Description
Object description
British chief ordnance artificer and warrant ordnance officer served aboard HMS Caliope, HMS Ramillies, HMS York, HMS Cumberland, HMS Sheffield, HMS Diomede, HMS Greenwich, HMS Philoctetes and HMS Euryalus, 1924-1945.
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of training as ordnance artificer with Royal Navy in GB, 1919-1924: story of joining training establishment HMS Indus, 8/1919; description of ships, accommodation and messing arrangements; use of two ironclads as workshops; location of establishment at Wilcove on River Tamar; opted for ordnance branch and posted to training establishment HMS Fisgard, Portsmouth, 1/1920; comparison to HMS Indus; description of HMS Terrible and use as gym and class rooms for apprentices; accommodation and facilities for officers and ships company; workshops sited aboard ironclads HMS Hercules and HMS Bellerophon; story of wooden ship HMS Hindustan being broken up; location of HMS Fisgard in Portsmouth harbour; amusing story about fire alarm; description of training stripping and refitting engines and boilers on steam pinnaces; story about propeller and shaft coming off; amusing story about apprentices falling into water during swimming competition; completed apprenticeship and passed out, 12/1923; further 6 months naval gunnery training on Whale Island; posted to naval barracks at Chatham, 1924. Aspects of period aboard HMS Caliope, 8/1924-1/1927: description of ship and armaments; assigned to 2nd Cruiser Sqdn with Home Fleet; description of cruises to Baltic; story of seeing explorer Roald Amundsen at Christiania; exercises and gunnery practice; story of wrong setting causing dummy torpedo to return; sailed to Gibraltar for combined manoeuvres with Home and Mediterranean Fleets; description of searchlight display by combined forces in Palma Bay, Majorca; story of going to help collier off Portland Bill and problem of seasickness; drafted to HMS Ramillies at Devonport, 1/1927. Aspects of period aboard HMS Ramillies, 1/1927-9/1929: problem of ship being unheated; accommodation; 3 months preparation for service; description of ship; chosen as guard ship for Cowes Regatta and reviewed by King and Queen; story of testing gas masks in tropical conditions in West Africa; amusing story about shore leave in Freetown and native Charlie Brown; shore leave in French Riviera; story about Royal Oak bandmaster and court martial of captains; story of meeting Admiral Kelly in shop in Gibraltar; sailed to Grecian Islands and toured ancient sites in Piraeus; story about explosion in gun turret aboard HMS Devonshire and casualties; opinion of living conditions at base in Malta; paid off at Devonport, 9/1929. Aspects of period aboard HMS York, 9/1929-1933: description of ship; story of Invergordon Mutiny and reaction of crew aboard HMS York, 9/1931; story of Admiral Sir John Kelly speaking to crew aboard HMS York and his role in resolving Mutiny; effect of Mutiny on prestige and morale in Royal Navy; story of visit by Duke and Duchess of York to Chatham; description of voyage across Atlantic to Trinidad in heavy seas and bad weather; problem of jelly fish in Trinidad harbour; ship's speed and length of time to reach West Indies; story of stoker contracting cerebral spinal meningitis and quarantining of ship in Trinidad; returned to GB; marriage; wife's attitude to press coverage of meningitis outbreak aboard HMS York; drafted to HMS Cumberland, 1933. Aspects of period aboard HMS Cumberland on China Station, 1933-1935: description of ship and summer base at Weihhaiwei, Shandong Province; facilities; gunnery practice and exercises; off duty visits to various sites in China.
REEL 2 Continues: description of daily civilian life in China; role of ship on guard duty at Hankow; problem of entering Japanese waters; various memories of Tokyo; description of winter base in Hong Kong; returned to GB and paid off, 1935; description of duties in workshops at Chatham Barracks; drafted with advance party to HMS Sheffield, 1936. Aspects of period aboard HMS Sheffield, HMS Warspite. HMS Diomede and HMS Greenwich, 1936-1941: sea trials; description of HMS Sheffield and fittings; story of taking Guards Band to Antwerp, 1938; story of King George VI visiting HMS Sheffield at Portland; story of Fleets being raised to full war compliment following Munich Crisis, 1938; sailed aboard liner Aquitania to join HMS Warspite in Alexandria, Egypt; returned to GB and joined HMS Diomede to work on armaments; drafted to HMS Greenwich at Scapa Flow, Scotland; description of air raid and damage to HMS Iron Duke; story of visit by Winston Churchill; weather conditions; story of meeting survivor from Royal Oak; description of wildlife at Scapa Flow; issued with insect repellent to combat problem of midges; story of German First World War battle cruiser Derfflinger being salvaged; drafted to HMS Philoctetes in Belfast, end of 1941. Aspects of period aboard HMS Philoctetes and HMS Euryalus, 1942-1945: description of HMS Philoctetes and workshops; accommodation; sailed to Freetown, 1/1942; role of HMS Philoctetes as depot and repair ship; story of taking aboard survivors from torpedoed ship; promoted from chief ordnance artificer to warrant ordnance officer; further training in GB; joined transport ship RMS Strathaird in troop convoy to Port Suez; drafted to HMS Euryalus; description of ship and actions in Mediterranean; story of escorting HMS Cleopatra and HMS Warspite after being damaged by enemy fire; description of living conditions in Malta during siege; HMS Euryalus returned to GB for refit; story of last trip escorting Duke and Duchess of Gloucester's ship to Australia, 12/1944, description of Christmas Day celebrations in Malta; joined British Pacific Fleet at Trincomalee; role of HMS Euryalus as escort for carriers sailing to oil refineries at Palembang; story of spending 6 days on US naval base on Admiralty Islands; description of voyage back to GB aboard Stirling Castle; amusing story about gunnery exercise in Pacific; in Bermuda on VE Day, 5/1945; reason for ship maintaining blackout during voyage following end of war.
