大象传媒

MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR 11

WE WENT TO WAR IN A PADDLE MINESWEEPER
ARMED WITH A BOER WAR GUN.

I joined the RNVR Wireless Reserve as a Telegraphist or wireless operator early in 1939 and started to learn Morse code in evening drills. On the ls~. September 1939 I was ordered to report to HMS. Victory at Portsmouth.where we were issued with our kit.
We were soon transferred to HMS. St Vincent, another 鈥渟tone frigate鈥� in Gosport where we were taught coding and practised our Morse on buzzer circuits.
On the 2m1庐 November I together with our seamen was drafted to HMS.Scawfell, which had just completed conversion at Dumbarton, from a Clyde paddle steamer to a minesweeper. The day after joining we steamed down to Ardrossan, which was to be our base. We immediately took on stores, coal and ammunition. 大象传媒ing up consisted of a morning exercise, firing two rounds from the 12 pounder main armament, a burst from the single Lewis gun and streaming and recovering sweeps. After this we formally joined the llth.Minesweeping Flotilla ready for active duty. Then every day three or more of the paddlers swept the lower Clyde from the Mull to Cumbrae Island. We had three-day spells of duty, anchoring overnight away from base.
Our 12 pounder was reputed to have been built as a field gun for the Boer war and was certainly date stamped 1898. We had a mixed crew of seamen, some RN pensioners, some Hull deep-sea fishermen and one active service Leading Seaman, ex Royal Yacht. I called the trawler men Bear Island Fishermen, as they were always telling me that minesweeping was soft compared with trawling around Bear Island, and so it was, when we swept no mines and were not bombed. I was the only telegraphist aboard and kept more or less continuos loudspeaker watch, when away from base.
As the Dunkirk evacuation started we were ordered south to Dover to take over the Channel sweep by day and anti invasion patrols by night. On board discipline was relaxed and one fme afternoon we returned to Dover with most of the seamen stripped to the waist. Admiral Ramsay must have seen us and sent a signal 鈥淩emove those naked men from your forecastle!鈥� We did not fall in our seamen dressed in the rig of the day to enter harbour, as is the RN custom.
Later on we were moved to Portland where we experienced some heavy air raids. One day while there we saw HMS.Foylebank, an anti-aircraft cruiser, which had impressed us with their armament, sunk by a concentrated raid. 176 members of her crew of 333 were killed, including Leading Seaman Mantle who was later awarded the Victoria Cross. After this the minesweepers with their 12 pounders were the main defence of the harbour, and people sometimes congratulated me when ashore, on the barrage put up by the minesweepers. We all wore 鈥淢inesweeper鈥� cap ribbons instead of the normal 鈥淗MS鈥� standard issue ones.
The skipper controlled our 12 pounder by leaning over the bridge and shouting orders. Pensioner PO.Norman was gunlayer, aiming through an open ring sight and firing by slapping a plate on the breech. He called for shells with either long or short fuses from the nearby racks. Incredibly with this simple system we actually shot down a bomber which crashed into the hillside above. We danced with joy at this success. HMS. Goatfell another paddle sweeper was later hit by a bomb which killed

four crew members. Of our crew, pensioner AB.Watts, suffered a heart attack and died in hospital a few days later
Fortunately we were never bombed at sea. We had no lifejackets, but were told that a well-lashed hammock would keep you afloat for 24 hours, if you could hold on to it! Much later in the war we were issued with inflatable rubber tubes in a stocking sleeve, which we tied round our chest and inflated by blowing into a tube. In times of stress we would give it a few extra puffs for luck! It offered less buoyancy than a dinghy sailor has in Chichester harbour.
In the autumn we returned to the Clyde and were ordered to tie up alongside Lamlash pier and to invite the local girls to a dance on our deck. Stewards and cooks provided refreshments and the music came from our wind up gramophone.
Towards the end of the evening a seaman鈥檚 cap was knocked overboard and the owner in trying to recover it fell into the sea from the wooden fender outside the paddle box. Soon three or four of his messmates joined him, all trying to save someone! It was even said that one having been recovered, turning and seeing others still in the water jumped in again, still trying to help! When finally all were back aboard a lifebelt was seen gently drifting away. After some discussion Leading Seaman Bartlett dived in again to retrieve it. I was still keeping loudspeaker watch, so could only watch from the wireless office in the old ticket office.
At the end of the year the flotilla moved to Milford Haven where we had the task of clearing a minefield in St. George鈥檚 Channel. We were on the job on Christmas Day 1940 and our lunch consisted of corned beef sandwiches and a cup of tea gulped down between runs over the minefield. Only essential stokers were allowed below decks during active sweeps.
HMS.Mercury another paddle sweeper in the flotilla had a special Christmas card printed showing Popeye sweeping mines with a broom. It had the caption 鈥淲e make a clean sweep of anything except our friends鈥�. However as they were recovering sweeps at the end of Christmas day, a mine suddenly broke surface just astern. Before anything could be done, it exploded, buckling her stem. Frantic efforts were made to cope with the leaks, but fearing the worst, the Flotilla Commander ordered us to escort Mercury to Rosslare, the nearest port, although it was in neutral Eire. Unfortunately at about 8 o鈥檆lock they had to abandon ship and by the light of our searchlights we watched her sink, while we all thought that this could have happened to any of us. Fortunately no one was lost or even hurt as far as I know. We returned to Milford Haven and the next day a proper Christmas lunch was served, but I was ashore as postman, returning with the Duty Drifter at about 4 o鈥檆lock to find my dinner had been in the oven keeping too warm for four hours.
Scawfell paid off in spring 1941 and was later fitted with a small warning Radar set, more guns and transformed into an AA Guard Ship. She served on East coast convoy, and later with the Normandy landings.
I was granted a commission and after a six-week training course I became an RNVR. Radar officer. Then for the next twelve months I served in an auxiliary AA cruiser HMS.Palomares on Atlantic and Russian convoys, including PQ 17. Then after eight months as an instructor in the Radar School, I again went to sea in HMS.Ceylon and spent two years in the Far East, returning just in time for VJ Day and to celebrate getting engaged. I have written a more detailed account of all this for my daughters and the grandchildren.
L. Clements,
[address removed by moderator]

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