Mediterranean and European waters

Torpedoed off the Hebrides

My father who had served as a British Officer in the Indian Army, and who was on reserve, was already in...

Death of a Ship

Written notes found after the death of my father, Dick MacKintosh, in December 1998, describing his...

HMS Barham - Alexandria, September 1941

The following are extracts from censored letters written from the Barham by my father, Surgeon-Commander...

Escort duties at Scapa Flow on the "H.M.S. Volage" 1943 by Leslie Atkinson

Built in Cowes, the “Volage”, after working up trials, was assigned to the 26th D.F. based at...

Operation Overlord: Fleet Minesweeper HMS Chamois

Tracer shells were coming over us so we withdrew to a safe distance and waited the arrival of the...

I'm Glad it wasn't Me Who Bought It

Those were the opening words of a 'Letter to a Dead Sailor'; a letter written by my father, Edmund...

Extract of Diary: George Wilson,Senoir Radio Officer SS Cameronia

6th June Wave after wave of fighters flew over the ship this morning.This is D.Day,we leave at 11 am.pass...

The Invasion of Europe

Our trips were from the London and Tilbury docks from where we took Canadians and British troops mainly to...

My Life in the Navy of WW2

With others, escorts we kept them at bay from the convoys over 12 months glad to say we never lost any...

The Hospital Ship Parris

On one of these occasions the CO was informed that a train carrying wounded had been abandoned by its...

Audrey's War Time Adventures: War is Declared

German submarines penetrated Scapa Flow and sank ‘The Iron Duke’ at The Royal Oak on the 14th...

On the Troopship "Lancastria"

Amongst those who shared the terrible ordeal in the troop ship "Lancastria" which was sunk by enemy...

A/B Arthur Blacketer

Dad was transferred to Trapani in Sicily and then onto a prison camp just outside Rome and finally to a...

WW2 - The First Eight Months: In the Royal Navy

The next ten weeks or so we spent working out of Rosyth or Scapa Flow on Northern Patrols and North Sea...

Service on HMS Scylla

In November 1942 I finished my training and set off from Portsmouth to Scapa Flow where I boarded HMS...

Memories of Service in the Royal Navy

I was kitted out with civilian clothing and a travel warrant to get me home to Barnsley, so ending my...

The Man Who Was "Called Up and Demobbed" Three Times!

I lived with my parents in Birmingham and in March 1938, attracted by the two weeks’ paid annual...

Coastal Forces Rescue At Sea

In late May/early June 1942, four boats from a flotilla of C class Motor Gun Boats stationed at Great...

U-Boats - The Hunter Hunted!

Rescued in a rowing boat and landed in North Africa my sister met and married a major in India with flowers...

A Merchant Seaman Throughout the War

I celebrated my 16th birthday in the Vindi and then shipped out as a deck boy in the Arundel Castle: I made...

D-Day June 6th 1944: A Sailor on LCG 3

April 1944 OA3 Base - Royal Navy Ordnance Workshop 101 Shed Terminal, Southampton Docks. I found myself...

D-Day

D Day Landings Gold Beach D Field C/JX319894 H.M.S. Eglinton. I had joined my ship H.M.S. Eglinton a Hunt...

H.M.S. Speedwell - June 1944

Off Portsmouth on the Wednesday morning 7th and turned round without going in and went back towards France...

“God give me cholera”

We carried two maritime gunners in the early days of the war when we went deep-sea so we had two soldiers...

“Some Fleet Air Arm Memories”

During a training air-gunnery flight, in a Fairey Swordfish, which was an open cockpit aircraft, as the two...

Mr. Boocock - My Journey to Malta

Other large naval ships The Battleship The Prince of Wales, two Battle Cruisers, The Ark Royal and 9...