Description
Object description
British radar operator served aboard HMS Ledbury, 6th Destroyer Flotilla on Arctic convoys and in Mediterranean, 1940-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Battersea, London and Radcliffe, Bury, 1922-1940: family background and social circumstances; education; Boys Brigade activities; work as clerk with Royal Engineers Record Office and Chatham and Brighton, 1938-1939; outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; blackout; activities with St John's Ambulance Brigade and duties with rescue team; move with REPO to Radcliffe, 1940; deployment following German bombing with SJA Rescue Team to Manchester; background to enlistment into Royal Navy, 7/1941. Period with HMS Raleigh Shore Station, Torpoint, 7/1941-10/1941: assessment tests and ejecting posting to Fleet Air Arm; reception; hut accommodation; kitting out; infantry training and drill; seamanship training; gunnery training; relationship with instructors and recruits. Period attending radar course at HMS Victory Barracks, Portsmouth, 11/1941-3/1942.
REEL 2 Continues: electrical training; plotting radar contacts; fixed aerial radar set; identifying relevant radar contacts; story of visits to Brighton; volunteering for ship. Recollections of period as ordinary seaman aboard HMS Ledbury, 6th Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet, 2/1942-: joining ship at Southampton; nature of ship; mess deck; sea trials; sponsorship of flotilla by wealthy US woman; working up trials; prevailing scepticism on radar; escorting HMS Victorious during her trials and rescue of ditched pilot; escorting HF at sea and difficulty in keeping up in rough weather; duties as bridge messenger and watch system; action stations on 291 set in radar office; role escorting refuelling tanker during Arctic convoys; view of HMS Onslow following action; question of seasickness; sea keeping characteristics of ship; canteen messing system; rum ration.
REEL 3 Continues: washing clothes; bathroom and latrines; recreations; paper chase and visits to canteen ashore at Scapa Flow; story of acting as close escort to Convoy PQ17, 7/1942, including situation, strength of escort, threat from Tirpitz, ban on using radar, attacks by Heinkel torpedo bombers, orders to scatter convoy, arrival of cruiser escort, abandonment of convoy to pursue Tirpitz and discovery Tirpitz was still in port, refuelling and realisation of consequences of abandoning convoy; Arctic conditions including frost bitten ears, chipping off ice and ditched Walrus; question of justification of escort abandoning Convoy PQ17; threat posed by Tirpitz; question of air cover for Arctic convoys
REEL 4 Continues: boiler clean at Rosyth; leave; issue of tropical kit. Recollections of Operation Pedestal convoy to Malta, 7/1942-8/1942: story of Sunderland flying boat accidentally shot down while flying over convoy and rescue of crew; composition of escort and convoy; story of subsequent meeting with survivors of Sunderland crew; entry into Gibraltar and visits ashore; promotion to able seaman; increase in operational use of radar; sinking of HMS Eagle; story of failed attempt to board surfaced Italian submarine; air attacks and casualties from premature shell burst; radar office; increased air attacks and damage to HMS Indomitable; threat from Italian Fleet and retirement of battleships; successful attacks by German submarines on HMS Cairo, HMS Nigeria and Ohio; German parachute mines; detachment to rescue survivors from HMS Manchester; location of Italian destroyers on radar and subsequent action; opinion of Lieutenant Commander Roger Hill.
REEL 5 Continues: rejoining convoy after escorting Ohio; attack by Stukas and explosion following hit on Waimarama; rescue of survivors from Waimarama and treatment of burn victims; discovery of abandoned Ohio; taking Ohio under tow; Stuka attacks; method of towing Ohio; reception on arrival at Grand Harbour, Valetta; importance of fuel cargo aboard Ohio; anchorage in French Creek; high level German bombing raids; visit ashore; carrying survivors from various ships during voyage back to Gibraltar; attack by Italian Savoya torpedo bombers including radar directed anti-aircraft fire, close escape from torpedoes and success in shooting down Savoya; question of early repatriation of survivors; return to GB. Period based in GB, 9/1942-11/1942: attempt by Lieutenant Commander Roger Hill to secure refit at Portsmouth; refit at Grimsby; opinion of Lieutenant Commander Dennis Murdoch. Aspects of Russian convoys, 11/1942: rough weather conditions.
REEL 6 Continues: detachment from convoy escort. Aspects of operations in Mediterranean and Adriatic, 12/1942-1945: preference of Mediterranean service; movements; role supporting Operation Husky landings on Sicily, 7/1943 including case of friendly fire on gliders, high level bombing attack and move into Syracuse harbour; role supporting US landings at Salerno, Italy, 9/1943, including firing at German tanks, use of experimental HFDF equipment to detect E-Boat wireless traffic; move into Naples harbour; health problems; story of US aircraft bombing Vesuvius; move to Adriatic; shore base at Taranto; reports of German bomb hitting ship carrying cargo of mustard gas; escorting HMS Roberts during shore bombardment and close escape from German torpedo bomber attack; Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) radar system and story of encounter with Wellington; promotion to leading seaman; role as coxswain of motorboat; detachment for shore bombardment of Ritso, Albania including identifying star shell on radar and question of use of IFF; move into Aegean; continuation of German resistance on Greek islands and search for rumoured 6-inch gun.
REEL 7 Landing with Greek soldiers on island occupied by German troops; state of German prisoners taken on ship; shortage of supplies aboard ship prior to reprovisioning; crew morale; return to GB, ca 11/1945; leave; decommissioning of ship. Period in Collingwood Barracks, Portsmouth, 1945-1946: rejection of possibility of commission; demobilisation, 3/1946. Post-war career: decision not to return to work in record office; training and career as male nurse; effects of war service; membership and role as chairman of North Russia Club.
