大象传媒

Part two of an edited oral history interview with Mr. Herbert J. Luscombe conducted by Jenny Ford on behalf of Bedford Museum.

鈥淲ell, it was quite strange at first on board the Repulse, she was a Battle Cruiser. Everything was on top of you and of course once the war started you were closed right down at night. The ports and the steel dead lights that were fastened down over portholes ensured that all was dark. Of course the one thing that struck, I think a lot of us, was the fact that there was noise all the time, the fans were going. You had fans that supplied air to all the Messes and everywhere and then of course there was noise of the fans from the boilers because they were quite a noise.

I was in the Engine Room Department, I was an E.R.A. that is an Engine Room Artificer and we had to be tradesmen to get into that job. We got the training when we were on the ships. When we came from outside 鈥� you see the majority of E.R.A.s, a lot of the E.R.A.s were trained by the Navy so they had a bit of an advantage over us because a lot of us didn鈥檛 have a clue, well we didn鈥檛. I mean I鈥檇 seen a lot steam because I was keen on steam engines but I鈥檇 never actually worked on them. And boilers, I didn鈥檛 have a clue! I was a Fitter. I went in as a Fitter that was my trade. There was a whole range of trades but I was a Fitter.

The most frightening thing I had was when I was down in the boiler rooms. On board Repulse were 42 boilers, there were six boiler rooms, A B C D E and F. I think there were eight in four and seven in one and three in the other but the thing is that the first time I was down there when they were doing gun fire, this was practice gun fire, the flames in the boilers did this 鈥� wavered alarmingly. Because they were oil fired and they used to do this sort of thing. That was the most frightening thing I had but once you had seen it, it didn鈥檛 bother you.

As fifth class E.R.A.s we had to learn to run the auxiliary machinery so it was the same course that the Stokers did. We had to run all the auxiliary machinery, there were dynamos, generators and then there was evaporators which made the water for us because you couldn鈥檛 use sea water in our boilers because they would just coke up. Then there were all the steering engines and all the auxiliary machinery pumps and that sort of thing that had to be maintained. You had to learn how to run them and know how to run them, that was the first exam we got after we went to the ship. We used to go with the Leading Stokers who were qualified to run these machines on their own. I mean a lot of them were isolated, in a compartment with an evaporator in. Of course one of the big things we had to learn was where the steam pipes went and where the valves where to shut them off and all that sort of thing which was quite big in a ship of that size. She was 35,000 tons and it was, what was she? 115,000 horse power I think it was. Anyway we had to learn all that - we had to draw sketches of it all. We had books and every so often our Divisional Officer used to take them in and look at them. I know the worst one was the steam boiler with the steam system, they were terrific. Once we鈥檇 got our Auxiliary Certificate we had to get our Boiler Operator Certificate, how to run them, that was the next we had to get, so we went Boiler Watch Keeping as they called it. You went on with the Stoker P.O.s and Chief Stokers and did the Stoker鈥檚 job.

We were in the Boiler Rooms, in the six boiler rooms where there were eight boilers to look after. Each Stoker had two boilers to look after, I think it was two, I think we used to do two each. We used to do that sort of thing and then we progressed on to helping to start the machinery, the fans and make sure the pumps were alright. Then make sure the boilers are OK and then we had to connect the boilers to the systems, open the valves on the top and that went to another set of valves and so on.

The first thing you had to do was light the boilers, they were all fuelled by oil. We learnt all that sort of thing and then we got an exam for that and we got our Boiler Watch Keeping Certificate - that was the next step. But before that I mean I鈥檇, I think I鈥檇 passed for acting forth class E.R.A. by then and I got the P.O.鈥檚 rate. Of course you had to see the Captain to be confirmed as that and you had to be recommended by your Engineer. On there, there was a lot of Engineers but then the engine rooms, the engines 鈥� when you were on Watch in the main engine rooms 鈥� there were two on there, one besides each other. There was an Officer of the Watch on there besides the E.R.A.s on the throttles

There were four propeller shafts and then there was, they were turbines and there were two on one shaft and one on the other, the outer shaft. There was a high pressure and a medium pressure and low pressure turbines. The high pressure was a small one and the steam went into the next one and into the next one and then drove the shaft. It was all inter-connected and using the steam. As the steam was used and driving the turbine the steam went from there like the exhaust from there went and drove the next one to it at a lower pressure but it was bigger because it had expanded by then. Then it went from the intermediate turbine to the low pressure turbine and it was huge, the shafts were about that big around. It wasn鈥檛 noisy as a thump it was a smooth noise, that鈥檚 the difference between a diesel and a turbo ship. I much prefer the turbine ships because they were quiet, particularly on the Repulse because the speed of the engine was the speed of the propeller there was no gear in between them, they were direct. Once you opened up the throttles you could hear the speed building up, a lovely whine, it wasn鈥檛 a bump or anything.

Of course you had all your gauges to look out for - pressure gauges and speed and on the Repulse if you were half a rev out you were in trouble. You had to keep your revs exactly on what they wanted. They used to change regularly because if you are steaming one in front of the other - the Leader was running - that was the way they used to steam one after the other in Exercises and on military routines. I didn鈥檛 understand it, it was nothing to do with me 鈥� all I did was drove. But you had to be dead on with your revs otherwise you鈥檇 catch up with the other ones and of course you used to so they were always changing revs. And every rev movement had to be booked. There was somebody who did nothing else but take a log. If something went wrong there was a record. Actually I think I used to do that on the throttles. I鈥檇 done Boiler Room and Auxiliary Watch Keeping Certificate and I鈥檇 been made acting E.R.A. fourth class.

It was terrible weather up there on Northern Patrol and Cold! Very cold but of course we were in a warm place. The only people who were in the cold were the people who looked after the motor boats, that was cold up there! Oh, that was a terrible job when it was bad weather. When you were in harbour I mean the booms used to go out at either side of the ship and they had ladders down and the boats were tied up. And when it was rough these boats used to be hanging right back you know and you had to go down the ladders and manage to get them up carrying your tools. I was on that job a little while but not long, I was lucky I got taken off and put into another job which was day work so I was off Watch Keeping for a while. It was on the electrical side of it. We had to look after all the electrics in the engine room section. They had four Leading Stokers I think who were qualified because I wasn鈥檛 really an electrician the only electrics I鈥檇 been on was car electrics. Actually I volunteered to go on boats to do the electrics on boats but he wouldn鈥檛 let the chappie who was on it do it so I volunteered for the other one so I got that which was very nice. The chappie who was on it had to go Watch Keeping to get his Certificate and I took it over, goodness knows, I don鈥檛 know I mean I was only a kid I had all these Leading Stokers with me. It involved all the lighting and things like that down below and electric pumps and lifts. We had lifts in the boiler rooms, they were terrible, one was always wrong. The Commander, he used to send for me and he鈥檇 say 鈥業 got trapped in a lift today!鈥� Or get a desperate phone call 鈥楥ommander is trapped in a lift!鈥� We couldn鈥檛 move the things. They were very old fashioned they were built in 1915, they hadn鈥檛 modernised. That was a nice job actually, I enjoyed that. I wasn鈥檛 on that an awful long time because I went Watch Keeping in one of the condenser rooms. That was the one where all the steam went back to water before - the Junior E.R.A.s used to get that job with a couple of Stokers looking after the pumps and that going down there and the vaporisers and the steering gear. Of course that was another thing about the steering, it was done with hydraulic pressure from the Wheelhouse on the Bridge. That was another part of the machinery that you had to learn. The steering engines were steam in those sorts of ships and they were huge things too and they were noisy, a lot of the machines were noisy but you get used to it.

After one season I think we got Drafted off. We were in Scapa Flow when we got the Draft there were four of us E.R.A.s. There were about 50 of us left I think but Stokers, Seaman and all sorts and we left Scapa and got to Thurso, right up on the north coast of Scotland. We got there and got on the train to come down to Plymouth and we woke up in the morning and we were still in Thurso, we were snowed in and we didn鈥檛 leave there for a week! We slept in the Town Hall, on the floor and we ate in an hotel. Then it took us 37 hours I think to get to Plymouth. Of course we鈥檇 never had a bath or anything, we were lucky to get a shave! So I know when we got in Barracks the four of us, there were only four E.R.A.s going down there and we got in Barracks about eight o鈥檆lock at night I think. We were allocated, well we knew where our Messes where but we had to take our hammocks and sling it somewhere you know. Then my friend and I said, 鈥榃ell, we can鈥檛 stay here we want something decent to eat.鈥� So we went up to the Officer of the Watch and asked permission to go out because at that time of night you didn鈥檛 go out but they granted it and we told them what had happened. So we went out and slept in what we called 鈥橝ggie Weston鈥檚鈥�. It was a Sailor鈥檚 Home. It was a huge building with cabins, lots of them, a special Sailor鈥檚 Rest they called it. They had one in Portsmouth, in Chatham and all over. She鈥檇 started these places for the sailors years and years before. So we went and got a meal and then went and had a bath and stayed the night there until the morning and then we went in Barracks.

I was in the Barracks at HMS Drake, I mean we got leave when we got down there of course, a week鈥檚 leave I think we got. I went back to my uncle and aunt鈥檚 near Kingsbridge. I got to Barracks on 3rd February 1941 and I left again on 14th March 1941. I went to Portsmouth to join the Bideford on the 14th March, 1941. There was a crowd of us because she was in Portsmouth dockyard being refitted, she鈥檇 got 40 foot of her stern blown off at Dunkirk and she was in dry dock up there and they were re-building her.鈥�

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.