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German U-Boat Surrender, 8 May 1945

After the panic had subsided messages were rapidly exchanged with our flotilla leader and the naval base at...

David and the Prince

Not long before D-Day I heard from my brother David that he was in Dartmouth not too far from Torquay where...

Lancashire to Washington DC part 2

3.00 a.m. 800 RAF and Army personnel aboard for Malta. From the commencement of this day I was part of the...

Torpedoed twice in a row - Just our luck!

Three of us managed to get out of the cabin. We got Tom to the boats, then the second torpedo hit... We...

In the Indian Ocean

In Massawa Eritrea we collected about 800 civilians and 1200 South African soldiers. The voyage was...

War Stories from the Battleship HMS Howe

From Sydney we went to Manas. My role on the Howe was as a stoker which was an important but low down...

Aftermath of the War

Because there was a wee girl sitting on her bed and she was sobbing her heart out. But they went back to...

The Tracker in USA

The Tracker left the home port in 1944 and sailed for New York where we spent Christmas until the New Year...

Endeavour and Glorious

PoW" and "HMS Repulse" were sunk by the Japanese airforce as the two great warships steamed to...

Freddy Harding's Navy Reminiscences

This was probably why freddy's brother was called up before him and went into the navy on...

Convoys in Russia

On Feb 6th 1945 the destroyer Zealous, joined a convoy of some thirty U S merchant ships on route for Kola...

MTB753 by Leslie J. Sprigg, Ex Leading Telegraphist

115’ long with 21’ beam and crew of about 33 she carried 2 x 6 pounders, 2 twin .5 and 2 twin...

HMS Hardy - Part 1 - Introduction

At the outbreak of World War Two the Second Destroyer Flotilla Leader HMS Hardy was stationed in the...

Lancashire to Washington DC part 3

Tom's ship was a small ammunition supply vessel stationed out in the harbour, he came ashore by rowing...

My War Years

I had just completed nine months of training as an 18 year old naval recruit, when as a member of a...

Truth about "River Kwai"

The bridge over the River Kwai wasn't bombed by the American Air Force until 1945....

My Service as a Minesweeper

We then sailed to Taranto in Italy from where we sailed to most of the ports in the Adriatic —...

Dennis Chaffer -Experiences on Sword Beach

Our Captain organised a competition to see who could find our landing beach... German planes dropped...

Contraband Control and Minesweepers.

This consisted of a small drifter which carried two officers out to ships coming into Liverpool, Holyhead...

VJ Day

I was stationed at H.M.S. Gosling at Glazebury, a complex of three Naval training camps halfway between...

A Special Person

My special person is my granddad because when I was about 6 years old he used to tell me funny stories like...

Strange Coincidences: 882 Royal Naval Air Squadron

As I walked up to the catwalk under the flight deck, I observed our second in command, a Lieutenant...

My Dad's Story written by my Mum: Royal Navy Seaman

Near Gibraltar, he was torpedoed and the ship sunk and the survivors were picked up by a Dutch destroyer...

Alf's War: Onboard HMS Nigeria

Alfie later sailed across the Atlantic to join H.M.S Nigeria in South Carolina where the ship was being...

Walking Back Across The Sea

The training was conducted in various locations and Lcpl Alex McVeigh was the driver/pilot of the royal...

Memories of WW2

Our main position was to defend the A20 rd to London at Ruxley Corner.One morning a german bomber returning...