect of water below deck in bad weather; recreations ashore at Gibraltar; hospitalisation with stomach complaint; reactions to recall of ship for Russian convoys based at Scapa Flow, 1942. REEL 11 Continues: necessity for refit. Escorting convoy back to GB, 10/1942, including story of HMS Malaya deterring German pocket battleship and U Boat contacts; nature of refit at Southampton, 10/1942; sea trials at Scapa Flow; role of high angle AA director team; changes to armament; escort role on Atlantic convoys; effects of rough weather and cases of men lost overboard. Recollections of period on JW and PQ Russian convoys, 1942-1943: effects of cold conditions and clothes worn; collections of convoy off Iceland; size of escort and convoy; route; German reconnaissance aircraft; ice and sea mists; U Boat attacks; danger from drifting mines; opinion of Captain Alan Scott Moncrieff; situation on reaching Soviet Union; recreations during visits ashore at Polyarnoe; exchange visits aboard Soviet ships. REEL 12 Continues: return convoys; cases of ships lost; question of picking up survivors; longer summer daylight hours and consequent increased German air attacks; reports of PQ 17 Convoy disaster and subsequent increased escorts; nature of German torpedo-bomber attacks on PQ18 including success of anti-aircraft barrage and personal morale; temporary suspension of convoys; fast convoys; cold weather; relationship with Icelandic civilians during visits ashore. Recollections of operations in Mediterranean based at Gibraltar and Alexandria, Egypt, , 1943-1944: escort duties on Malta convoys and comparison with Atlantic convoys duty; operations in Dodecanese Islands; successful attacks on German convoy; escorting surrendered Italian Fleet into Alexandria. REEL 13 Continues: invasions of Sicily and Italy; shore bombardments and role of naval liaison officers; minimal casualties aboard ship; anti-E-Boat patrols based on Isle of Capua; bombardment in support of Anzio landings; German glider bomb attacks; exchanges of fire with German shore batteries; view of eruption of Mount Vesuvius; background to leaving ship. Recollections of period as range taking petty officer aboard HMS Jarvis in GB coastal waters and off Normandy, 4/1944-9/1944: nature of ship; petty officers' mess and role of messman; opinion of Captain Roger Hill; return to GB; working up exercises at Scapa Flow; radar and wireless direction finding sets; move to Portsmouth; preparations and briefings for D Day. REEL 14 Continues: question of secrecy; view of invasion fleet during Channel crossing; shore bombardment prior to troops landing, 6/6/1944; opinion of Dutch gunnery officer Lieutenant Gluykens; view of Canadian troops landing; shore bombardments under control of NLO; personal morale; German air attacks including magnetic mines dropped and close escape from bombs; anti-E-Boat patrols; story of coming under fire from German shore battery during mission with HMS Faulkner to Channel Islands; role escorting minesweepers; return for refit and decommissioning at Belfast, Northern Ireland, 9/1944. Period at Drake Barracks, Plymouth, 9/1944-4/1945: radar course; role as instructor teaching officers at gunnery school; personal morale; reactions to posting to HMS Newcastle in Far East. Voyage aboard Neue Amsterdam to Australia, 4/1945-5/1945: VE day celebrations, 8/5/1945. REEL 15 Continues: difficulty in locating HMS Newcastle. Period at HMS Golden Hind Shore Station, Sydney Racecourse, Australia, 5/1945-6/1945: pay; departure of HMS Newcastle for GB; work on Admiral's staff; relationship with Australian civilians. Period aboard HMS Howe, 6/1945-3/1946: conditions; refit with improves AA armament at Durban, South Africa; VJ Day, 8/1945; relationship with South African civilians; action stations on radar fire control equipment in transmitting station; 'showing the flag' tour around Indian Ocean; return to GB, 4/1946; question of remaining in RN. Review of naval career, 1946-1952: period at HMS Drake Barracks, Plymouth, 1946; period aboard HMS Fame based at Londonderry, NI, 1946-1948; question of accelerated promotion and temporary ranks during war; period at HMS Drake Barracks, Plymouth, 1948-1949; marriage; period aboard HMS Euralyus in Mediterranean, 1949-1950; period aboard HMS Vigo, 1950-1952; reactions to extension of service due to Korean War and consequent decision to leave RN; period at HMS Drake Barracks, Plymouth and aboard HMS Cadiz, 1952; demobilisation, 10/1952. Post-service career: work as insurance agent and manager of gas company; membership of Royal Naval Association.