大象传媒

THE 1941-1945
RUSSIAN GOLD MEDAL

We arrived in Scapa Flow at 1030 on February 15th 1944, oiled at the oiler, and moored at buoy 26, which happened to be our Pennant Number. Some of the Home Fleet were in, including several battleships. It was pleasant to be able to wash again, and to have some potatoes, and very good bread. We then tied up astern of Mahratta, alongside the Destroyer Dep么t ship Tyne, which was as big as a cruiser and carried eight 4.5" guns. She seemed so huge to us that I had the impression that, just as we might pipe Clear Lower Deck, up whaler, so they might well have piped Clear Lower Deck, up Watchman, and we would have been hoisted onto a pair of their davits.
Next day we were officially listed as a Home Fleet Destroyer, and I went aboard Tyne at 1930 for a cinema show. On the 17th I went aboard again for a bath, and later, when aboard for signals, there was an air-raid warning, and they piped Action stations. All hatches were battened down, and all watertight doors screwed shut, the crew transformed themselves into ghosts by donning their anti-flash gear, and the guns were loaded with anti-aircraft shell. I found it claustrophobic, and decided that perhaps small ships were best.
Later the V.A.D. (Vice-Admiral, Destroyers) spoke to us on the upper deck, and we were issued with special khaki fleece-lined coats, thick balaclavas, scarves, and double-thick long grey woollen underpants, and our pipes were all lagged with asbestos. When they also issued dufflecoats to the stokers it was obvious where we were bound.
The ships in harbour included the King George V Class Battleships Duke of York and Anson, the Cruisers Belfast, Bermuda, Berwick, Black Prince, Dragon, Nigeria, Royalist and Sheffield, the Aircraft-Carriers Chaser and Furious, the Destroyers Impulsive, Mahratta, Marne, Matchless, Milne, Obdurate, Obedient, Onslaught, Oribi, Piorun (on loan to the Polish Navy, formerly Nerissa), Seraphis, Stord (on loan to the Norwegian Navy, renamed from Success) Wanderer, Watchman, Verulam, the Frigates Byron and Strule, and the Minelayer Apollo.
On the 19th I attended Communion in the Church of St.Christopher aboard Tyne. We oiled and went out for HFDF calibration, and returned to buoy 26. On Sunday 20th Group B1 slipped just before 2000 and sailed, in line ahead. The Senior Officer was now aboard Strule, followed by Watchman, Wanderer, and Byron, which was a Yankee sub-buster built without rivets in 14 days. The next pipe was Hands to wear lifebelts and to remain fully-clothed at all times. At noon next day we arrived in Skaale Fjord in the Faeroe Islands, and oiled at the oiler. Later the ice of the fjord was again broken by the entry of Groups D3 and B2, - Captain 'D' in Milne. All around us towered the snow-covered mountains. On the 22nd we joined our convoy of 100 ships, and took up our positions on the Outer Screen, five miles apart and nine miles ahead of the Inner Screen. At one point, by putting the wheel hard over, we narrowly missed a surfaced mine.
At that time Stalin was demanding that we should open a Second Front - the invasion of Europe, to relieve the terrible strain under which the Russian Army was labouring. We were not ready to do so until June of that year. In the meantime it was essential to continue taking arms and supplies to the Russians, but our route ran the entire length of the long west coast of Norway, which was under enemy occupation, and they had hundreds of deep fjords in which their U-Boats could lurk, and airfields beyond for their bombers. This presented a continuous danger to us, but there was a greater, which we tried not to think about. The enemy also had powerful surface-raiders. The Scharndhorst had come out against a previous convoy, and had been sunk, but it was feared that her sister-ship the Gneisnau might come out, and we in little ships on the outer screen felt somewhat doubtful about matching our 4" guns against her 16" guns and armour-plate.
On the 23rd we took 70 tons of fuel at the convoy oiler. At 66O 32' North we entered the Arctic Circle. We came to daily dawn action-stations at 0730, and to special anti-submarine action-stations at 1800, having reached 68O North. Next day we were 70O North, having passed the latitudes of Archangel and Murmansk. It was so cold that we could see vapour rising in our wake, our cold steel hull being so much warmer than the sea. Survival-time in the sea would have been only a few minutes. Fire broke out in our ASDIC cabin, putting our 271 out of action, so we were ordered to exchange places with Savage on the Inner Screen. There were packs of U-Boats all around us - the Admiralty thoughtfully encouraging us with jolly signals such as, There are now 20 - 30 - 40 U-Boats in your vicinity. The number rose to 50 at one time. On the 25th we were awoken by a loud crash, and gallons of water pouring through the hatch. Convinced that the ship was going, there was a dash for the ladder. Nobby Clark fell from the bridge to the flag-deck and broke his head open, and was whisked off to the sick-bay. We had reached 71O North, and V.A.D. made Attack expected tonight.
We had a special HFDF aerial astern, which looked like a spider's attempt to construct a beehive. Our Headache Operator, who was fluent in German, used it to listen-in to the U-Boat Commanders' conversations. Once their talk came through so loud that he felt sure they must be alongside, and in panic he started to run up the Wardroom ladder, but found that something was holding him back. It was his headphones, still plugged into the set below, so he recovered his sense of humour and returned to his post. I learned a little piece of German from him. I asked him the derivation of the term flak, and he said it stood for FlugAbwehrKanone - anti-aircraft fire, though my dictionary gives Flieger.

On the 26th Mahratta was struck by two torpedoes and sunk. By this time the whole superstructure of Watchman was covered in ice formed by the freezing of the spray, and it was steadily becoming thicker. Such a covering can weigh 300-400 tons, and puts a narrow-beamed ship in great danger of capsizing. A ship's siren always leaks a little steam, and an icicle about 17' long was hanging from ours. My breath froze inside my nostrils, and my handkerchief, kept perforce in an outer pocket, crackled when I tried to use it. Those with beards found that the hair around the corners of their mouths froze, obliging them to speak like convicts, without moving their mouths, and any unwary shout caused some agony. At Action-stations for long periods, it was not possible to go below to use The Heads, so we kept an iron bucket at the back of the bridge for common use, and it froze solid soon after each contribution. We reached 72O North, 23O East, rounding the tip of the Scandinavian Peninsular. We were continually seeing the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), - in my opinion a ghastly rather than a beautiful sight.

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