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This article, presented here in 8 chapters plus an introduction, is the naval autobiography of Alec Kellaway. Alec served in the Royal Navy from January 1936 to November 1947. His story shows what life was like training for the Navy immediately before the war as well as service in a wide variety of ships during the conflict. The book was written by Alec himself and has previously been published on the HMS Hood Association web site (www.hmshood.com) and in the HMS Cossack Association newsletters.

I was There! Where?
Chapter 1b Early Navy Days

On our three days off watch we were able to do our own thing and I never found a dull moment during my training period we had our clothes to keep clean and tidy, something new and with the help of older personnel a system of washing underwear, socks, towels and blankets was soon achieved, it was possible to have items laundered but the pride one had for the cleanliness and smartness of one’s uniform a preference for self service prevailed.

It was possible on off duty days to go to the barrack cinema, the 22 rifle ranges, the canteen, and various sport activities and if one wanted to go out of barracks for the evening. Evening leave was available to all off duty ratings, such as we were called, on an age limitation; ratings 20 years of age or over were entitled to all night leave, all ratings under 20 were required to return to barracks by 10pm, 2200 hours. This limitation to under 20s was rescinded on behalf of ratings living in Portsmouth with their parents.

When one looks at ones early days of entry into the Navy it must be realised that the Navy was rebuilding its fleet. It was so very vital that numbers for recruitment were attained. HMS Victory was taking new ratings every week and this caused a problem with getting instructors and providing accommodation to train the new recruits. In this respect I would say that training classes were not getting the full instructions required or attained by earlier new entrants.

Two instances bring this to mind in my training, one day we were taken into the dockyard for boat training, we were allocated a cutter for rowing instruction and our PO neglected to get us to take of our webbing belt which had two buckles on the back which caused us to have bruised knuckles before we achieved some sort of cohesion in rowing because if one oarsman went forward as the oarsman in front went back, the man at the back ran his knuckles down the belt of the rower in front causing severe pain to the rear oarsman. But this is not the point in question, before our instruction could be completed our class was called away to attend HMS Iron Duke, a World War 1 battleship, where leading seamen were taking their PO exams and our class were required for the leading seamen to use in their power of command tests, this was the first and only time I was given any instruction about boat drill.
The other example of negative instruction was when the class was nearing its final weeks we were being taken for fix bayonets drill, our PO Brown on demonstrating how to fix bayonets then took us in the drill he said ‘squad will fix bayonets but on the order fix the right hand man will take a three short sharp paces to the fore at the word bayonets the’ thus ended the drill that was never completed as a messenger called for PO Brown to be somewhere else and from that day through my time in the Navy I never ever handled a bayonet.

A problem I did have was changing step on the march in the carrying out of this step I nearly brought the class to its knees no matter how PO Brown explained and demonstrated this step to me I could not change step. PO Brown for all his patience then took the squad onto the small parade ground and stood them to rest, he then gave the order calling the squad to attention on reaching attention he then ordered No 3 front rank one pace forward march, this No 3 was me, left turn quick march and away I went, the squad were then stood easy and PO Browns attention was focussed on me, the order came change step, change step, right turn, change step, change step, over and over again, right turn, change step repeatedly, right turn, change step over and over again moving round the small parade ground for about 20 minutes at the end of which I could change step.

In our final week with PO Brown we went to Tipner Rifle range and were given instruction in rifle shooting, this I think culminated in 5 rounds of 303 at 500 yards and 5 rounds at 1,000 yards both in the prone position. I think my score was 17 out of a hundred and I never handled a rifle during the rest of my service.

On the final day with PO Brown we were given a questionnaire about topical subjects from the media, I excelled in this in that I scored 0 out of 10, the lowest known points.

Any way we were all passed over for mechanical training and we thought so much of the patience and understanding of PO Brown that we presented him with a wrist watch, from that day I only met PO Brown once and that was during my final eight week training.

Two important facts I had omitted in my previous chapters; one is that a main subject in the initial training was we were taught how to salute correctly and it was said that you always saluted an officer not because of the man in the uniform but the King’s uniform.

The other subject was my fellow classmates, we were from all over the British Isles. Just to mention a few who were personal friends of mine. There was Taffy Thomas from Mountain Ash in Wales who was about 25 years old and had worked in the coal mines, he was a very happy and jovial man and easy to get on with. He had worked in the pits and his body was streaked with many coal veins obtained from scratches at work, we were together for just over three years living in the same mess on HOOD.

There was Bill Blondall from the Channel Isles. We were at the recruiting office in the beginning and on the HOOD, though he did transfer to the Writers Branch.

From Scotland was Jock McGinley, he had been a naval sea cadet, similar to the boy scouts, he and I had many a pleasant evening out while serving on the HOOD.

Charlie Camel came from Somerset and was an easy chap to be with.

My friend Hubbard; we served together on the HOOD and he is the only one of Drake class that I met in later years.

These I have mentioned, as we were real mates, though we did have other classmates from Durham, Hartlepool, Aylesbury and other areas who made Drake class a very enjoyable and enthusiastic group of provisional stokers.

After our eight weeks initial training we were taken for engineering instruction by a Chief Petty Officer Stoker over a further eight weeks. This was not in my considered opinion a really successful eight weeks. When we were doing practical work the instruction was being given by civil and naval engineers, who were very informative, but when we were on classroom studies it was a damp squid, our Chief would give us pen and paper, he would then dictate to us the Stoker’s Manual which we had alongside on our desks and would not define what he was dictating.

This is the time when I nearly came to being a defaulter. I had realised what the Chief was doing so I just carried on copying from the Manual; the Chief noticed this and said that he would report me for dumb insolence as I was not paying attention to him, fortunately nothing came from this. The eight weeks were very informative when we were with other instructors and I did very well in the exams.

During the entire beginning to the end of our training it is surprising that we did very little Physical Instruction and thinking back this was perhaps that recruitment was increasing so fast that there were not enough PI instructors to cope.

One of the tests we had to do in our first weeks was the swimming test; this consisted of swimming three lengths of the baths and keeping afloat for three minutes in the deep end whilst wearing a canvas suit. It was necessary to pass this test if promotion was wanted in the navy. On my first attempt I failed on my third swim up the baths and for this I was classed as a backward swimmer and if I wanted to pass this test I would have to do it in my own time in the evenings. On my first evening in the baths I did manage to pass and subsequently I passed my deep-sea test on my first ship.

During these early weeks we had been measured for a tailor made suit with a gold 2nd class stoker’s badge. At the end of our training period we were issue with this suit, classed as No 1’s and with our tropical whites also the studs were removed from our parade boots.

In January King George V had died, I hope that this was not because I was entering into the Navy, and Edward VIII had become King, though he did abdicate later in the year. It was decided that Edward would make an inspection of the new entrants one morning and in the afternoon would tour around Portsmouth.

In the morning we were paraded and the rain just poured down. For about two hours we were alternated to various areas of the parade ground, probably to get us wet on all sides, however it was decided for us to march through the gymnasium in single file past the King. On entering the gym we marched towards the dais that had been erected and at a certain point we had to eyes left salute and at the next point eyes front and drop the salute after that we went to lunch to prepare for the afternoon.

Before we went on parade in the morning we did get a good piece of advice from a Royal Yachtsman to wear a towel around our neck under our oilskin coat, this would save the rain entering around the collar from penetrating our under clothes; this was excellent advice.
In the afternoon the rain had stopped and we were paraded without our oilskins; we then marched out to line the streets of the King’s tour to suppress any surge of persons towards the King; this did not happen and we were marched back to R.N.B. and everything returned to normal.

On reflection to the first sixteen weeks in the Navy no one of our class was put on defaulters and not one wanted to leave the Navy.

Probably in that period many things happened that I do not recall but as it was I enjoyed it. Our pay was 2s 6d a day, paid for seven days a week as we could always be called for duty. This gave us 17s 6d a week plus our full keep and when we were on leave we were also paid for food maintenance, on top of this we were paid 1s 6d a week for the continual upkeep of our uniform. It was a great increase to my 15s I was earning with my previous employer and I had to pay mum for keep and clothing.

A point I do remember about my first week was that my shoes had just worn through to my socks when I was issued with my first pair of boots.

At one time during our training one of our seaman friends died and we attended his funeral at Gosport. This entailed several classes going to the ferry to Gosport, we were marched from R.N.B. at a slow march to the ferry lead by the R.N.B. Band across to the cemetery and after the internment we were marched back to R.N.B. with the band playing very lively music.
Some time during the early weeks we were visited by agents of shops that catered for naval tailoring on a private basis, These agents would if you wanted them to provide any kind of kit you required, The system was that from your pay 2/6 a month was allotted to the tailor and he would provide any items you required. This was a sort of tally man system, most of us joined up as we knew that the articles provided were of a better style than the could be purchased from naval stores.

I joined up with Billy Coopers and purchased a pair of regulation walking out shoes and was measured for a No 1 suit, these I received before I joined the Hood they were for use when on leave. Coopers and other tailors had provided sailors with clothing for many years and had establishments in many foreign ports giving a very good service, I stayed with them until I left the navy.

One problem we did have was with our sailors’ collars, these were blue in colour with three white strips and when washed the blue ran so much that it was a job to distinguish the white strips, It was possible to purchase a better class collar from our tailors that did not run.

Alec's story continues in Chapter 1c

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