I came back from leave in March 1942 and joined HMS Martin, my first
Destroyer. One of the happiest ships I had been on, a first class fighting
ship. A brand new ship which we commissioned in April 1942. I joined her
in Jarrow and when I saw her for the first time she looked like a miniature
Cruiser because she was the first Destroyer to have Gun Turrets, 3 of
them, 2 forward and 1 aft. To me she was a real picture of a ship, beautiful
looking craft with nice sleek lines. The crew appeared to be one of the
finest crews I have ever sailed with; we seemed to knit together so well.
During Sea Trials we built up to perfection the Fleet would like you to
build up to as a fighting ship. It seemed to be so easy aboard as things
knitted together so easily with very few mistakes and you knew this was
going to be a very efficient ship. We had quite a few brand new recruits
who were probably serving on their first ship so as active service men
we would be relied upon quite a bit.
Commander Thomson was the Captain of HMS Martin and he was one of the
finest Captain’s I ever served with. He was a brilliant tactician
in many ways because when we were on the Russian Convoys in particular
you could see this man with his glasses looking up at the sky during bombing
raids and literally follow the bombs down after they had been released
from the aircraft and would take very precise avoiding action. Many, many
times he saved us and when we went over hard of port or starboard you
could see the bombs explode in our wake in the stern. We had a few near
misses but he was a marvellous man when it came to avoiding them.
After Sea Trials we joined the 17th Destroyer Flotilla and were then
assigned to cover the Fleet on a screen with some Tribal Class Destroyers
off the coast of Norway. In this particular screening a disaster happened
which remains in my mind today. It was when the Battleship King George
V rammed the Punjabi, one of the Tribal Class Destroyers. It was very
thick fog and at about 4:00 pm this accident happened.
Leading Seaman Witham was my coxswain and when they say away lifeboats
crew anyone within the vicinity becomes part of that crew. When HMS Punjabi
was struck the stern went down within minutes and it left the bows afloat
and that’s where we saw most of them but there were a lot in the
water. I can’t remember exactly the number we picked up but I recall
a number about 43-45 people. These poor devils were covered in oil which
is what happens when a ship gets sunk. It made it difficult to pull them
into the lifeboat. It was freezing and when we got back to the ship and
started taking the survivors off we found two who had died of exposure.
That was my first initiation to that part of the world and how cold it
can really get.
This was May 1942 and it was very foggy and the sea fairly choppy and
some of the ships were streaming fog buoys which were like cones so you
could see the wake of these buoys from ahead. Without it you were in danger
of collision as there was radio silence as not to give your position away
to the enemy. It was a navigational error on someone’s part as the
Punjabi was beam on to the King George V which hit her amidships cutting
her in half. Because the KGV was so badly damaged we
were ordered to escort her back to Iceland, she then went down to Liverpool
for repairs. She was very badly gashed in the bows; it was just like an
alligator’s mouth open, ghastly sight.
Our next duty was covering force for P.Q.15. We were
with the main fleet covering the convoy in case any of the German Naval
forces came out from the Norwegian Fjords to attack the convoy that was
completely uneventful.
Next was P.Q.16 which was a taste of what was to come
in the next eight months.
Aerial attacks, submarine attacks but although we lost a few ships they
were not as excessive as when we took P.Q.18 out.
P.Q.17 I know about because it is recognised as one
of the biggest fiascos and disasters of the Russian Convoys.
We didn’t see much of the scattering of the convoy because the main
Destroyer force had to leave to join up with the fleet which was Aircraft
Carriers, Battleships Duke of York, King George V, USS Washington, Tuscaloosa,
some American Cruisers and Destroyers and British Destroyers in the screen.
They were of the opinion the Tirpitz was out with a couple of Pocket Battleships
or Battle Cruisers, Gniesenau and Scharnhorst. We weren’t quite
sure because as seamen we didn’t get a lot of information. We knew
the convoy had been told to scatter which made us despondent and depressed
to think we had left these poor ships on there own without any form of
defence and they were literally picked off by U-Boats and aircraft willy
nilly. This is where it hurt to think you had left them and nothing had
happened as there was nothing out and no battle imminent after scattering.
The Tirpitz never did come out and won a victory on it’s own without
even moving out of Altenfjord.
P.Q.18 was much more memorable because when your being
bombed, torpedoed for 5 days and 6 nights you get so disorientated that
you don’t know what the time is, whether it’s morning noon
or night, you don’t get time to have a meal and your closed up for
hours at a time. This is because of the lack of darkness, day light all
the time.
After refuelling we left Iceland and almost immediately we were spotted
by Focke Wolf Condors that were on scouting patrol. Off Jan Mayen Island
we saw the Focke Wolf Condor circling the convoy and Captain Thomson said
to the Yeoman “ Flash that bloke will you and ask him to come in
a bit closer so we can have a go at him”. He never did but we fired
a few shells at him just for practice, he was hopelessly out of range
but it gave him a taste of what was to come. Then with 4 days of leaving
Iceland all hell broke loose.
The first thing was a U-Boat attack. We saw this thing on the surface
so we started firing at her and as the shells were getting pretty close
she crashed dived. Our depth charge attack proved inconclusive. The following
day we saw two more on the surface. This time we attacked with HMS Achantes
but a similar result where we couldn’t claim a kill. After that
the air raids came there was high level bombing, dive bombing, torpedo
attacks by low flying aircraft, torpedo bombers. This just continued hour
after hour after hour.
Where you probably started off being afraid when the action first started,
in particular among some of the younger men on board we active service
men were able to help because we had been through it before. After you
had been through it second and third day you get used to it because you’re
so tired you don’t care anymore. Fortunately the ‘Martin’
never did get hit.
We got through to Murmansk with the loss of 8 to 10 ships altogether but
the air raids persisted even in the Kola Inlet. The worrying thing was
the lack air cover from the Russians which allowed the German Air Force
to attack from Norway and bomb us in Russian territory.
We went on to Archangel to pick up survivors, American, British, all allied
sailors that had been sunk on previous convoys.
One of the incidents I recall on P.Q.18 was to do with
a Russian Merchantman called the Starii Bolshevik which was burning very
badly. We took the Doctor to the ship and the ‘Martin’ came
as close as she could alongside the Starii Bolshevik and we were playing
hoses on to her to try and keep the fires down while the Doctor was assisting
with the wounded. The surprising thing was the amount of females aboard
these Russian ships, at least 50% of the crew were females which surprised
us as they were going through the same hazards and experiences that we
were going through on those convoys. We took off between 7 and 11 badly
wounded Russian people back to HMS Martin. The fire on board the Starii
Bolshevik was kept under control and she made it back to Murmansk, unfortunately
2 of the Russians we took on board died.
Weather conditions on the convoys were bad enough in summer but in winter
it was perpetually dark with temperatures well below freezing, so much
so that the guns used to freeze up and as the spray came over the bows
it used to freeze. So we were employed during whatever short spell we
had to chip away at the ice on the gun mountings, get the working parts
working again, very difficult and very harsh. The climatic conditions
were something I had never experienced in my life. The winds were always
terribly strong, there was always a gale which used to blow up within
minutes which had you rocking and rolling all over the place and on a
Destroyer it was sheer hell. The seas were very, very rough and if anyone
was lost over the side they were gone in a few minutes because of the
temperature of the sea.
Convoys in winter were mainly U-Boat attacks.
Convoys in summer you had it all. High level bombers, torpedo bombers
coming at you all day long and you also had to contend with U-Boats
OPERATION TORCH – NORTH AFRICAN LANDINGS.
We left Scapa Flow and proceeded to Liverpool to fuel up and sailed for
Gibraltar. It wasn’t till we reached Gibraltar that we realised
what was going to take place very shortly and that was Operation Torch,
the invasion of North Africa. When you saw the convoy coming through you
knew it was going to be something really big. We weren’t given any
shore leave in Gib we just lay alongside a tanker, fuelled up and then
sailed. We were on the screening force to the ‘Battle Fleet’.
Then on the morning of the 10th November1942 at 3 minutes to 3 there were
three explosions on the starboard side of the ship. This was the first
time I had ever been torpedoed and I never want to experience anything
like it again. A Destroyer would only take one fish; she wouldn’t
take three of them. Fortunately for me I was in ‘B’ Gun Turret
and the flap screen at the gun layers position were down and when I heard
the first explosion which was aft the ship shook and it was then I realised
we had been torpedoed. But within seconds there was a second and a third
explosion and all I saw looking through my gun layers screen was this
terrific blinding red flash go across and the whole of the bows disappeared.
So everyone that was below at that time off watch didn’t know what
happened, they died instantaneously. All I remember was the ship lurching
over to about 45 degrees and people trying to get out of the gun turret
that I was in, but I don’t remember a great deal really because
I got hit on the head by 4.7 shell and must have been knocked unconscious.
Ordinary Seaman Jackie Amphlett pulled me out of the turret. She was badly
keeled over to the starboard side that when the turret door was opened
and he pulled me out my face was touching water. I came to and I remember
looking up at the sky, the ship was still burning and I could see the
guard rails above me and I remember putting my hands up and grabbing the
guard rails and literally pulling myself up. I got onto the side of the
ship and slid down into the water. Survival came into my mind and I had
to get off this ship as soon as I can so I wouldn’t be sucked under
when she went down. I swam off and I had overalls and boots on which I
got off as soon as I was far enough away from the ship so I was a little
bit lighter. When I looked back to see if the ship was still there I could
see the flames then she went down.
When you are in a situation like that and you hear such awful sounds of
men screaming and crying out for help you realise the absolute futility
of war.
I saw a carley raft and swam for it and sitting on it was Jackie Amphlett
who pulled me into the raft with great difficulty because I was covered
in fuel oil, but he managed it. We paddled around and picked up a few
more survivors.
HMS Quentin finally picked us up and we were taken to Gibraltar. During
that trip to Gib I took all my meals up to the upper deck as the torpedoing
was still so fresh in my mind I didn’t fancy being below decks for
any length of time.
Most of us survivors were then taken to Liverpool then on to Chatham.
Survivors leave then followed.
George did mention that he was eternally grateful to Jackie Amphlett
for saving his
life and that he hoped to meet him again one day – I hope he did.
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