REG YOUNG REMEMBERS
After spending1940 - 41, &up to 26th July 1942 on a destroyer on north Atlantic
convoys, I thought it was good to be ashore with 3 meals a day, instead of hard
tack.
I was in Portsmouth Royal Navel Barracks 'Victory'. I'd just married my
sweetheart on my birthday (9th August). So I thought I was okay for a few
leaves, but it was not to be. End of Sept, I heard my name and number come over
the tannoy system to report to the drafting office. Here we go again, I thought.
It was a draft to a job No 6 at Glasgow, me and a few more chaps. So scribbling
a short letter to my new wife, telling her not to post any more letters to R.N.B.,
I packed everything and next morning we loaded all our baggage, kit bags and
hammocks in the RN lorry and I went to Pompey station. Next stop Glasgow.
Arriving at the station, we were met with an RN driver, who informed us we would
be taken to Scotstoun. We unloaded the lorry at the dockside, alongside a beauty
of a brand new destroyer. Thinking this was the end of the journey, we each
carried our luggage aboard, into the torpedomans messdecks, where I was informed
that I had come aboard the wrong ship. My orders, which was in the hands of a
Petty officer was that I and several more who had arrived, had to report to job
number 42, which was in another part of the dockyard. So carrying all our
baggage back off that lovely ship, which by the way was HMS Racehorse,.we
reloaded, back on the transport and finally came to job number 42 (I'm sure it
was 42) anyway, what a big difference there was, it was still being built.
We reported to the officer in charge, who directed us to our billet, which was
something like a warehouse, it was dry and warm, so it would have to do until
the time came to move aboard the ship in the process of being built. After a few
days of working with the dockies - guns were being fixed, welding in process,
then along came dockesses, women, to paint the interior, cork to be plastered on
the bulkheads to absorb moisture. My particular part was working with the
Torpedo Instructor (TI). Finally all the painting done the ship was floated and
moved to a jetty. A ships company completed, we moved under our own steam to the
waving of the men and women who had built her. Now we were ready for taking her
down the Clyde for trials. Up to now we didn't have a name just a job number.
Several days of high speed trials to Ailsa Craig that lump of rock at the mouth
of the Clyde that we got to know so well and finally the white ensign was raised
and our ship was HMS Wensleydale (Oct 1942)
Now we thought we were ready - what a mistake that was. Tobermory where we were
really tried and tested, nothing we did was good enough for the Commodore, depth
charges had to be dropped and a full pattern reset in a matter of so many
minutes. All the lads who had to pull on the ropes to swing depth charges
back on their stacks, had muscles like Mr Universe, finally we were told we were
ready, so next stop, Scapa Flow.
Entering the anchorage at Scapa a familiar sight came in view, it was the 'Ajax'
veteran of the battle of the River Plate, where the Graph Spree was attacked.
This is where torpedo trails had to take place, instead of a warhead, each
torpedo was fitted with a '#lowing head' a head filled with water, the same
weight as explosive. When the torpedo had completed it's run, air was introduced
and the water expelled, so now the head was full of air, this caused the
torpedo's to float vertically. I was one of the picking up boats crew. Our job
was to recover each "fish" and pull them back to the ship to be winched aboard.
Once aboard we were hoisted back and awaited the results of the action of the
torpedo's in their passage through the water , what was known as DEPTH AND ROLL
RECORDING. Once they had proved to be okay, warheads were refitted and now we
were ready for war.
Our very first job was to go from Scapa to Inverness to escort the battleship
MALAYA back to Scapa. Several more days up in that god-forsaken place and we
started on our way down the West Coast, calling at several places, one of them
was Liverpool. Then onwards to our final place, where we joined our FLOTILLA
"PLYMOUTH". This is where we always ended up. At this time Plymouth was very
badly flattened, constant bombing, strafing, nearly every night something
happened. Incendiaries all around us, everybody had a bucket of sand. They
strafed the docks, knowing we couldn't fire back for fear of hitting our own, so
all we could do was machine gum them.
We ### to be ### nights, if I can remember, every evening a few would leave
harbour and head eastwards, sometimes to pick up a convoy from the Dover area
and escort as far as LUNDY
E-Boat alley was to us _LIME BAY at first they would station themselves in the
bay with engines turned off, then cause havoc with the convoy torpedoing and
firing their machine guns. I was amazed at the colours of their cannon fire,
coming at us, blues, reds, greens, yellows - no matter what colour they were
they caused a lot of damage. The deck which was a kind of non slip material so
lovingly put down in Scotstoun was very often ripped up and pieces of it was
everywhere. My action stations were varied depending what watch I was on - when
it was on the tubes I and my mate Shorty Devereaux used to dive between the
tubes when we saw those lovely colourful lights coming our way. Pom Poms used to
be red hot. When we chased them our 4.5 came in action.
Wensleydale was a beautiful ship, it could travel too. Everything about her was
of the latest design, as was proved a few times when we had to find an aircrew
that had come down in the Channel. Sometimes an aircraft circled over the spot
that we were searching for. We've been to the South of Ireland once to pick up
some aircrew. Another time in the Channel a Lancaster had pancaked in the sea
and it was still afloat when we arrived. The crew was on the wings, ready in
case it sank. We ferried them off, and fastened a wire to the plane and started
to tow it, but it nose dived and we had to chop the wire rope and release it.
In the Bay of Biscay once, we were in the company of HMS Sheffield, cruiser, and
a couple of more of our flotilla, searching for any foreign ships that was
radioing the position of convoys, either going south or coming back home. These
signals had been picked up by our intelligence service radioing convoy positions
for U-boats to attack. So something had to be done, so a search party was
dispatched, after searching certain areas we finally sighted two Spanish
trawlers. Stopping them and boarding them we found they has special radio
equipment, capable of doing what we suspected so the Wensleydale was the escort
provided to bring them in to Milford Haven, where the boffins took over. We then
went back to rejoin the group - we had the battle ensign hoisted during this
particular time. This meant that we were going in to surface action against some
German destroyers sighted on the horizon, after a high speed chase, they
escaped.
Most nights was the French coast run in company with a few more of our flotilla.
Danish crew manned Glaisdale, La Combattante was French manned, Krackoviak was
Polish, so our flotilla was a mixed bag. The Polish destroyer was always in
trouble, whenever tact was needed you could bet that the krackerjack as we
called it was all for going in and shooting at everything in sight. Silence was
called for, especially if we were guarding a pack of MLs (motor Launches) laying
mines in the lanes that the Germans had swept - we did this very often. I reckon
they knew we'd laid mines, due to the fact that we would go back and lay more
another night.
April 1943, we'd left harbour one morning, travelling eastwards somewhere near
Beachy Head and the sight we saw was astonishing, lots of transports, as we drew
near a signal was received and then we stopped - alongside came a motor launch
and from it came a man all muffled up, every officer came to meet him, saluted
him and then we set-off. I looked up at the #### and there flying in all it's
glory was the commodores flag, so the Wensleydale was the boss. Orders were
dispatched from the bridge, in all directions with aldis lamps (10" signal
lamps) to all escorts and we were off Southwards towards the French coast. It
looked like an invasion force, after steaming southwards for a while we turned
Westwards, all this time, we were closed up at action stations, everyone with
their anti flash gear on (asbestos balaclavas) and tin hats. Nothing happened at
all, either the Germans were asleep or else they just ignored us, but it was
such a big force, tankers, merchant ships etc., etc., so it must have been for
some reason or another but we never got told why. We fully expected the whole of
the Luftwaffe to come out but they didn't. I to this day couldn't understand
what it was all about.
All my mates in No4 mess - the torpedomans mess were a really good lot, my mate
on the tubes was a cockney lad SHORTY DEVERAUX, my depth charge mate was a Welsh
lad from ABERYSTWITH, all the rest were lads who I would trust with my life.
There was Jack Corderry from Torpoint, now when he was off duty he had a little
hiding hole near the ships galley and that’s where you could always find jack.
He could shape any animal out of wood, any type of cart that shire horses could
pull, and he would paint them, it was unbelievable how many carts and animals he
had carved. Another was Bert Reeves - he came from somewhere near the Norfolk
Broads, exactly where, I don't know, but he said his father owned a boat yard
and if ever I'd visit them in peacetime I would get a free boat. I've never been
to look for him,
I took up "ships barber" the NAAFI on board every ship has a
NAAFI canteen to buy your duty-free cigs 20 per day, two bars of hutty a week (hutty
- chocolate). Anyway they advertised for a ships barber and they provided all
the equipment combs, scissors, clippers, apron etc, etc, etc - so I thought I'd
have a go. Of course, I'd never cut hair before, so I wanted someone to practice
on, so it had to be Shorty who volunteered, so I set too under the supervision
of the NAAFI manager who was known as Jack Dusty. Anyway I passed the test. Now
I could cut hair after 4pm to 6pm when I was off watch, for 6d a time - that was
3d for me and 3d for the NAAFI. I got to be good at it. I even cut the Captains
hair, so I must have progressed. Anyway, it got stopped, some didn't pay, kept
saying next time etc - so I learned the hard way.
One of the chaps in the torpedo Party was a chap named Joe Shaw, he was an old
hand, he had done 22 years service when war was declared, so he was back in the
RN again "FOR THE DURATION". Now he could tell some cracking stories about
peacetime with the navy. One of them was about the ship giving a 21 gun salute
and the 5 second timing between shots it went like this: "IF I WASN'T A GUNNER I
WOULDN'T BE HERE "FIRE ONE", IF I WASN'T A GUNNER I WOULDN'T BE HERE "FIRE TWO".
Joe was a good chap to know, atop class torpedoman too.
The Wensleydale was what was known as on canteen messing and not general
messing. General messing meant that the cook prepared and cooked food for each
mess, as though you were in barracks - but canteen messing meant that each and
every mess, ours was 4 mess - had an allowance for each man in the mess - say
1/- per day that was a lot in those days - today its 5p. So if we had 18 men in
our mess that was 18/- per day. So we elected a mess caterer, everyone had to
take their turns and be caterer for dinner and say evening meal. Breakfast
wasn't included, you made do with toast, it only catered for those two meals -
now it was expensive in harbour because you were able to sit down at a table
with knives and forks and the plate remaining still, so the caterer had to be
crafty and save most of the allowance for time in harbour. At sea it was "POT
MESS" all the veg and meat (if any) was put in the "MESS FANNY" a large
container, taken to the galley fastened in its place on the stove and boiled -
when it was manhandled back down the hatch, it was hooked on its chain and all
the lads who were off duty watch would dip their cups in, settle down somewhere
and a thick slice of bread - have lunch. So the caterer would have saved a good
bit of the 18/- (90p) for the time in harbour. Where we could have a Yorkshire
tart. The reason I've explained all this is due to the fact that I was cook of
the mess. There was two cooks of the mess detailed off every day. This day I was
one - so between us. We were at sea this particular time, coming down towards
Liverpool, so as I've said we planned a Yorkshire tart. That to us was dough
rolled out and baked on a roasting dish, a layer of jam, then custard, set if
possible. Well we'd made the dough, rolled it and put it in its dish - took it
too the galley and had it baked ready for the jam, then the custard. So back
down the mess we spread the jam, and we had made the custard ready - so pouring
on the custard we kept watching it, but it wasn't setting, it kept liquid, so we
had the bright idea, when we passed the Liver buoy we knew we would be in the
mouth of the river Mersey and the ship would remain steady, so we opened a
porthole which was really foolish, but at the time we wanted some cold air on
our tart to set the custard. I was holding the tart as near to the porthole as
possible, when a change of speed was ordered and the Wensleydale speeded
up for some reason - the sea came rushing in through the open port - the jam
tart went flying, both of us struggled to close the port and drop the
steel cover, but the mess deck was wet. So no tart that day, and we only got
tided up when dinner was piped. APRIL 1943 We didn't explain why the mess deck
was wet - we let them think that we had washed it. We opened a few tins of pears
that day for sweet.
When it was my turn to be electrician on the bridge, all communications cane
under me for that particular night, so the telephone system was vulnerable to
the spray. If it was a "long sea" the waves are a good distance apart and you
feel you are on a roller coaster, going up, over down, so there is a lot of
spray coming over, but a "short sea" that is waves close together, you don't go
up, over and down you hit every wave head on, so as I've said the bridge is
always under watch, so are the phones, so I used to keep a good few transmitting
discs in my pocket ready to change the wet ones. Then after I'd taken them down
to the boiler room to dry out ready for next time, I had a good idea accepted by
the skipper, I made covers for the phones out of canvas, I got. the sailmaker to
stitch my design, tried it, it worked OK, so the phones kept dry. Mind
you, necessity is the mother of all cultivation.
Painting the depth charge release mechanism with boiled oil was a real chore -
it used to rust easily, so every watch was used to keep everything free, ready
for instant use - so boiled oil was the answer, and keeping a watchful eye on
all the depth charges was another chore - they weighed 390lbs each and they used
to move about a bit, especially in a rough sea. If the welded seal split and TNT
or AMATOL leaked out it was a time bomb - the tiniest spark would have detonated
it causing what we called a chain reaction with all the others, consequently,
the old ship would be a goner. So when a leak was seen, everything was done to
unslip it and drop it over the stern to get rid of it, at the same time it
exploded as near to a shoal of fish as we could. we killed two birds with one
stone. We got rid of our danger and at the same time had a good fish and chip
supper. I've seen a whaler (ships lifeboat) full to the brim with fish, after
one of these episodes, conger eels which took five of us - to hold it up and be
photographed, it must have been 15ft long. Too many bones - the cook cooked it,
every mess had a piece, we ate it, but as I've said, too many bones.
At sea everyone was expected to report anything, which may be requiring
investigation - it was often part of wreckage - floating, but it did require
investigation. What I'm saying this for is the fact that one day I wasn't on
watch, but I was on the upper deck on the quarter deck - that is the back end of
the ship where the depth charges are located and I thought I saw a glint of
something a long way astern, low down, so I kept a careful eye on where I'd seen
it and I saw another glint as though sunshine was reflected off something. I
reported it to the lookout who was on watch and between us, through the high
powered binoculars we saw an aircraft approaching, so reported this incident to
the bridge, the order was given to twin 4.5s plus pom poms to train on
that sighting so when Jerry came he got the surprise of his life - he thought we
would be taken by surprise, but the boot was on the other foot.
At different times the ship donned a different camouflage, one week we were dark
grey, green and white, depending on what job we were on. That colour was
noticeably deployed when it was a French coast job, night action mostly,
sometimes off USHANTS South of France - then we'd be busy another day chipping,
scraping and applying beige, cream and pale green - to me it meant we were due
for a southbound trip, maybe Gib or thereabouts - All dark grey and black was up
in the North somewhere, so we never Knew what we were up to next. Of course
there would be "BUZZES" that meant rumours floating about. I remember once we
went out at night and steamed westwards from Plymouth, around the Lizard and
back up past LUNDY and we hit the biggest storm I've known in that ship, we had
to practically, heave and ride it out, so we took shelter in a cove, until it
blew itself out. It was daylight when we came out, still rough, but not like it
had been, it was to rescue an aircrew that had come down - we fully expected
nothing due to the conditions of the elements, but we located them in what
looked like a yellow tent. We had difficulty approaching gently, due to the
conditions, but with the grappling nets hanging over sideways, we did kind of
hook on to them, so it was then made easier to assist in pulling them aboard one
at a time. It was like a lift, one time the person you were helping was
alongside the guard-rails, next he was about 15ft below you, so you had to grab
and hold on at a certain time, we did manage to get all three aboard and the
dingy too. We draped it over the torpedo tuber much to my dismay, due to the
fact that all the yellow dye that was still exuding from it took some washing
off. This was to assist in locating it from the air, so the position could be
radioed to the rescue vessel.
All this time I was on the Wensleydale from the time I saw her in Scotstoun
being built to the time I had to the time I had to leave her. I was happy, A
good fighting ship, everyone gave as good as they could to do what we had to do.
Even though our base was Plymouth - we seemed to be at every other place besides
- sometimes Portsmouth, then Falmouth, depending on what convoy we would be
detailed to escort. We would take over from the lads who had escorted some down
the East coast - at about Dover, then carry on all along the Channel, keeping
them closed up tightly, due to the fact that we had to keep in what was SWEPT
CHANNELS that meant minesweepers had been before us and laid marker buoys to
make the channel, so we had to be very careful no one strayed out of line. Night
time in fog was a nightmare, no one could see the marker buoys so we had to
heave to, then everyone was lookout, straining your eyes, trying to see that you
didn't hit anything or they would hit you. When we were coming out of harbour
after a particular foggy time, the signal to the trawler that opened the boom
for us to go out was "have any mines been dropped in the channel last night" and
the answer was always "we will know very shortly - you are the first boat out
since the fog cleared". Humour between ships was always welcome. When out on
some exercise with the whole flotilla was something to be believed, nine
destroyers in line ahead doing full speed, then signals would be hoisted aldis
lamps flashing, high speed #### then out would shoot KRACKERJACK and LA
COMBATTANTE on an entirely different course, causing havoc, then the flag would
fly from the #arth Caption, "D" the boss ship, and of course it was "didn't get
the signal correctly". We used to know this would happen. We used to have
anti-aircraft shooting practice sometimes, in the Channel. A plane would come
dragging a drogue - like a sausage, that was the target and I'm sure in the
"DRAKE" that’s the royal Navel Barracks at Devonport, the ships honours list for
1943 may show the Wensleydale had done very well.
I had to leave the old ship in Oct 1943, due to re-ammunitioning the ship. We
were re-loading shells and depth charges when the rope blocks used to pull the
charges on board from a lighter (that’s an ammunition barge - a tug used to
bring it alongside) snapped and the charge was that heave it pulled me sideways
and threw me on to a sharp object, which meant an immediate operation, so I was
dispatched to hospital and I never saw the old ship again. The lads visited me a
few times, but I was transferred back to RNB Portsmouth. From then until I left
the navy is another story.
No all night leave in Gibraltar. Back aboard by midnight. Could have all night
leave in Portsmouth, and Plymouth, because we used to go and book in at Aggie
Westens in four street. For a shilling you could get a bed, and breakfast, pint
pot of tea, thick slice of bread and butter and a thick sausage. Then it would
be your turn for watch
18" space to sling your hammock. Slept head to toe. Couldn't sling your hammock
at sea on destroyers. Because you had to be at action stations if bell went. At
sea hammocks was put in what was called the Hammock netting, and you slept in
what you were dressed in. Your sea boots were your pillow.
Torpedo tubes shelled by e-boats. Holes bunged by wood, which was carried for
that purpose.
Left Wensleydale 21'10'43
Signed Reg Young
Ex AB/ST Wensleydale
4 mess
(C) David Allen Nov, 2006