Philip’s career at sea has covered a range of experiences including working his way up from cadet to third mate on a cargo shop and a summer season on a hovercraft, which he calls “the original vomit comet” making journeys across the Channel. He joined the Queen Elizabeth II in 1978 and spent 10 years working onboard. Philip was meant to be on leave when the ship was requisitioned to attend the Falklands but he honourably stepped up and offered to swap with a married man. As a Cunard employee, but having spent time in the Royal Navy Reserves, Philip was well placed to become the Liaison Officer between ship operations and the military. He describes in detail the changes made to the QE2 to make the ship ready for transporting over 3000 troops and the technical difficulties they had to surmount. He also recalls the press interest in the ship and how visiting dignitaries, such as the Foreign Secretary, would have to be accommodated. Philip says the mix of personnel worked well and most people rehearsed a number of roles due to the uncertainty ahead, in particular, the Gurkha troops were incredibly diligent in practicing evacuation drills. The closer they get, the more the reality hits of what is ahead as they receive news of casualties and sunken warships. Icebergs are a real threat too and having to travel without radar (in case of detection) was risky. One treacherously foggy day a Cunard officer switched the radar back on and just as well he did because it alerted them to icebergs all around. Even anchoring the ship at Grytviken was dangerous as the water was so deep. Philip is able to recall in detail the operations taking place followed by a complex refuelling process to get them home safely. The return was very emotional as they were the first major ship to get back and carrying hundreds of survivors. They were welcomed home by the Queen Mother. Philip reflects that this time was a huge adventure and not something he could ever have imagined being part of as a normal Merchant Navy sailor.

Jeff York offers a gripping tale of his service as a Sonar operator aboard HMS Spartan during the Falklands War. Raised in Northampton, Jeff grew up far from the sea. His first sample of seamanship began after becoming a member of the Sea Cadets. However, at the young age of sixteen, he received permission to enlist in the Royal Navy, seeing it as the natural course for his career. Even before his basic training, Jeff was determined to become a submariner, recalling a trip to Portsmouth where he went down in a submarine. From that moment, he was hooked. Once he was given the choice, he joined HMS Dolphin to do his submarine training. During this period, he served aboard ships from HMS Sceptre to HMS Aurora in the Mediterranean before being assigned to HMS Spartan, a new type of submarine which had a trial system implemented. During an exercise in the Bay of Biscay, the Ship's captain, Jim Taylor received an order to head for Gibraltar to make preparations for something. The young crew remained oblivious all throughout until Taylor revealed that they were preparing to join the Task Force in defending the Falklands from Argentinian rebels. HMS Spartan would become one of the first vessels to reach the islands. Jeff describes some of the ship's systems, including a dependable sonar which was used to locate enemy targets from a long range. He discusses the difficulties of being in unfamiliar waters, from the uncertainty of submarine combat to facing many navigational problems. The crew was not immune to a sense of confusion and vulnerability, feelings that increased after the loss of HMS Sheffield. Their unfamiliarity led to many precarious situations, including the ship getting trapped in a forest of kelp which jammed their systems. This posed a serious threat to the Spartan since it was fuelled by a nuclear power source. Despite these hardships, the crew managed to pull through, benefited by the strong comradery shared among everyone onboard. Jeff reflects on the overlooked contributions of submariners, taking pride in their obscurity whenever the topic of the  Falklands War is brought up in a conversation. His interview reveals their importance to the War effort as well as providing a glimpse into how submarine warfare changed during the period.

After testing out the army and the air force as a cadet, William Sheppard settled on a career in the navy and completed his training at HMS Collingwood. After passing out, he joined HMS Onyx in 1943 and remained with the same ship until 1949. William talks about his duties aboard the Onyx, remembering the good fortune that excused him from many of the more tedious jobs to be done, and recalls the constant challenge to keep warm faced by the crew as they sailed the Arctic seas. His story includes details of the sweeps commonly used by the Onyx when trying to detect mines, and he tells of the horrors he encountered when the ship arrived in the English Channel ahead of the Normandy landings. William also recalls catching sight of a ship full of German maidens en route back to harbour, wryly commenting on the lack of any similar provision within the British navy.

William O’Brien joined the navy as a 13-year-old cadet in 1930 and qualified as a Sub Lieutenant in 1937. He served on HMS Garland in the Mediterranean and, after World War II broke out, transferred to the destroyer HMS Wolsey patrolling the UK’s East coast. In May 1940, O’Brien was involved in a land-based operation ‘Royal Marine’ laying mines on the Rhine, but had to retreat when German forces advanced. Returning to sea, he became First Lieutenant of HMS Witherington, which patrolled the English Channel but was damaged during a bombing raid whilst docked at Portsmouth. At the end of  1941, O’Brien transferred to HMS Offa, participating in a raid on Norway and escorting Arctic convoys, including the ill-fated PQ17.  In February 1943, O’Brien took command of the destroyer HMS Cottesmore, conducting patrols and participating in D-Day operations at Gold Beach, where they supported the beach landings. Promoted in late 1944, O’Brien was sent to the Asian theatre as a planner for amphibious assaults in Burma. He witnessed the surrender of Singapore and became the Allied Forces Naval Liaison Officer in Jakarta. O’Brien continued his naval career after the war, retiring as an Admiral in 1971

Aged 14 when WWII broke out, Gladys spent the early war years in Gillingham, Kent. Gladys frequently sought refuge at home or in shelters when bombs and landmines were dropped on her street. She explains how the war shattered everybody’s lives and deprived young people of their carefree teenage years. At 17, Gladys decided to join the WRNS to contribute to the war effort, following in the footsteps of her Navy and Marine relatives. She trained in Rochester to wait on tables for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner, before serving at Chatham Barracks as an Officer Steward. She describes her daily routine, getting to know the naval officers, and her friendships and moments of mischief with fellow Wrens. As the war drew to a close, Gladys felt optimistic about the future and was excited for life to return to normal. After peace was declared, local people flocked to see the barracks lights fully illuminated again – a captivating sight that symbolically marked the end of the war’s disruption. Though Gladys sheds light on the difficulties faced by WWII’s teenage generation, she fondly cherishes her memories of her time as a Wren.

A few months after World War II began, Frank Wilson enlisted in the Royal Navy. He completed 10 weeks of training at HMS Collingwood and continued at HMS Wellesley in Liverpool, where he trained as an anti-aircraft gunner. Frank was then stationed on HMS Activity, a 14,000-ton ship, posted to the forward starboard side operating the anti-aircraft guns. He fondly recalls Captain Willoughby as an absolute gentleman. While training, Frank remembers being held in the harbour at Greenock when HMS Dasher exploded and sank in the Clyde in March 1943, with 379 out of 528 crewmen lost. He saw the smoke and heard about the sea being afire with aviation fuel. Frank’s first Russian Convoy was extremely cold, with temperatures below 50 degrees. He was part of the team escorting battleships Royal Sovereign and Missouri. On another trip, he witnessed HMS Bluebell get hit by a torpedo from the German submarine U-711 in the Barents Sea, where only one person survived. In Russia, Frank saw the hunger and gave food to the locals whenever he could. The Activity had to keep moving in dangerous waters to avoid being an easy target for the Germans. Frank was part of 20 different convoys, traveling in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Mediterranean. After serving on The Activity, he was transferred to HMS Berwick and sent to the Far East. In Singapore, he visited HMS Activity again to celebrate the end of the war with his old friends.  

In 1941 at the age of 17, Joan Field applied to join the WRNS (Women's Royal Naval Service). Keen not to become a cook or a steward, Joan was happy when the discovery of her perfect eyesight meant she was chosen to become a signaller and sent to HMS Cabbala to begin her training. Joan talks in detail about the instruction she received – including Morse code, semaphore, the phonetic alphabet and naval discipline – before her first draft sent her north to the pier signal station in Oban. Joan shares memories of life in Oban, and the stark differences she encountered when she moved to the remote Ganavan signal station shortly after her arrival in Scotland, recalling one particularly frightening encounter that made her glad of the pistol training all Wrens received. She also talks about the improvements to planning that came when the Americans joined the war, but recalls with some horror their apparent lack of discipline within the ranks. Joan’s story provides a particularly engaging insight into the life and work of a female signaller, and highlights her deep connection both to the Scottish Highlands and the vital role she played in the war effort.

Megan Moir joined the WRNS (Women's Royal Naval Service) aged 18 in December 1944. After brief training she went to Larne in Northern Ireland, but soon had the rare opportunity to join HMS Philante, a former luxury yacht which was used to train warships involved in anti-submarine work, with submarines acting as U-boats. They sailed to the naval base at the Kyle of Lochalsh opposite Skye, where she spent the rest of the war typing training instructions and training results. After the war she typed up reports in German following the surrender of U-boats there. She recalls her excitement when offered the chance to go to sea at 10 minutes notice, because very few WRENS went to sea; she vividly recalls being on the bridge, where she could see what was happening. She only stayed onboard one night; the rest of the time she slept in the “Wrenery”, where she enjoyed socialising in the common room with fellow WRENS and visitors. She narrates many fascinating anecdotes, including the celebrations for VE- and VJ-Day.

Colette Cook tells of her work at Bletchley Park operating the Bombe machines whose function was to find the daily key settings of the Enigma machines used by the Germans during WWII to transmit encrypted messages. Colette joined the WRNS (Wrens) as soon as she was able, and following a period of basic training, applied for a mysterious posting ‘P5’. It transpired that this was shorthand for HMS Pembroke V, a cover term for WRNS being posted to Eastcote (an outstation of Bletchley) to train as Bombe operators. In this engaging interview, Colette explains how, after signing the Official Secrets Act, she learned to load the bombe with the coloured wheels and then set about the difficult job of plugging up the back as directed by a ‘menu’. She describes the work as monotonous, physically demanding, and very noisy, but her and her colleagues ‘just grinded away’. She tells of a sense of urgency, but stresses it was not panic, and a realisation that what they were doing was important. Reflecting on her time at Bletchley, Colette says that whilst ‘it all seems like a dream now’, she has an overarching feeling of pride in the part she played to crack the German cypher.

Harriet Wight was living in the countryside in North East Scotland at the outbreak of war and recalls seeing an enemy aircraft drop a bomb over Aberdeen. It was then she decided ‘to do her bit’ and joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS). After a medical in Dundee she did her initial basic training at Balloch on the edge of Loch Lomond and began her duties as a messenger. She was eventually posted to Ilfracombe in Devon as a signaller and was involved in taking and logging signals which at that time mainly related to noting casualties from the North African campaign in 1943. Harriet moved on to operating telephone switchboards after a period of training and was posted to Hatston on the Orkneys, close to the vital naval base of Scapa Flow. Harriet spoke of meeting her future husband, who was a sailor involved in Arctic and Atlantic convoys, and how she never concerned about the danger he was in until she found out that an American soldier pen-friend of hers had been killed in Belgium and then the reality of war hit home. Harriet concluded by saying how very proud she was of having been a Wren. 

When war broke out, 20-year-old Irene Bellamy was evacuated from Bristol to Chipping Sodbury, where she worked for a time as secretary to well-known aeroplane designer Basil Henderson. Although she found the job interesting, she was ambitious and determined to join the WRNS, which she managed to do despite already working in a reserved occupation. After training in Leeds, Irene was sent to Chatham to work as an admin officer before she successfully applied for a vacancy with ANCXF/SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) which took her to Eisenhower’s HQ in Bushy Park. There she began working for Admiral Parry, with whom she later transferred to France then Germany. Irene shares fascinating details about her life and work throughout her service, including the build-up to D-Day and its aftermath, and the end of the war which she saw celebrated around the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. She is rightly proud of her military career and was awarded the British Empire Medal in recognition of her hard work and significant contribution to the war effort.

With a long-held ambition to join the Navy, Fred Estall keenly awaited the arrival of his call-up papers, which sent him first to Pwllheli in north Wales for initial sea training and then to HMS Wellesley in Liverpool for gun training. He passed out as a DEMS gunner (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship) and went to Nova Scotia – via HMS Belfast and RMS Queen Mary – to join the crew of a Merchant Navy oil tanker. Fred talks about life on board, describing the extra work available to anyone willing to get his hands dirty – which he always was, not only because he could earn more money, but also because keeping busy helped him keep his mind off the U-boats. He explains the stark difference between the atmosphere of camaraderie in the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy, and talks about the distinct lack of entertainment onboard a merchant ship. Recalling heavy seas, storms and the huge expanse of ocean, Fred’s memories bring vividly to life what it was like to move from tanker to tanker while the world was at war, keeping allied ships fuelled from 1940 – 1944.