Mediterranean and European waters

War Diary of John Dolphin OCT 1943 - MAR 1945 on HMS QUEENBOROUGH

We now join up with the 4th Destroyer Flotilla in Harbour, after 2 days rest up we all 8 Fleet Destroyers...

X-Craft Diver 1943 - Part 6

Within a day, all the officers forming X-craft crews, both passage and action, were summoned to the...

Torpedoed in the Atlantic

All set with Brazilian passport with which to leave the country and a British one with which to enter...

Corvette commander on North Atlantic anti submarine duty - part 3

The first of the two submarines sunk by the groups to which Kenilworth Castle was attached was in the North...

Malta Convoy - Chapter 4

The Manchester was down by the stern, indeed almost submerged aft; the forepeak was high, almost clear of...

Autobiographical Highlights

Back to Scotland and Naval routine and within a year I was on draft, to Birkenhead, where the aircraft...

Secret Operations: HMS Minna in the Mediterranean

At the time I was working with the Base A/S Staff and the Officer in charge told me to go along to...

Home Fires

My brother George Sims met an old shipmate on London Bridge Station quite by chance and they got together...

F/Lt J.R.Petrie-Andrews DFC DFM 155220

We lost an engine near the target and would have been unable to gain enough height to fly home over the...

The War Diaries of 1232581 - L.A.C. Jack Lucas R.A.F.V.R (PART-TWO)

On Palm Sunday, two squadrons of our wing shot down 36 aircraft loaded with petrol and supplies for the...

Bill Sanderson's Wartime Experiences -Part 3 - Convoys and Bombs

He was called ‘Rocky’ because his family made rock on the sea front at Scarborough. HMS...

His Majesties Motor Gun Boat No. 21 part 1

Having found my quarry, which luckily was tied up directly alongside the jetty, saving me from hopping from...

Marching on to Laffan's Plain - Chapter 4

A stronger hint was the two page schedule of rates of pay for an officer serving with various branches of...

My Life My War - Chapter 7a

All boats were hoisted inboard, all booms and ladders were recovered and secured, cable parties took their...

Fred Albins' War

As I was walking out I said I'd been working on the water for some time, and he said we're looking...

HMS Eagle

The crippled destroyer was the 'Wolverine' who with 'Kepple' had been escorting the...

My Life My War - Chapter 9a

The Italians were now standing firm, we, and HMS Valiant,and HMS Barham, the Monitor HMS Terror, three...

The Sea in My Veins (Part 1 of 3)

My father had already transferred from the Merchant Navy to the Royal Naval Reserve. In 1942 I was one of a...

HMS Barham - Eastern Mediterranean Fleet, 1940: Part 5

Much time spent ashore in Alexandria and worrying about mail and family back in England. The sea mail may...

HMS Barham - Churchill's Inspiration

There is something of the boy in Winston Churchill; he loves to tease and anger his opponents; one can...

Post War: Chapter 1

I met an Officer on the aircraft who was returning to Aden after some home leave, and asked him about the...

Life on board the HMS WOLF

We were fighting the Germans all the time and then I was sent onboard the HMS Wolf as part of the Northern...

A Look Back at My Life and Service in the Merchant Navy

January 1941 North Africa and Gibraltar many ships sunk by limpet mines, Lt Crabb R.N. later Navy Diver...

In Shore Minesweeping

I joined BYMS 2049 in Halifax for the trip over to Dover and by that time I had got my sea legs...

Memories of a Lovely Lady

This was the first use of the new German radio controlled bomb and with hits on one battleship and one...

Fire Orders Chapter 3b

Those who had chosen to sleep on palliasses on the deck instead of in hammocks were being rolled slowly...