Indian Ocean

The Last Great Destroyer Flotilla Action

The rest of the flotilla were allocated attacking sectors as follows: Virago from the SW, Saumarez from the...

Operation Jurist and the end of the War

Next day several thousand men were landed to line the streets and provide guards of honour for the...

H.M.S.Kelantan and Convoy S.L.125

We were ordered to go to England and the Chinese and Malayan crewmen were replaced with an English crew. At...

Life After ..... The Midget Sub

We were steaming in line ahead for the first hundred miles or so on our return to Colombo harbour, HMS...

Four personal years of WW2

The Opawa went out via Jamaica-Panama Canal to Sydney then on to Aukland and returning the other way via...

The last British Naval Battle of the War

May 15 0800, About to oil from Oiler which joined the Fleet last night, when we received warning that a Jap...

Leonard Ball's story

And the day before we arrived in Cape Town we received a message to say that the other lifeboat had reached...

On Board the Nelson

One of the oddities of hierarchy in the Navy was that in with the Midshipmen aged 17 and 18 were wartime,...

The Emile Baudot

At this point, Albert and I, the only properly-dressed men with the crew, managed to persuade the duty...

Bombardment - continuing life aboard the Queen Elizabeth

Indeed I was doing just that and listening to fighters being directed to Japanese 'bogeys' out on...

Les Baker's Letter Home Part 4. Journey to Ceylon.

When the Japs landed in Java, there was nothing we could do as we had very little equipment and very few...

Life After..... Resisting Rescue

We were galloping madly across the Indian Ocean instead of going leisurely ashore in liberty boats because...

Emille Baudot Part III

Other than that, we had three two-day stops at sea to do repairs to the boilers before we reached Bombay...

Sinking of Cornwall and Dorsetshire

The first full story of the sinking of the cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire in the Indian Ocean on...

Service on board H.M.S.Subtle

I trained at H.M.S Dolphin at Gosport and H.M.S Elfin at Blyth, Northumberland, finally doing sea training...

Action off Burma

These had been loaded in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf and destined for the R.A.F. wing in Burma where the...

Terrapin at Large

Terrapin fired her three stern torpedoes. The original intention had been to lie on the bottom of the...

Memories of My Early Days

I was 17½, living with my parents in Redhill near Reigate when war broke out working in a Steel Wool...

Going Overseas cont'd

Also since that time I refuse to travel anywhere by ship or go on a cruise, In my army career I think...

J D Dearden-War Time Memories

It was at Altrincham Grammar School; the Grammar School children did mornings and we did afternoons, this...

My Final Days on Board the Queen Elizabeth

After some dickering over which Midshipmen should go with her and which stay out in the war zone, four of...

Sailor's Odyssey

On completion of training I joined the Royal Naval Patrol Service base at H.M.S. Europa, and then in...

In the Indian Ocean

In Massawa Eritrea we collected about 800 civilians and 1200 South African soldiers. The voyage was...

Endeavour and Glorious

PoW" and "HMS Repulse" were sunk by the Japanese airforce as the two great warships steamed to...

Alf's War: Onboard HMS Nigeria

Alfie later sailed across the Atlantic to join H.M.S Nigeria in South Carolina where the ship was being...

SS Khedive Ismail

My paternal Uncle, Cyril Hubert May, a Gunner attd, 301 Field Regiment, East African Artillery, was killed...