ISBN: none

This Pilot's story started at HMS St Vincent in the Summer of 1940 when he and two other potential pilots were manning a Lewis gun hoping to defend Gosport, when in fact the bombs fell on Portsmouth.  HMS St Vincent, before and after WWII was in fact a Boys'- Juniors' Training Establishment.  However, it was taken over during the war for pilot and observer training.  Here they spent their first 8 weeks under the watchful eyes of CPO Willmot (one time Chief Gunner's Mate in HMS Nelson) and PO Trim. 

According to a chapter of 'The Barracuda Pilots' reproduced in the HMS St Vincent Journal, CPO Willmot was famous for such expressions as "Now you lot, tomorrow at 0655 you get fell in 'ere them wot's keen gets fell in previous".

This book doesn't dally long at St Vincent and by Page 3 has already moved on from rotten sailors right through to learning to fly.  By Page 11 the author is issued with an RAF Pilots' Flying Log Book and is starting with 'Maggies' (Magisters).  The end is in sight when on 4 December 1940, 1600 hrs Magister R1898 self-navigation 1hr 5 mins- the last entry from EFTS and another purple stamp: Profficiency Ab initio pilot. 

Next, the author moves on to fly.  Being Ab enitio means at this stage he is still a Naval Rating and they go to Canada.  The fact that they went to Canada for pilot training does not surprise me because my father was in the RAF in WWII and I know he was stationed in Canada.  In this case it was Colin Bay, Kingston, Ontario and 'Fairey Battles'.  Eventually the author arrives back at Lee-on-Solent with others with very tattered uniforms and on Sunday Divisions the Commander asked "are you survivors?" which they felt was an appropriate epitaph for their wanderings about the world for 6 months. 

By now back in the UK they had become officers, but training was still not over because it meant ten weeks at Yeovilton for the last lap. 

The dangers of the job became obvious when a pilot was killed when three of them were caught out by clouds, 'the first glimpse of the danger that lies always in wait behind the least eventual hours of flying'

On Page 61 the author writes, "What's it like, landing on one of those aircraft carriers?" we had been asked by pretty little things, all agog for hair­crisping tales of pitching decks and hair-breadth escapes. "I can't imagine how you do it."

"Nor can we," we had murmured, truthfully; and watched the look of adoration fade".

Now we were about to find out; and our one idea when we took off and set course over the Clyde was to get it done with as quickly, and with as little fuss, as possible....First deck-landing!

By Part 2 of the book the author joins 880 Squadron and his first carrier is HMS Indomitable .  He describes it as the newest and largest as opposed to HMS Argus the oldest and smallest.  The author describes the experience of landing on a carrier for the first time- a Red Letter Day.  By Page 100 of the book the author has completed his 32^nd deck landing and Indomitable has reached the Indian Ocean and joined up with Formidable, Warspite and four old large R Class Battleships, two Cruisers and 6 Destroyers - the framework of a new Eastern Fleet. 

Shortly after this we read of the loss of HM Ships Dorsetshire and Cornwall- 'those dignified symbols of an obsolete Pax Britanica'. 

We learn on Page 123 that the Captain of Indomitable was TH Trowbridge RN and at this point the ship joins other ships off Gibraltar for Operation Pedestal, about which whole books have been written.  The Carriers involved were Indomitable, Victorious, Eagle, Argus and Furious, the latter carrying 32 Hurricanes and Spitfires to be flown off to Malta.

Part 3 covers the author's time in HMS Illustrious, Campania and Striker.  Of Campania the author says, "Less than a week later I was standing among the puddles on the grey steel deck of Campania, one of the new British escort-carriers, then commissioning in Belfast.  She was not bad-looking, of her kind, though I distrusted at once the narrowness of the flight-deck and the poverty of arrester-wires, of which there were only five".

I will let the author conclude:

" From this fruitless exercise in human perversity, never­theless, there were certain things worth retrieving: the moments of exhilaration, of tranquillity, of intensified experience. They were the waste-product of violence, part of no pattern, irrelevant to the purpose in hand; but they stay in one's memory after many other things, that seemed of greater weight at the time, have been rubbed out. They are the souvenirs which one brought back out of the ruins".

Rob Jerrard

HMS Thule Intercepts

Edition: 1st

Author: Alastair Mars

ISBN: None 1956

Publishers: Elek Books London

Price £?

Publication Date: 1956

Lt Cdr Alastair Mars, DSO, DSC and Bar is the Author of this book 'HMS Thule Intercepts' and others. One of his best-known books, "Unbroken" describes how during the bleak days of early 1942, when beleaguered Malta was reeling under bombardment and blockade and Rommel was making his last desperate thrust towards Egypt, only one British submarine was operating in the western Mediterranean - the tiny, 600-ton HMS Unbroken.   In twelve months in the Med, HMS Unbroken sank over 30,000 tons of enemy shipping, took part in four secret operations, three successful gun actions, and survived a total of over 400 depth charges, as well as innumerable air and surface attacks.  Alastair Mars' command of this outstandingly successful submarine embraces her construction, sea trials and voyage to Gibraltar preparatory to her vital role in the Mediterranean.  Once there, she was responsible for the destruction of two Italian cruisers and played a pivotal part in Operation Pedestal, the convoy that saved Malta from surrender.  This book is available as a modern paperback reprint from Pen & Sword.

In another of his books,  'British Submarines At War 1939-1945' Alastair Mars states that "It can truthfully be said that never in the long history of war has any armed force been subjected to such destruction, year after year, and yet survived to inflict upon its enemies losses out of all proportion to the size of this small band of British submariners and their friends."

In 'HMS Thule Intercepts' Mars tells the story of a later Command, HMS Thule P325 (S25).  She was launched 20^th September 1941, Commissioned 13^th May 1944 and ended her service 14^th September 1962.  She conducted air-conditioning trials in Kilbrennan Sound 1944.  In May 1944 she operated out of the Holy Loch from a billet alongside HMS Forth.  Mars tells an interesting story of the time they brought back 18,000 eggs from Northern Ireland to Scotland; that must have been a very delicate operation.

She then proceeded to Trincomalee.  She operated mainly in Malacca Strait, sinking many sampans and junks.  In December 1944 she claimed to have sunk a Japanese RO-100 class submarine.  Possible RO-113, which was in fact not sunk.  There was an interesting encounter for the Boat on page 44, where the author describes how at night they found themselves in the middle of the screen escorting a Battleship; HMS Valiant.  The main fear was they would be mistaken for a U-Boat.  They were lucky they were undetected.  HMS Valiant had been in dry-dock at Trincomalee when the dock cracked under her weight.

At Trincomalee she found two Depot Ships, HMS Wolfe and HMS Adamant plus an accommodation ship City of London.  Here the 4^th Submarine Flotilla consisted of "T" Boats.

In February 1945 she reinforced military personnel and equipment at a point just North of Singapore.  She returned in May 1945.  From May 1945 she operated from Fremantle Western Australia where at one time she was holed by HM Submarine Stubborn when berthing alongside.  She returned to Chatham in December 1945.

Here the book ends with the author telling us something of the crew, their locations and employment after the war.

HMS Thule continued her career.  After a refit, including streamlining, she commissioned into the 5th Flotilla at Portsmouth, then Portland.  On November 18th 1960 she was damaged around her fore-ends when, during exercises in the channel, she surfaced under the RFA Black Ranger.  It is said she signalled to the tanker when safely on the surface "Thules rush in where Rangers fear to tread!".  She was broken up at Inverkeithing 14^th Sept 1962. 

Alastair Mars' books are always a delight to read.  This book contains some excellent black and white photographs.  Appendix I lists the Awards to Officers and men.

Awards To Officers And Men Of HMS. Thule

Lieutenant Commander A C G Mars, DSO, DSC, RN Bar to Distinguished Service Cross

Lieutenant A F Murray-Johnson, RN. Mentioned in Dispatches

Lieutenant (E) C L Bedale, RN. Distinguished Service Cross

Lieutenant J F L H C Nicholson Distinguished Service Medal

Chief ERA A C G Longbottom Distinguished Service Medal

Petty Officer P R Scutt  Distinguished Service Medal

Petty Officer W J Sanders Distinguished Service Medal

Stoker Petty Officer W E Mount Distinguished Service Medal

Petty Officer Telegraphist J Crutch Distinguished Service Medal

Leading Seaman P F Fenton Distinguished Service Medal

Mentioned in Dispatches Leading Stoker A P Spinks

Mentioned in Dispatches Leading Stoker N G Locke

Mentioned in Dispatches Able Seaman R. Howland    

Mentioned in Dispatches Stoker J D Knowles

 Appendix II is a Glossary of terms and a black and white diagram of Thule.  There are also maps of all locations to help readers who are not familiar with the areas.

There is also an unofficial list of the ship’s company at the end of the war.

Unofficial List Of Ship's Company At End Of War

Officers

Mars, Murray-Johnson, Bassett, Todd, Bedale, Robertson.

Chief And Petty Officers

Nicholson, Sanders, Mount, Wills, Jarvis, Crutch, Scutt, Seymour, Fearnside.

Engine Room Artificers

Abbott, Longbottom, Williams, Lee, Graham, Barclay, Roberts.

Seamen And Communications

Cryer, Fenton, Thomas, Doust, Gwilt, Howland, Rignall, Tibbett, Elrick, Bramhall. McDougall, Leednam, Ford, Cardwell, Jenkinson, Toms, Fielding, McIntyre, Chapman, Smith, Pauley, Cooper, Stone, Hill, Dennis, Gould, Macintosh.

Engine Room

Spinks, Macdonald, Harrison, Woodward, Feen, Armstrong, Duggan, Evans, Davies, Gurr, Parker, Knowles, Yorke, Leach, Jarrett, Paul, James.

Total 66

Rob Jerrard

My Life Among The Blue-Jackets

Author: Agnes Weston

Edition: 12^th Impression 1913

Publishers: James Nisbet & Co Limited

First Published: 1909

This is the autobiography of a woman loved and admired by thousands – perhaps countless ‘Blue-Jackets’, as they were then called.  The men of the Royal Navy called her ‘Mother’ because of what she did then and the profound effect she had on their lives.

Until I read this book, I had no idea just how much she had done and the hardships the average Blue-Jacket still faced, even as late as 60 years after Trafalgar.  As a Portsmouth boy I had become aware of the Royal Sailors’ Rest through my involvement with the Royal Marine Cadet Corps at Eastney Barracks in Southsea.  The book brought a smile to my face because at Page 86 in the chapter, ‘Our Boys in Blue’, where she is in fact telling of her attempts to attract the Boy Seamen from the Sail Training Ships Impregnable, Implacable, Lion and Foudroyant (Food I want) off the streets of Plymouth in 1873.  She says she hired the Mechanics Institute and “I hoped a basket of buns might pave the way but the buns failed utterly; the boys fled”. 

Miss Weston might herself smile if I admit that the reason we boy cadets sat through a religious service at the Royal Sailors’ Rest  Portsmouth was because after the service we were treated to bread and butter with strawberry jam and doughnuts!  This was a real treat and still a fond memory, as in the early 1950s, such delights were not forthcoming at home.

This is really where it all began, Miss Weston says herself, “I have always thought that one of the best points about this work was that I was able to begin with the boys”.  In 1873 when she first went to Devonport, the four old sailing ships mentioned above were used for Boys’ training.  She also tells us that HMS St Vincent lay at Portsmouth, HMS Ganges at Falmouth and HMS Boscawen at Portland.

After this Miss Weston started to go aboard ships to address the men, but not without difficulty initially, because it was against Queens Regulations.  Only a Captain or a Chaplain can ever address the ships’ company.  Miss Weston found out that, “There are certain peculiarities about the Navy that remain to this day, (she was speaking here of 1909) one is that if you are outside they will never let you inside, and another is that once you get inside and establish a precedent, no-one will be allowed to despoil you of it, if the fight is to the death”.  

In many respects this book reads as a mini-history of the Royal Navy between the years 1873 – 1909.  The author catalogues very many of the tragedies, but also explains much about the daily routines and highlights many which were bad.

Many she condemned were, ‘Paying Off’, No proper system of being able to save (bank), Wives having to walk miles to draw money in all weathers, immediate stoppage of pay the day a ship sunk and the husband was dead, the Greenwich Pension – only after 21 years nothing for being invalided out before, shifting payments to wives from weekly to monthly when a ship sails.

The Portsmouth Sailors’ Rest was opened on 31 June 1881 and for me it brings history closer, when I think that a few streets away in 1880, my Grandmother was born and perhaps my Grandfather (born 1874) may have stood and watched the opening with his father, an RMA Gunner in HMS Warrior.  

Of course not everyone in Portsmouth and Devonport loved Miss Weston, after all this is the lady who raised money to buy up and close public houses which stood between her and the main gates of the dockyards.  

Chapter XI is called ‘The Capture of the Public Houses’.  Here she describes her attack on the Napier Inn, Royal Naval Rendezvous and Dock Gates Inn, all of which stood in her way.  Another is Chapter XXII - The Capture of the French Maid, which stood in Chandos Street, Portsmouth.  She described it as “A snare to the boys of St Vincent”, which by the time of her writing in 1909, “had paid the debt of nature with the boys moving to Shotley”.  She closed this by purchasing it as well.

Miss Weston was very religious and this shows through in all her writings.  She was able to undertake this work because she was from a privileged background and considers that she had been called by God to do this work.  She explains her genealogy and childhood – an old family ‘handsome is as handsome does’.  An expression I learnt from my mother.  Her Grandfather was a Barrister, a bencher of Gray’s Inn.  She spent much of her childhood in Bath.

The Royal Warrant bestowing 'Royal' on the Sailors Rests was in 1892.  In 1898 Miss Weston was summoned to Windsor to meet the Queen and in 1901 she received an honorary degree from Glasgow University, amongst the first ever awarded to a woman.

She died in 1918, aged 78, and was buried with full naval honours, the first time such an honour had been given to a woman. Her gravestone gives her name, dates and the simple epitaph, 'The Sailor's Friend'.

In that same year Miss Weston was awarded the G.B.E. in the Birthdays Honours List.  She was never personally presented with the award as she died before the investiture.

I think this book is a must for anyone with an interest in the Royal Navy and it is still obtainable at a reasonable price of about £5 on E-Bay or somewhere similar.

Rob Jerrard

A Formidable Commission

Author: The Wardroom Officers of HM Aircraft-Carrier Formidable

ISBN: none

Publishers: Seeley Service & Co Ltd

Price Unknown

Publication Date: 1947

"I don’t mind where they send me so long as they don’t send me to a carrier"

‘Purbright had said this thirty or forty times in ten years.

This small book is dedicated to everyone who served or took passage in H.M.S. "Formidable" during her Second Commission; in particular to the air-crews who operated from her and to the Australian, Indian and United King­dom ex-prisoners-of-war who were brought home in her.

The book is narrated by ‘Purbright’, who I presume we must accept as the collective name for the Wardroom Officers, because Purbright never identifies himself.

The book covers the period from May 1944 to February 1946 when HMS Formidable was under the command of Captain Philip Ruck-Keene and sometimes flying the flag of Vice Admiral Sir PL Vian.  From June 1944 until December 1945 she sailed 112,823 miles in 6,118 hours 11 minutes and 4,234 deck-landings were made by Avengers, Barracudas, Corsairs, Hellcats, Wildcats, Walruses, Seafires and Fireflies.  

During this second commission 40 of her crew lost their lives, the great majority of them being pilots and aircrew.  It is significant to note that 16 were RNVR, 5 were RCNVR, 1 was RNZNVR and 3 were Royal Netherlands Navy.  15 of the 40 were Ratings including of course Naval Airmen.

The lists of awards at the rear of the book covers  8 pages, including a VC to the late Temporary Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray RCNVR, once Senior Pilot of 1841 Squadron who’s citation reads

‘Victoria Cross’

“On 12th November 1945 the Admiralty announced the award of the Victoria Cross posthumously to the late Temporary Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray, R.C.N.V.R., once senior pilot of 1841 Squadron. The following was the official citation:

"For great valour in leading from the aircraft carrier Formidable an attack on a Japanese destroyer in Onagawa Wan, in the Japanese Island of Honshu, on 9th August 1945. In the face of fire from shore batteries and a heavy concentration of fire from some five warships, Lieutenant Gray pressed home his attack, flying very low in order to ensure success. Although he was hit and his aircraft was in flames, he obtained at least one direct hit, sinking the destroyer. Lieutenant Gray has consistently shown a bril­liant fighting spirit and most inspiring leadership."

The story of this commission started at Belfast on 16 May 1944 when Formidable an Illustrious Class Aircraft Carrier was built by Harland & Wolff.  Her sisters were Illustrious, Victorious and Indomitable.  These ships had three shafts as opposed to their half-sisters Implacable and Indefatigable, which had four shafts, which meant four boiler rooms and the ability to steam on two.  She did not have a good start and the details of the day she launched herself are narrated in Chapter 5 of Neil McCart’s book ‘The Illustrious and Implacable Classes of Aircraft Carrier 1940-1969’.  In his book Neil says that she was moored at Spithead, just off Ryde Pier for three years from 1949-January 1953.  As a child living in Portsmouth we did on occasions go by Paddle Steamer from Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier on the Isle of Wight, but I cannot remember seeing an Aircraft Carrier there.  Perhaps it was a case of too many ships, or maybe I just missed seeing her – what a sad end.  

During the second commission the first Pilot lost was Sub Lieutenant (A) Edward  W Hewitson RNVR, who crashed into a hillside and was "the first of the sad individual losses the ship was to suffer".  

On 14 July 1944 she sailed in company of Duke of York, Indefatigable, Furious, Bellono, Devonshire, Kent and Jamaica on ‘Operation Mascot’ a strike against Tirpitz.  After further operations against Tirpitz she arrived in Gibraltar 21 September 1944.  She remained there some time, because the centre engine gear wheel had stripped and this necessitated cutting a large hole in the flight deck.  Purbright seems to have enjoyed himself at Gibraltar - good football, good canteen, good swimming (remember the long tunnel under the rock to the Bathing Beach the other side?), good food and Wren Officers.  It is at this point that it takes on the singular because he says,

"An officers' dance was held in the wardroom on 4th November. Wren officers came and Purbright danced, drank beer and talked shop with several old shipmates of his wife."  We at least know his wife was a Wren, perhaps an officer?  

Inside the front and rear covers there is a map showing the ship’s track from May 1944 to February 1946 and since the ship visited some places several times it is difficult to interpret precisely.  However, it is very useful for referring to as you read, inter alia about Scapa , Rosyth, Portsmouth, Gibraltar, Alexandria, Colombo, Bombay, Trincomalee, Singapore, Tarakan, Morolia, Manus, Fremantle, Sydney and Capetown.

Formidable became part of the British Pacific Fleet.  She was twice hit by a Kamikaze - the Divine Wind - the origin of which is explained on Page 99.

"The Japanese word "kamikaze" means "divine wind". Only twice in the history of Japan have attempts been made to invade the Japanese islands. The first unsuccessful attempt, was in 1275, followed by another abortive attempt in 1282, by a fleet led by a grandson of Genghis Khan.  Both attempts which were made on the island of Kyushu, were fated to be destroyed by typhoons.  One in particular wrought tremen­dous havoc among the fleet and thousands of the invaders lost their lives.  The wind of the typhoon which arrived so fortuitously to save Japan, was thereafter the "kamikaze" or "divine wind".

This explanation is interesting.   I knew Kamikaze meant Divine Wind, which could have won the £1,000,000 on ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ if I had been in the hot seat that day!

On 7 August Formidable’s crew heard that an American B29 Super Fortress had dropped an ‘A’ Bomb on Hiroshima and that Russia had declared war on Japan.  It is sad to read that on 9 August temporary Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray RCNVR lost his life and was later awarded the VC.  A few more days and the war would have been over.  

War action duties over, Formidable then became involved with RAPWI (Allied Prisoners of War Recovered and Internee).

Aircraft were never to use her flight-deck again as she conveyed personnel back to Sydney and Madras before she finally came home via Fremantle and Capetown to Portsmouth to end her days rotting off Ryde Pier for the day-trippers to stare at.

Not quite the end of course, for like so many she was to see Inverkeithing, the first of her class to go to the breakers.

There are 33 excellent official black and white photographs.  A rare book if you can obtain a copy.  My copy appears to have belonged to one of the hands who frequently painted the ship as the cover is spotted with white paint!

Rob Jerrard

Showing the Flag

Edition: First

Author: Captain Augustus Agar VC RN

ISBN: NONE

Publishers: Evans Brothers Limited

Price £ Not Known

Publication Date: 1962

This book was published in 1962 and reflects in places the accepted views of that period and of course before, since by then the author was retired.  Showing the Flag was something we still referred to in my service and we did plenty of it.  

The author refers on Page 19 to a remark attributed to Nelson, that a fleet of British warships were the best negotiators in Europe and points out how well this might have applied to those seas during the post-war years 1919-1920.  

He said that the Navy passed from war to peace, but the process was slow and uninspiring.  The treatment of the Navy during the last years of the Great War was a political scandal.

Returning to showing the flag the author said

"The phrase "showing the flag" always has for the Royal Navy a deep and significant meaning, largely because it is a constant reminder of the Navy's responsibilities in safeguarding the sea­links of communications which connect Great Britain with the rest of the Commonwealth. Past centuries have shown how Great Britain, through command of the sea by ships of the Royal Navy, acquired by treaty vast lands overseas, because of the trust and confidence our ships inspired in the inhabitants of those territories who voluntarily asked for our protection.

In this way our Empire was built on a basis of goodwill and justice, supported in the background by authority in the shape of well-disciplined sailors and soldiers until, in due course, the Protectorates became Colonies, the Colonies became Dominions, and the Dominions in their turn members of the great British Commonwealth of today. The process still continues, but with different methods and at a different tempo, yet the connecting links still operate, and will always be required as long as ships sail upon the broad oceans and trade is carried on by sea.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when unscrupulous traders sailed the seven seas far from the reach of authority......What was the ship's purpose? What was her mission?  Even more important, what was her flag? These were the questions uppermost in the minds of the anxious inhabitants with fear in their hearts.

When it was made known that the flag worn by the ship was the White Ensign of the Royal Navy, or the "Red Duster" of our merchantmen, any apprehensions which those ashore may have previously felt were at once allayed. Instead of fear there was confidence and goodwill, because the White Ensign signified authority in support of law and order, while the Red Duster indicated trade and the fair exchange of the white man's goods for native products.... Thus it came about that, through the ships of the Royal Navy, Great Britain not only established her good name abroad, but made for herself a reputation for fair dealing in commerce all over the world. of the world, were eager and willing to place themselves under the protection of the British flag"

The author served during the period when Royal Naval ships really did roam the globe - I was very lucky that during my service we still went world-wide and ranged about the world, but nothing compared to how it was pre-WWI and during the inter-wars years.

The author served in HMS Curlew, a light cruiser, one of a class of ten built as part of the emergency war programme, and Hibernia, Philomel, Chatham, Scarborough and others.  

Just reading the chapter headings will tell you what an interesting time they had, ‘Panama to New Zealand’, Starting a Navy from Scratch (New Zealand Navy)’, ‘Cruising in New Zealand’, ‘From Cook Straight to the Chatham Islands’, ‘Pacific Cruising - Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti’, ‘The Polynesian Islands’, ‘HMS Philomel’ (A Pearl Class Light Cruiser’ which had been laid up in the Firth of Forth until February 1908, when she was transferred to New Zealand in 1914 and became a Training Ship.  She made her last voyage in 1921 to Auckland to become a training hulk.  She was scuttled in 1949.)  The chapters continue, ‘Mediterranean Problems - Greece and Turkey’, ‘Italian Maritime Ambitions’, ‘The Ten Year Rule’, ‘HMS Scarborough Caribbean Cruising in the Leeward Islands’, ‘The Windwards, Virgin and other Islands’, ‘The Honduras Hurricane’, ‘Guiana and the Orinoco River’, ‘Newfoundland’ and ‘Labrador’.

This book is a fascinating journey around the world by men, few of whom remain to tell the tale.

The author was present when a new Frigate HMS Scarborough was commissioned, which cost £3,000,000.  The previous one cost £300,000.  The author ends with a quote from ‘The Laws of the Navy’ by Ronald Hopwood

So they sought, explored, discovered, so they sailed from day to day:

When the Lizard dropped behind them there were none might bid them stay:

With Marconi yet undreamed of, none to call, or heed their prayers,

They had none of our good fortune; we, alas, have none of theirs.

Whenever you served in the Navy, you will enjoy this book if you can find a copy.

Rob Jerrard

The Navy and Defence

Edition: First

Author: Admiral of the Fleet Lord Chatfield PC, GCB, OM etc

ISBN: None

Publishers: William Heinemann Ltd

Price £ Not Known

Publication Date: 1942

This is the first part of Lord Chatfield’s Autobiography, which covers his career up until his appointment as Commander in Chief 1929-1932.  It was written as a prelude to his administrative responsibilities as Controller of the Navy, First Sea Lord and Cabinet Minister.  At that time he was not able to publish the later period, which was to be published in Volume II.

Lord Chatfield had been the Flag Captain of HMS Lion at the Battle of Jutland.  In the commissioning book of the next HMS Lion, first commissioned 1960-1962 it states "It rests now to be determined whether the names of Sir David Beatty and the Lion shall earn the right to take their places in history beside those heroes of the past.  The matter is not settled yet, it is still trembling in the balance, but we have seen perhaps enough to know that it can be done, is possible and even probable".  This is part of an article taken from ‘The Searchlight’ the magazine of the Battle Cruiser Lion, dated October 1915.  That ship, completed in 1912 was Flagship of the First Cruiser Squadron and seven months later on 31 May 1916 Lion was the first ship to open fire at The Battle of Jutland.

The Tiger Class Cruiser Lion was to have borne the Name Defence until it was changed to Lion.  (Concordant Nomine Facta)  http://www.rjerrard.co.uk/royalnavy/lionrn/lionrn.htm

Lord Chatfield visited the new Lion (a Tiger Class Cruiser) some time during the first commission and became a great friend of the ship.  His photograph appears in the 1960-1962 Commissioning Book with Captain John Scotland DFC.

This is indeed a book worth reading.  It starts in 1886 when he joined the old Three-decker Britannia at Dartmouth from where he passed out in July 1888 with two Firsts and a Second.  The latter he says because of a lifetime inability to master the French language - I think I know how he felt.

After that he joined a new Corvette, Cleopatra following a brief spell in the Iron Duke, which unbelievably was a Barque-rigged Battleship with steam power (steam and sail).  Iron Duke had twin screws, which made her very slow under sail.  The Cleopatra it seems was also steam and sail, as the author describes how they nearly sunk - luckily for all the top sails and topgallant sheets carried away in a storm, otherwise she would have been lost.

Lord Chatfield was born in 1873, about the same year as my Grandfather.  I can remember a conversation about Grandfather returning from South Africa around 1900.  When I enquired if it was a steamship he said "Steam, steam, no it were a sailing ship my boy".

In the Author's Foreword he says-:

"This is not a record of my life though that is inevitably a part of it, but rather the story of the Royal Navy as I have seen it during the last fifty years. It includes the difficult years when the Navy was undergoing a transformation from the old days to the new, from sail to steam, from steam to internal combustion engines…..

For those who were young, these great changes were easy to assimilate, but for those who had been brought up in earlier days it was hard. It is not easy to go to school again when you are middle­ aged, to find your supremacy as a seaman, based on hard experiences successfully overcome, which automatically gave you an authority over others, apart from your rank, in some respects lessened; a new world growing up that disturbs the old train of thought and things, a world which you do not know much about, a time without precedent in naval history, when the junior might know more than his seniors about naval technique.

Many older officers, therefore, found it difficult to adapt them­selves to the modern ship and its machinery. It needed technical training of a type they had not had. It was difficult for them to act as a senior officer should, in initiating and stimulating training on new lines which they had not studied. They found themselves mentally and technically stranded. During the "nineties", (1890’s) the struggle was always going on between the mind of the old seaman and the young technician, the one rather clinging to the old gods, the other striving to introduce the new"

It has happened again, has it not?  Computers instead of files?  Old Filing clerks who refused to be trained!

Lord Chatfield went on to serve in HMS Caesar, Sheerness Gunnery School, HMS Good Hope, HMS Venerable, Whale Island (Excellent), HMS Albemarle, HMS London, HMS Medina, HMS Southampton and Lion.

I am not sure which chapter I like best because they are all very informative.  There are some wonderful quotes about Admiral Sir David Beatty, in addition to the well-known one, "There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today".  On another occasion he included in his address to the ship’s company of Queen Elizabeth. "Didn’t I tell you they (the German Fleet) would have to come out"? To quote Lord Chatfield, "this was as the German Fleet surrendered with their guns trained fore and aft, the Battle Cruisers, which we had twice met under very different circumstances creeping towards us, as it were with their tails between their legs.  Slowly the parade of humiliated ships entered the Forth."

 "Didn’t I tell you they would have to come out?"  

If you serve or served in the Royal Navy you should read this book - it is a deep insight into where we obtained that pride and why we were trained the way we were.  To sum up - this is an exceptionally good read.

Rob Jerrard