Ballantyne - Warspite: from Jutland hero to cold war warrior

Cadiz 1596, Orfordness 1666, Sole Bay 1672, Schooneveld 1673, Texel 1673, Barfleur 1692, Velez Malaga 1704, Marbella 1705, Lagos 1759, Quiberon Bay 1759, Jutland 1916, Atlantic 1939, Narvik 1940, Norway 1940, Calabria 1940, Mediterranean 1940-43, Matapan 1941, Crete 1941, Malta Convoys 1941, Sicily 1943, Salerno 1943, Normandy 1944, English Channel 1944, Biscay 1944, Walcheren 1944.

This book would not have been possible without the generous assistance of members of the HMS Warspite Association.

I first got to know them at their fourteenth annual reunion dinner, at the Hotel Prince Regent, Weymouth, in May 1999. In common with many other former Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines, and indeed ex-soldiers and airmen who also fought in the Second World War, the members of the Warspite Association preferred to forget their experiences for four decades. Hence their association was, like many other veterans groups, only formed in the mid-1980s. Only after they had retired could they finally afford the time to contemplate their supporting roles in the great drama of history.

While their stories may have been shared with former shipmates during reunions since the 1980s, until I started gathering material for this book many of the Warspite veterans had never really spoken in any depth about their time aboard the most famous battleship in Royal Navy history. Their experiences as ordinary sailors and marines aboard a mighty ship of war proved to be the definition of true British grit. We would be well advised not to forget how freedom was saved from extinction by ordinary men like them.

Sincere thanks are therefore due to the following members of the Warspite Association who allowed me to interview them for this book: Reg Foster; Charles Pearson; Frederick Ben Rice, Ken Smith and Jack Worth. I would also like to thank Warspite veteran Peter Finnigan for allowing me to use material contained in his own account of his time on the battleship.

This book is a tribute to them and also to all the association members I did not have time to interview, not least those who have crossed the bar, taking their experiences with them untold. I was, however, given permission to use material published in the Warspite Associations newsletter Anchors Aweigh which has enabled me to relate the experiences of many I was unable to interview.

Several members of the Warspite Association generously loaned me images from their private collections to illustrate this book and to them I also extend thanks.

Of course this book could not ignore the stories of either the six Warspites which preceded the battleship or the eighth vessel to bear the name, a nuclear-powered attack submarine. The Warspite Association embraces sailors who crewed this Cold War fighting vessel and, of their number, I must especially thank Jonathan Cooke and Tim Hale for talking to me about their experiences. They gave to me as much detail as they reasonably could without breaking the restrictions of the Official Secrets Act.

When it came to locating former members of Warspites crew, and others who witnessed her exploits, beyond the associations active membership list, the Royal British Legions official magazine, Legion, played a crucial role. Its readers responded from around the world with a flood of material after reading an article about the Warspite Associations fourteenth reunion dinner in which I mentioned that I was writing this book. I am therefore very grateful to Legion magazines Editor, Chris Boiling, and Assistant Editor, Dominic Needham, for their assistance.

I am grateful to the following for responding to the Legion article and providing their own eyewitness accounts: Albert Cock; Philip Gourd; Andy Hamnett; W.E. Heard; Charles Hunter; Arthur Jones; William Nichol; Frank Page; Ray Pattenden and Dougie Weyhaup. The family of one former Warspite sailor, H. Banks, who has sadly passed away, kindly sent me a copy of his unpublished account of service in the battleship during the Second World War, called An Outline of My Life Aboard The Grey Lady.

After reading the Legion article, John Corbett, who is also an active member of the Warspite Association, came forward with a very significant contribution. Many thanks are due to him for allowing me to use previously unpublished material from The Journal of J.G. Corbett Midshipman, Royal Navy. Mr T. Sutherland of Berlin, whose late father served on Warspite during the Second World War, responded to the Legion article by loaning me his fathers superb photo album. A number of others who responded in writing to the same article also provided images. Among them, special thanks are due to John Hockley for allowing me to use pictures in the private collection of his late father, Jack Hockley, another who served on Warspite during the Second World War. Steve Wyles, only grandson of George Wyles, who was one of Warspites divers in the late 1930s and during the Second World War, has kindly allowed me to use images from his familys private collection.

The staffs of the Imperial War Museums Sound Archive and Department of Documents, together with the staff of Plymouth City Librarys Naval Archive were very helpful during the course of my research. The US Naval Historical Center was very efficient in providing some of the key images for this book. I would also like to acknowledge the help of the National Maritime Museum and Topham Picturepoint picture archives, even if, in the end, many of the images they provided were not used.

I am particularly indebted to Dr Robert Franklin for giving access to his fathers superb collection of photographs of Warspite