Mediterranean and European waters

The Run Up to D-Day (Trouble at Sea)

After two months of training I was selected and drafted as a seaman gunner to a L.C. A. flotilla that was...

Mixing with the Enemy: Memories of the Merchant Navy

After we had discharged our coal, we were bound for Melillia on the north coast of Africa, Spanish Morocco...

Leading up to the Second World War

The following day I travelled from Edinbugh to Arbroath to do my eight weeks initial training, after which,...

Donemana Naval Volunteer in WW2

Our role was to protect merchant shipping by providing escort and my ship, the Wellington, was engaged in...

HMS Barham - August 25-26th, 1940

Before joining Vice Admiral Somerville's “H” Force in the Western Mediterranean in late...

Run Up To D Day

Going out on deck after breakfast, the channel seems full of ships lying at anchor most of them flying...

D DAY On HMS Warspite

This evening we ate our supper on the upper deck and watched the 5th airborne division go in with gliders,...

The story of my great grandfather

Christopher's frustration comes through in his constant queries in correspondence with his brother,...

Sun, Sea and Sand

Ark Royal also carried her own aircraft squadrons which were often in action over the Med, and targets on...

HMS Barham - Last Two Months

These letters were written after Barham had been back in the Mediterranean about a month after returning...

Serving on "H.M.S. Volage" in the Mediterranean 1946 by Leslie Atkinson

On leaving Cyprus, it was back to Malta, to stock up on stores, then back to Haifa to resume our patrols....

HMS Barham - Eastern Mediterranean Fleet, 1940: Part 1

After the action at Dakar in September 1940, Barham joined Cunningham's Eastern Mediterranean Fleet...

Came the Hour

In March 1944 and with three other MTB's we were dispatched to Gosport, the base for HMS Hornet,...

Life on HMS Dragon

Every other day we would go ashore and catch the train from Simonstown to Cape Town and we would meet up...

My nightmare teenager years.

On the night of June 23rd 1943 the air raid sirens sounded in Hull, I was 16 yrs old and living at...

Bombardment of Sipan Island

A British AA Battery had previously been established in the neighborhood of Maslinova Cove on the south...

Sea Cruises on the House #1\2

I have been particularly fortunate in never having to pay for a real Sea Cruise, it has been my good...

Lasting Images

As part of a squadron of Close Support Craft, we took part in D-Day, the squadron was then re-organised as...

Bombardment of Ploca Harbour

However after passing Trapanj, LCG 8 did establish a contact with the FOO and was instructed to carry out...

Diary Extract - Air Attack on Troop Convoy: RAF on Board the 'Franconia'

Nov 25th at 06.30hrs -Docked Gibraltar and boarded HMS Southampton having an escort of nine Destroyers, one...

The Wartime Voyage of Child

Alan Gibby I was living in Gibraltar when war was declared in 1939, my Father was a master mariner and I,...

Operation 'Antagonise'

Unit C would remain to the south east of Trestenico Island at the extreme range of enemy batteries, and...

From Scarpa Flow to Sicily

It was a tradition that on Christmas day the youngest member of the crew swapped places with the skipper,...

Alf Mitchell’s War as a Landing Craft Coxswain

Although the conditions were pretty grim Alf's experience enabled him to land his troops and get off...

Operation 'Dragoon'

Once again our ‘Skipper’ Lt. Sam Armstrong DSC, RNVR, cleared lower decks and told us our...

Sea Cruises on the house #3/ 4

Fairly soon we were on our way south and the crew members assured us that we would be installed in the 33rd...