North Atlantic and Arctic

A Very Brave Man

THE STOKER, A VERY BRAVE MAN, GAVE HIS LIFE TO SAVE THE SHIP' G.T.H. Green, Birmingham I was a radio...

The Sinking of the Bismark 27th May 1941

Sixty Four years to this very day the pride of Adolf Hitlers navy went to the bottom of the North Atlantic...

Life on an Athel Tanker

During the war the carrying of molasses was largely replaced by cargoes of oil and petroleum.In my diary...

Some Maritime Musings (Contin.) FIVE

We were sailing independent of convoy having lost the other accompanying ships in thick fog off Greenland...

HMS 'Hood': Saved by a Missing Kitbag

During early 1939 my uncle, Eric Sykes, and his friend, Samuel Kay, worked as glaziers for George G Kirk, a...

Old Lady of the Atlantic

Captain Spears was the only Captain of a Belgian ship who contributed directly to putting a U-Boat at the...

Look before you Leap

During 1940-41, I served with the battleship HMS Revenge on convoy escort duties to and from Halifax, Nova...

North Atlantic 1943: Raymond Edwards MN

As we went into the Prince Street Shipping Office, Captain Hillier said "just the two men I need for...

HMS Curacao Tragedy

A cruiser called HMS Curacao met us 200 miles off the coast to escort us into Greenock. I estimate that...

Mum, I Have Been Posted to a Battleship

We were about to sit down to tea with Uncle Frank, Aunt Annie and the twins, when there was a commotion in...

Per Mer Per Terrum

My older brother Walter McFadyen was KIA on HMS Hood, the following day the vessel on which I had until...

An Encounter with a German Submarine, 1941

You can imagine my father's feelings at sitting on top of 9,000 tons of aviation fuel, and involved in...

The Bombing of the SS 'Oronsay', 1940

None actually hit the ship, but they were close enough to damage the engines and prevent us from keeping up...

My Grandfather the Commander: HMS Tartar

When Churchill gave his famous order to "sink the Bismark" my grandfathers destroyer was part of...

Boys in the Navy: HMS Norfolk

I joined the Navy in 1943 and as a C.W. Candidate I was sent to sea as an Ordinary Seaman in H.M.S....

Souvenir of HMS Hood.

George Newey married a sister of my Father's side of the family and was a serving officer in the Royal...

A Fateful Voyage: Convoy under Attack in the Atlantic - Tale of Unexploded Bombs and Heroism

Of her crew, the Master was Captain Theo Pryse, Chief Officer: David Howlett, Second Officer: Peter de...

Pikes Peak or Bust

On the way back from church we were still singing, not hymns, but German marching songs like “Auf der...

On the Way Overseas

Also in the lounges, where plush velvet upholstered chairs and sofas once accommodated the bulky backsides...

War Recollections of Val Burn from June 1940 to December 1945

The Nelson, and, I think the Rodney battle-ships, Victorious, Indomitable, Indefatigable Eagle, and Furies...

Life In The Navy During World War 2

At sea I was one of the watch-keeping officers, on duty for four hour stretches on the bridge, seeing that...

Tom's Story -Part 1

To understand what O.A.S. means is simply that of all the personnel in the R.N. only those who actually...

The Last Commission of H.M.S. Achates

In September we formed another convoy for Iceland and from there P.Q.18 set off for Russia, it was a large...

Going Overseas: a diary

This afternoon I saw a water spout reaching from the clouds to the sea, not very far from the boat. There...

Something to tell the grandchildren about (part 2)

And I was worried because my Mum and Dad didn't know that I was flying, and I said to my skipper,...