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The British Pacific Fleet was a multi-national Allied force of well over two hundred vessels. It was of course predominantly British but it included Australian, Canadian and New Zealand men and ships, (plus other Commonwealth personnel). It also included the Fleet Train (merchant ships) to supply fuel, ammunition and victuals to the Fleet. The Fleet Train consisted of 27 ships out of the 69 proposed, due to delays caused by chronic labour troubles on the Sydney wharves. Therefore, as a result many British ships had to refuel from American tankers at sea.

While at Guam the Americans generously gave us an ice cream machine as they were amazed that we did not have one on board. Sadly this gathered cobwebs for the rest of our trip as it was never used. They also gave two bottles of American beer to every man on board. We were allowed to drink rum on board but beer was a ‘no, no’. However we drank our gift and soon the upper deck was stacked with empties which is just ‘not on’ in the Royal Navy. We were supposed to take them back to the island but that night a working party was detailed to heave them over the side (4,000 empty bottles). Next morning thousands of bottles in all directions were bobbing up and down with just their necks showing. There must have been some red faces amongst the braid.

Then on to Okinawa for April Fool’s Day 1945 where things were a little more hectic - sky full of suicide bombers and bursting shells and whenever possible Allied fighters, who were in as much danger from our guns as they were from the Japanese. On the first day the combined Fleet was attacked by 355 suicide bombers and an approximately equal number of normal bombers. Sixty-one enemy planes were shot down by our planes and AA fire, with the loss of four Allied planes. Later when the carriers were hit we lost many more aircraft and many men of the Ships’ Companies.

The armoured flight decks of the British carriers showed their worth, not one was out of action for more than a couple of hours. That day 3 destroyers of the “outwood screen” were sunk as well as 3 destroyers of the “circular screen” around the carriers and eighteen more were damaged. During the following days 27 more were lost and 164 more ships were damaged including several American carriers whose unarmoured flight decks made them very vulnerable. Things were so bad at this stage that the US Admiral was considering withdrawing the Fleet.

During the attack on the Fleet a Zero and its bombs crashed into “HMS Formidable” killing eight men and injuring forty-seven. This also destroyed eleven aircraft on the deck. “HMS Formidable’s” speed was reduced to eighteen knots, yet within ninety minutes she was steaming at twenty-four knots and operating her aircraft again.

Off Okinawa “HMS Victorious” was hit with a 5.25 inch shell, (only “HMS King George V” and “HMS Black Prince” had those). She was badly hit and some men died but no one ever found out who had fired the shot. “HMS Victorious” was unlucky really as she was twice hit by Japanese suicide bombers. Okinawa was bombed and shelled for days, then we saw the troops going in by landing craft to attack. It did not seem possible that after such punishment anything could still be alive on the island but thousands of Americans and Japanese died in the attack.

During one raid on Okinawa / Japan darkness had fallen and there were many calls from pilots who were running out of fuel and could not find their ships, some put down into the sea. Admiral Nimitz ordered the Fleet to be lit up to help them find a ship. Next day a big search was made by air and sea for the downed pilots, a few were found but more were lost. Whilst operating in the Pacific the red centre of the roundel on British aeroplanes was painted white. This was done to avoid confusion with the big Japanese red dot.

When we were closed up at action stations the main galley above the armour deck was closed so we were fed on what was known as Sakishima Pie, which seemed to be made of bits and pieces of everything and then fried so that it had a crust, (a bit like bubble and squeak). We ate it cold and with a tot of rum it was quite edible.

Before Okinawa fell we sailed up to the Japanese mainland and started shelling the coast. It was hard to believe that we were actually there as we never thought we could get anywhere near it. Due to a mal-function of machinery in ‘B’ turret a full charge of cordite was loaded without a shell whilst we were shelling the mainland. The resulting flash lit up the entire area and covered most of the ship with pieces of burning cordite - thus lots of painting to be done later. Then the two atom bombs put a stop to things and saved a lot of lives.

While we were waiting to go into Sugami Bay we were caught in a typhoon and a United States destroyer (USS ------- Porter) sank during the night, some of the crew were lost. The flight deck of an American aircraft carrier was lifted and bent right up. We had to stay out in deep water going “slow ahead” for a couple of days as some of the waves were sixty feet high. An aircraft carrier disappeared in the troughs and then came up in the peaks. Eventually the storm blew itself out and we proceeded to Sugami Bay near Yokosuku, a really huge Japanese naval base, where we were guided in by Japanese pilots.

The most annoying part of our entry into the bay was that “HMS Duke of York”, as the flagship of the British Pacific Fleet and flying the flag of Admiral Bruce Fraser, led us in. She had been swinging around a buoy in Sydney Harbour for more than a month and had not fired a shot in anger. It was not just the KGV’s crew who felt this way, it was the whole Fleet including the Aussies. (Admiral Fraser felt that he was of too high a rank to serve under an American Admiral, so through his pride, a useful battleship laid idle in time of war. He was known as the Station Master of the Fleet Train.)

We anchored in sight of Mount Fujiyama and guess what? We were detailed to paint the ship! After a day or two we were allowed ashore and warned not to touch anything in the stores as it was all booby-trapped. A few days later a working party was detailed to procure glassware and silverware from the same stores for the Ward Room — booby trapped or not! We did our best to clean out the stores at Yokosuku — there was so much stuff there we could still be emptying it now! It was like being a child in a toy shop. Some had many souvenirs to bring home including Lűger pistols which later ended up over the side after we had caused consternation with the Japanese Police (no ammunition but they did not know that). One matelot walked out of the store in full Japanese Admiral’s rig!

We were anchored about half a mile off shore two ships away from “USS Missouri”. We saw many former Allied Prisoners of War swimming out to meet the fleet, so jolly boats were launched to rescue them. Once on board they were greeted very warmly and most of them were transferred to the carriers for transport to Australia.

As we were so close to “USS Missouri” we could see what was happening at the unconditional surrender. Once again the sky was a mass of hundreds of planes of all description — but this time they were all ours! It must have been very tricky flying but fortunately none of them crashed. About a month later, after all the excitement, we left Japan and set sail for Sydney.

We arrived in Sydney in October 1945 and sadly our Skipper, several Senior Officers and our Chaplain were shipped home to new postings as they had finished their time. We were very, very sorry to see the Skipper and the Chaplain go as they were good war-time leaders. Our new skipper Captain Schofield (?) was a peace-time man and of a different calibre. In November we sailed to Melbourne to show the flag. Coincidentally we attended the Melbourne Cup where we backed the winner “Rainbird” at a good price (20/1) because it was the surname of one of our cooks.

Prior to this an Australian Government official had come on board looking for English immigrants. Anyone interested in staying in Australia was told to apply through their Divisional Officers. Lots of us applied.

In Melbourne some of us missed the ship (which would soon be leaving to return home to Britain) back to Sydney. We returned by train to Sydney and a big reception - more “jankers” - two or three days on board and then, because the ship was leaving, we were told to pack our bags and ship out to “HMS Golden Hind” at Warwick Farm and placed under arrest. This was a British naval prison run by Australian naval guards some of whom did not have a great love of the British. We were very, very sad to say farewell to our shipmates and we never saw our ship sail away. This was a particular regret as she had been our home for so long.

About a month later we went to a place in Marrickville to be discharged from the Royal Navy. We received our deferred pay but did not get any tools of trade or civilian clothing like our mates backing England. We were allowed to keep all our naval gear which was fortunate as we did not have any other clothes. The best part was the duffel coat and the hammock but I did not take my “donkey’s breakfast”. About four weeks later after some form filling and an interview we were accepted as migrants and allowed to stay in Australia. Jobs were easy to get in those days you could leave one at lunchtime and have another by the afternoon.

A little rhyme appeared in the Sydney papers when the British Pacific Fleet left for home, it ran thus :-

Advance Australia, fair by name
You land of droughts and flooding rain
You land of snakes and ticks and spiders
Where Englishmen were rank outsiders

And though you think your country’s grand
Give us our own congenial land
So Dinkum Aussies fare thee well
We love you all our friends, like Hell!

Well that just about covers my time in the Andrew — over-worked, under-paid but in spite of it all it was a good life.

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