On the same day a 16-year-old Harry Card was turned away from the Army for being underage, he was signed up to the Navy by a passing chief petty officer, and so began his death-defying military career. Harry joined HMS Swift, an S-class destroyer, in late 1943 and set sail on the Arctic convoys. He describes the Arctic’s mountainous seas in terrifying detail, and recalls various hair-raising moments of his service including submarine attacks, clearing ice from the ship’s masts, and Operation Tungsten: the Navy air raid that targeted the German battleship Tirpitz. Later on in the war, HMS Swift was on the front line of the D-Day landings. Harry vividly recalls the opening bombardment as they sat poised off Sword Beach in Normandy, before describing the exact moment the ship was struck by an oyster mine and split clean in half. Despite the sinking of the Swift, Harry survived and was given six weeks to recover, after which he set sail once more.  This time he was on HMS Odzani, heading for the Far East where he embarked on further convoy duties and assisted in the liberation of Hong Kong and Singapore.

Having long been drawn to the water, Gordon Hooton decided to run away from home and volunteer for the Royal Navy at just sixteen years old. Both his time in the Home Guard and the skills inherited from a childhood of swimming and high diving put him in good stead for naval training at HMS Ganges, and Gordon soon found himself waiting for a draft at Chatham Dockyard. Following some work aboard the submarine recently returned from the stratagems of Operation Mincemeat, Gordon assumed a position aboard the HMS Savage and embarked north to join a huge convoy headed for Russia. Gordon shares his experience aboard the HMS Savage; everything from his initial sea sickness to narrowly avoiding being torpedoed by a fleet of German U-Boats in Polyarny. Following the German surrender, Gordon disembarked the HMS Savage and boarded a great American liner bound for Sri Lanka from Southampton. Assigned as chief quartermaster of this ship, Gordon recounts his experience of escorting a Japanese ship up the Malacca Strait to be sunk. He also explains the processes involved in the dangerous task of mine sweeping at sea. After the war Gordon was decommissioned on medical grounds, which unfortunately brought a premature end to his career in the Navy. Gordon’s story highlights the dangers inherent to a career in the Navy, and his ability to adapt to the ruthless naval warfare of the Second World War at such a young age is a testament to his fortitude.

Alec Victor Ashcroft Pulfer was conscripted into the Royal Navy in August 1939, just before World War II. Despite his reluctance to join the Royal Navy, he decided to see the war through. After four months of signalman training, he joined HMS Javelin in Southend on Sea. He struggled with Morse code but eventually mastered it, finding Morse code and semaphore crucial for his daily duties. In the Battle for Norway, Alec and his crew faced a disaster when their transport ship was torpedoed by the Germans and sank, leaving them unable to save anyone while they hunted the attacking submarine. They retreated to Alesund, where German paratroopers attacked, but HMS Javelin managed to return to England. Unfortunately, HMS Glorious and other ships were not as fortunate. Alec then joined HMS Woolwich, heading to the Mediterranean fleet. After two years in the Mediterranean, HMS Woolwich survived despite losing most of its fleet. Alec returned home for signals training before heading back to the Middle East, where he fought in the Greek civil war, his worst experience. He remembers seeing people die, describing it as very grim, but it was something he got used to. But he never got used to seeing civilians dying, that was a common occurrence in Greece, as the Germans had mined everywhere before they left. Alec was tasked with safely routing ships in and out of Greece. Eventually, the war ended and Alec returned home and was demobbed (released from service).