War at Sea
War at Sea
“Harold joined the Royal Navy on 06/02/1940, aged 15. He gained an apprenticeship with the Royal Navy but trained with the RAF prior to going into the Fleet Air Arm. He worked in electrical and ordnance duties on the aircraft.”
“At Vancouver, he joined the HMS Arbiter and sailed down from Vancouver to the Panama Canal. There was an accident at sea. On the boat, a plane crashed off the deck on a training flight, and the pilot was killed. He escorted a convoy back to England after the Panama Canal. He was then at the Orkneys with his ship until 13/09/1944. Then, the squadron picked up HMS Tracker. This was a convoy bound for the USSR. The boat went to Murmansk, where it was very cold. There were very rough weather conditions on the way. There was lots of US Lend-Lease equipment there, including American Jeeps. His experience with Soviet troops and people was positive. He got back to the Orkneys and was there from 05/12/1944 to 25/01/1945. He then joined HMS Queen."
Shared by Harold Daniels at National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, Hampshire on 16 September 2023.
Group photo at WRNS training depot
“My father Ron was a submariner in the Royal Navy during WW11. His father, Charlie Wright was a Royal Marine. My dad was in the home guard from the age of 15 and was based at Alverstoke Gosport. I can't remember if I told you about his time in the home guard, fire watching from St Mary's Church tower, Alverstoke? Cycling home from his shift with a rifle on his back to Frater Terrace, Frater Lane (Royal Marine housing). He directed fire engines to the bombing via the moats at the ramparts of Gosport to top up the fire engines. Dad began his training in Submarines on 13/06/1944. I have all of his records. He was first summoned in 1942 and was going to join the Royal Marines like his father; but when he went into the office in the dockyard to hand his tools in on his last day, he was told that he couldn't go as bricklaying was regarded as a reserved occupation to repair all the bombed buildings in the dockyard (dad was completing a 5-year bricklaying apprenticeship in the dockyard).”
Shared by Julie Bennetts at Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport, Hampshire on 27 October 2023.
Ronald Jacobs in naval uniform.
“Ronald Jacobs was born in Northampton in 1924 and at the age of 12 he got the urge to join the Navy. He eventually served on HMS Primula, a Corvette. He was in Egypt around 1943, and later was on a ship that was torpedoed off the African coast. An Australian ship turned around and picked up 7 of the crew, including Ronald. He was injured and was taken to a hospital in South Africa, where initially they put the wrong arm in plaster! While he was in hospital the Germans blockaded the port so that he was unable to leave, so he stayed in South Africa living with a diamond miner's family for two years. He was upset by the ways that he saw black South Africans being treated.”
Shared by Susan Warren at Ahmadiyyah Mosque Hall, Warwickshire on 7 October 2023. The event was organised by Leamington History Group.
