Mediterranean and European waters

En Route to Egypt

SEA JOURNEY FROM UK TO EGYPT VIA SOUTH AFRICA. The sea route through the Mediterranean Sea was, due to...

My part in World War II: Memories of the Dutch Navy

In 1942 I volunteered to serve in Dover, England, on the MTBs. I then went back to Curacao for training on...

Mulberry Harbour: Onboard the Tug Boat Kings Cross

In 1944, after many months of towing huge concrete and steel sections all around the British Isles and...

A Lucky Escape

After training I proceeded to Porstmouth barracks where I was told that I would be joining the Australian...

Desertion in the Face of the Enemy

Officers and ratings witnessed the Captain tell the prisoner that he was charged with “Desertion in...

My Father's War: Onboard HMS Warspite, HMS Eridge and HMS Aldenham

My father, Charlton Everard Thompson, passed away prior to Christmas 2003 at 83 years of age... Two of the...

Active Service with P & O

Also on board was Margaret Bourke-White, the official Time magazine photographer and Kay Sullivan,...

My service in the Royal Navy by Philip Burgess

HMS Eagle", an aircraft carrier sunk, "HMS Manchester" sunk, "The Indomitable" an...

Ship Hit Mine and then it Sank in just 11 Minutes

In February 1941 I was sent to join the HMS Sindonis at Alexandria, in Egypt, which served during the...

My Flying Boots - Channel Dash

Sgt Brian Hunter, a fellow wop/ag, was doing some cursing as he had left his flying boots back at his...

A Coder's Story HMS Melbreak

We were based in Plymouth from February 1944 and did nightly patrols near the French Channel Ports... We...

HMS Liberty and Post-War Service

92 LAA Regt. Loss of the SS Sambut on D-Day

Fox Troop of 318 Battery having gone on separately to land on D-Day the rest of the Regiment and transport...

Ditching in the Med: 35 (Pathfinder) Squadron

Having dropped the markers we circled to drop our bombs, but over the sea we were shot at by a ship and...

Not a British ship in sight

We proceeded via Milford Haven and Gibraltar to the Mediterranean arriving at Augusta Sicily for convoy...

Eastern Fleet 1943 - 45 HMS Kenya

Soon after Christmas 1942, I was drafted to HMS Kenya, a Fiji Class Cruiser, and joined her at Scapa Flow....

What War Does to Ordinary People

One sunday when I was in my early teens, I wanted to watch a war film on TV, something my Dad have...

Per Mare Per Terram

By 1939, prior to the outbreak of WW2, he was on the HMS Southampton bound for the Americas with the King...

Anti Submarine Patrols on D-Day

We operated in Escort groups, and patrolled along defined lines, ours being from the Isles of Scilly across...

A Lifetime in the Navy

Boys were sent on cruisers and I joined HMS Birmingham at Scapa Flow on her return from Norfolk Virginia...

Halifax Downed in Channel

With considerable skill, the captain - Sgt Bob Dibben - ditched "N fer Nuts" on a very rough sea...

Journey to the Middle East

Also he remembers getting a meal brought round by a 'Coolie' of kipper and an orange and the...

Recycling Scotch

However, one of the crew who were all Scottish, , John Campbell, the Chief Engineer, in peacetime had been...

IVORS WAR

ON SEPTEMBER 1ST 1939 I WAS EVACUATED TO CHIPPING SODBURY GLOS WITH SPARKHILL COMMERCIAL SCHOOL,...

Mine Sweeping 1941- 42 HMS Bude

Four months later, in October 1941, I was drafted to a Bangor Class mine-sweeper, HMS Bude, 9th...

A Christmas Memory

He recalled : A fine clear sunrise on Christmas eve over a calm Atlantic ocean was a cheering sight after...