Description
Object description
British officer served aboard and commanded HMS Anglia at Gibraltar, 11/1939-11/1941; served aboard HMS Argus in Mediterranean, 11/1941-5/1942; commanded HMS Valse in North Sea, 9/1942-8/1943; commanded HMS Burdock in North Atlantic and English Channel, 3/1944-6/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Goole, GB, 1917-1937: family; apprenticeship with Merchant Navy; attending nautical school; joining Humber Line Coy. Aspects of training with Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) in GB, 1938-1939: joining Royal Naval Reserve (RNR); training aboard HMS Iron Duke and HMS Antelope, 2/1938-5/1938; attending gunnery course at Devonport, 4/1939-6/1939. Recollections of operations as officer aboard and commanding HMS Anglia at Gibraltar, 11/1939-11/1941: joining Armed Boarding Vessel at Gibraltar, 11/1939; character of ship and crew; duties; discipline problem; crew accommodation on board; boarding ships; boarding and seizing cargo steamer; conversation with escaped POWs; relations with Spanish ships; boarding Spanish ship containing girls.
REEL 2 Continues: etiquette for board; picking up French naval personnel from French Fleet. Aspects of operations as officer aboard HMS Argus in Mediterranean, 11/1941-5/1942: joining aircraft carrier; participation in Malta convoys; wounding on flight deck; description of aircraft carrier; character of Captain George Philip; organisation of Malta convoys; conditions on Gibraltar; background to recall to GB, 1942. Aspects of operations commanding HMS Valse in North Sea, 9/1942-8/1943: taking command of ASW trawler, 9/1942; story of being accidentally shelled by British cruiser at night; organisation of coastal convoys; position in convoy.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations commanding HMS Burdock in North Atlantic and English Channel, 3/1944-6/1945: background to taking command of corvette, 3/1944; reaction of troops to sight of Women's Royal Naval Service personnel at Gibraltar; addition of anti-aircraft guns to ship; allowing crew to bathe; orders to provide anti-aircraft cover for Fighter Direction Tender 216 (FDT 216) during Normandy Landings, 6/1944-7/1944; arrival off coast of Normandy, France, 6/1944; torpedoing of Fighter Direction Tender 216 (FDT 216) by German Junkers Ju 88 off Cherbourg, France and rescue of survivors, 7/7/1944; question of treatment of survivors at Portsmouth, GB; dealing with cramped conditions on board; character of corvettes.
REEL 4 Continues: decommissioning ship at Rosyth, GB, 6/1945; qualities needed to captain a ship; depth charging of German submarine. Story of working with good looking member of Women's Royal Naval Service whilst Reserve Fleet Officer on cruiser HMS Emerald at Rosyth, GB, 6/1945-7/1945. Commanding corvette HMS Rushen Castle in GB coastal waters, 11/1945-12/1945. Attitude to service with Royal Navy in Second World War.