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I was very interested to read Peter Walker’s account of his time on the “Minna”. I too served on the “Minna” from August 1942 until October 1945 and remember clearly many of the incidents he describes in his narrative.

Before the war I was an engineer with the Union Castle Line serving on the “Dunnottar Castle”. When the war started the ship was fitted with 6 inch guns, was signed over to the Royal Navy and took on the role of an armed merchant cruiser, part of the escort for convoys in the South Atlantic bringing oil, coal, food etc. to Britain.

At the beginning of the war I had joined the R.N.V.R. and when in 1942 the “Dunnottar Castle” became a troop ship and was given back to the Union Castle Line I was attached to H.M.S. Mersey for a short time before joining the “Minna”.

I was home on shore leave in Fife when the police came to the house and asked me to report to the local police station in Crosshill to await a telephone call. A Captain Slocombe spoke to me and asked whether I would be prepared to join a secret operation. I had to go to London where a Lieutenant would meet me and give me more information. From London I had then to go to Plymouth where I boarded a Catalina which would take us to Gibraltar. There were about 13 of us on board and there were only 2 bunks free - the rest were loaded with armaments - so we took turns of lying down for a rest. The flight took 12 hours and we landed in Gibraltar about 8 o’clock in the morning. That night we went out on operations.

In the engine room there were actually 3 engineers— one for each watch - and 3 ‘greasers’. Above decks there were 4 deck officers including the captain. As 3rd Engineer I was also the Sports Officer so whenever we came into port it was down to me to arrange the football matches!

The ‘Minna’ had been fitted with a high angle gun which was light enough not to affect the ship’s stability. We also carried depth charges in the stern of the ship and two guns for firing sideways.

There were two motor boats on board but the engine of the faster of the two had been flooded with salt water and was not used all the time I was on the “Minna”.

We were usually given about 12 hours notice of our next assignment, word having come through to Gibraltar about 24 hours earlier and were never told exactly where we were going.

We took turns of going out on operations. There was always one engineer, one deck officer and one deckhand in the team. We also had contact with two “Spanish” fishing boats which had been fitted with diesel engines, one of which could do up to 30 knots. The ‘fishermen’ were British officers and the “Minna” and the ‘fishing’ boats worked in concert picking up spies.

In a raid that had taken place before I joined, the casing of the compressor had been cracked and this had only been noticed later so, as a temporary measure, we had to get a big metal band to keep the casing in place.

After the North Africa landings we sailed home in convoy and in June/July 1943 the ship was in dock in Leith for one month for a refit of the main engine and at that point a new compressor was fitted.

We went from Leith to Lerwick where the “Minna” was used in towing a prototype vessel, about the size of a fishing boat, while various secret tests were being conducted. We then had to take a group of people from Lerwick to Aberdeen. Who they were I never found out but I do remember they spent most of the voyage lying on the deck being sick.

Two weeks after the Normandy landings we were told to set sail for Normandy. The reason was unclear as we had not taken part in the actual landings but we were awarded a bar probably because some of the work we had done had contributed in some small way to the success of the venture.

The “Minna” had various captains in my time aboard:

Thomas Mather
Douglas Armstrong
Donald MacCallum
Fred Watts
Donald Amer

I remember Jimmy Currie, one of the contributors to the ‘Forum” well. He was put in charge of guarding the Italian general.

There were many friendships forged in wartime. I knew Donald MacCallum well and I am still in contact with Lionel Humphreys, the Chief engineer on the “Minna” even though we are both now into our nineties.

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