The Memoirs of Walter Douglas Thain 1918-2001 Part 2 of 4

Continued from Part 1
I had picked up the Navy slang by now: -
Smart was ‘tiddly’, ‘Make do and mend was‘ an afternoon off duty to sew and repair clothes but usually used to do nothing much. The latest minnow ‘the buzz’ i.e. we’ve got engine trouble and going back to the UK (it never happened). In the cells, up in the bows, awful in rough weather — called ‘jankers’. Offers of rum (still issued then, now stopped of course) on your birthday or for a favour done for a mate ‘sippers’.
I had already observed that the navy blue overalls of the naval men were spotless and washed daily until a light blue and soft to handle. The RAF mechanics were all rather dirty, overalls mucky. They were nervous at sea and carried their lifebelts over their shoulders. Ours were in our lockers below decks. They were all nice chaps and I got on well with them, but that’s how it was. The N.C.U. in charge of them was a RAF Flt Sergeant Brett, salt of the earth, smashing man, big, bluff and domineering but as soft as butter underneath. He just wanted hard work and dedication from everyone. He looked like Dennis Healey and had the same temperament. I got on fine with him. We left Freetown and sailed for the UK for a refit. We had steamed for 77000 miles chasing the ‘Graf Spey’ and the aircraft had flown 5 million miles. We arrived in Liverpool in February 1940 and we had a few days leave. We sailed for the Mediterranean to work up for flying at night in the desert. We arrived in Alexandra and the air squadron including me disembarked and were under canvas at Dekhila in the desert. You certainly got variety in the Fleet air arm. We were only there one week then Germany invaded Norway and we were ordered back to the UK to join the Home Fleet together with the only other good carrier we had the ‘Glorious’. We had an older ‘Furious’, ‘Argos’ and a ‘Hermes’ but I don’t know where they were. On re-joining the ‘Ark Royal’ in Alexandria a lot of us went sick with dysentery obviously caught whist ashore as the food was supplied from field ranges and there were flies by the thousand. After a couple of awful days was OK, unless very ill there is nowhere to get your head down on a naval ship. Sick bay for about twenty men so reserved for serious accidents.
We arrived back in Scapa Flow and we left for the west coast of Norway. In conjunction with the ‘Glorious’ we had to protect the naval ships and the convoys and to attack the German air bases in Norway. We were operating in the arctic waters so no use jumping in the sea if torpedoed, as you would only last a minute. It was light all night so far north. We had lots of scary moments. We were bombed all the time by shore-based aircraft. Being a carrier we were the ship that was always singled out for attack. Once we were bombed and attacked by a large force of Heinkels and Junkers dive-bombers for twelve hours. They scored what was later assessed as ten near misses on us but as usual we led a charmed life and were considered a lucky ship. With only 3/82 steel flight deck and all the aviation fuel and bombs etc. on board we were very vulnerable if hit. The safest ships were the battleships with 12” of armour plating over all vulnerable places. The later carriers had 4” steel flight decks. Did two Russian convoys. The Germans claimed to have sunk us. Lord Haw Haw used to be heard on our ships radio saying ‘where is the Ark Royal’. We all got a special issue of very thick woollen pants plus jerseys and duffle coats etc. We were sent to the Norwegian Fjords to help evacuate the few RAF planes there. This resulted in one of my luckiest escapes. Ark Royal was to land on RAF hurricanes. We had rectangular lifts and these planes wouldn’t go below to the hanger. The idea then was too oxy-acetylene them off but at the last minute there was a change of plan. Our other carrier ‘Glorious’ was sent in instead and we lay off a few miles. She had T shaped lifts so the planes could be dropped below to the hangar. On my birthday June 8th 1940 the new German battleship ‘Scharnhaust’ sank the ‘Glorious’. There were just three survivors out of a crew of about 1500. It could so easily have been us. We needed a quick re-fit so sailed back to Liverpool. We were in the largest dock, Gladstone Dock; the air raids on Britain had just begun. There were air raids on Liverpool every night at that time. We were firing all our sixteen 4.5” guns and being in a dry dock with no sea around us to absorb the noise there was a terrible din. I was caught up in the centre of Liverpool a few times during the raids. It was pretty nasty; I could hear the bombs falling and exploding and saw huge fires. I was on a few days leave with my parents in Sheffield and on the way back to the ship, by train, I could get no further than Manchester due to air raids, and I stopped the night in an hotel. I was stuck up on the top floor when a big air raid started. I had no torch or means of finding my way down and out and it was scary. Fortunately we were not hit but lots of damage all around the city centre. We next sailed back to Gibraltar. We were known as Force H. ‘Ark Royal’, ‘Renown’, ‘Sheffield’ and our destroyer escorts. Italy was now in the war with Germany and Francs had catapulted into Vichy. The worry was that the French fleet would go over to the Germans. We sailed to Oran, North Africa. Their new large battleships ‘Strasburg’ and Dunkerque’ were there. The ‘Strasburg’ sailed and was trying to escape. She was firing her big 15” guns at us. It was very frightening with shells whizzing overhead. We could plainly hear them whistling over us. Fortunately we were not hit and my action station was on the flight deck. She escaped but several other large ships were sunk in harbour at Mers-el-Keber. We went into Oran harbour. Snipers, probably Arabs started sniping at us with telescopic sights taking pot shots. So we were told not to walk on the flight deck.
We next sailed to Freetown and picked up General de Gaulle and he was flown off at Dakar. He was trying to rally the French there to join with the allies but they had lined up with Vichy. We were attacked by gunfire from shore aircraft and submarines. So we withdrew and returned to Gibraltar. We did all the convoys from Gib to Malta. We were subjected to continuous bombings. Waves of German and Italian bombers, over 100 at a time. They used to combine high level bombing by the Italians with low-level dive-bombing by the Germans. In on such attack it was estimated that 100 bombs were dropped around us and the other ships in Force H, they thought we had been sunk or badly damaged. They later said we disappeared in a wall of water with about 30 bombs exploding near us. Still the lucky ship though. Some were only 20 yards away. We were always the target being so large — a flat top — as the Yanks called their carriers. In one attack the Germans dropped aerial mines in a long row in front of us. There were also numerous submarines in the area. I once watched a torpedo run down the length of the ship very close. There were numerous hectic alterations of course. We saw a Bristol destroyer ‘Martin’ blow up and all the crew were killed, with some 200 men on board. There was not much peace when we used to get back to Gibraltar what with air raids etc. Once and Italian two man submarine got onto the harbour and fired a torpedo at us, but what they saw was ‘Ark Royal’ in silhouette against the moon. We were actually on the other side of the mole — harbour wall — so the torpedo hit the concrete wall. It threw me out of my hammock and I got a bang on the head. On one visit our planes flew off to the airbase there called North Camp, which was about 100 yards from the Spanish border. We were given about half an hours notice to get out if there was any trouble. I walked back on night in the dark after a meal in Gib, got lost and mixed up wit the runway and planes were landing — scary! In harbour the destroyers used to tie up along side us and the crews used the flight deck for exercise and watch our film shows. They used to say that they liked coming to sea with us as we always got bombed and they were left alone. They had a much rougher life though as they tossed around like corks when it was rough.
We had odd trips west from Gibraltar into the North Atlantic escorting convoys. There were once 28 submarines — U-boats — charted as being in our vicinity. We still led a charmed life. We saw many convoy ships sunk, cold and rough weather, more tension than action — as they say. War is 90% boredom and 10% fear. It was not very pleasant sleeping about ten feet below the waterline. Every heavy thump of a wave and you think ‘torpedo’! Lots of plane crashes were usual. I saw one swordfish when suddenly a wing folded back and it spiralled into the sea — just a lever pulled down and a couple of locking pins. Something must have sheared. The flight deck officer — Lt Co Gunson had his hand cut off at the wrist by a propeller whilst directing planes forward on landing. Crashes, fires on landing, going over the side on landing, not coming back from patrol. Like everyone else I wanted to get through this war on one piece.
Back to the Med, Who said the Med is blue? It gets very cold and wet and very rough!
We were operating around Sardinia and Pantelleria; we were continually swamped by bombs but leapt afloat. We still led a charmed life. The Italian flyers were much braver than the popular image of the Italians not being very good in wartime. Forty Savoia SM79 bombers once attacked us. In three attacks 100 bombs were dropped around Force H. If the wind was in the wrong direction we had to turn into the wind and often became detached from our other ships to fly aircraft on and off and to fire our guns. Also, all torpedo attacks were invariably on us and we needed room for quick changes of course. We would heel over at alarming angles sometimes and like all carriers we were a bit top heavy. My action station job was ammunition, loading for the port side pom poms, known as ‘Chicago pianos’ because of the awful din they make. We shot down as Italian bomber and we couldn’t stop to pick them up, as it was too risky. We gave the poor chaps the ‘V’ sign as they stood on top of their fuselage as we sailed by them. Don’t forget they used to shoot our flyers as they parachuted down. It was reported that the German battleship ‘Bismarck’ and heavy cruiser ‘Prince Eugen’ were in the North Atlantic and Force H was ordered out into the Atlantic comprising the ships ‘Ark Royal’, ‘Renown’ and a cruiser ‘Sheffield’. The Germans were found and engaged by our battleships ‘Hood’, and the ‘Prince of Wales’. The ‘Hood’ was sunk and only three crew survived out of around 1500 men. A swordfish from the new carrier ‘Victorious’ hit the ‘Bismarck’ with a torpedo, before we were near. We were in the Bay of Biscay and the weather was appalling. Our planes found ‘Bismarck’ and shadowed her. She was further crippled by torpedos from our swordfish and was eventually sunk. A Heinkel 3 bomber found us and dived on us. Several bombs landed near us but none hurt us.

Story Continued in Part 3

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