AB. George Swift
Royal Navy HMS Icarus
from:Slaithwaite, Yorkshire
George Swift was my father. He served from 10 October 1940 to 21 January 1946, his only ship was HMS Icarus from 12 March 1941 to 10 February 1944 when he was transferred to Glasgow in the Royal Navy police.
Icarus was one of those little ships that rarely get a mention but it was involved in some of the major events of the war, Dunkirk, second Narvik battle, Bismarck, both Malta convoys and the raid on Spitsbergen as well as many Atlantic and Russian convoys.
He kept a dairy of the both Malta convoys, in a small note book which I've copied below, some of the descriptions of the enemy may be frowned on today but was acceptable then.
First Malta Convoy - 1942 - Operation Harpoon.
- 1 Battle ship The Malaya
- 2 Aircraft carriers - Eagle and Argus
- 2 AA Cruisers - Sirius and Cairo
- 17 Destroyers
- 4 Corvettes
- 1 Fast mine laying Cruiser
- 2 Cruisers - Liverpool and Sheffield.
- June 1st Left Scapa for Greenock arriving June 3rd. Started loading extra ammo on, so it looks like we are going places.
- June 5th Started with 5 merchant ships for unknown destination, we think it might be Gib.
- June 6th It seems pretty certain it's Gib. now. The force consists of 10 Destroyers 2 Cruisers,
- June 7th Very heavy swell, dropping depth charges as this is a hot place for subs.
- June 8th Very quiet day. Can feel it getting hotter.
- June 9th Lovely flat sea and still hot.
- June 10TH Just the same as previous day.
- June 11th Arrived at Gib. 10 pm. Just oiled and came straight out. We have been told we are going to take the convoy halfway to Malta. The skipper told us we should have plenty of action.
- June 12th Went through the straits during the dark hours. The rest of the force joined up with us.
- June 13th Are now in the second degree of readiness. The fireworks start tomorrow. We now go the action stations every morning at dawn.
- June 14th Just finished church when the Wops arrive. Now the fun as started. Every kind of plane attack us. Torpedo bombers, Dive bombers, High level bombers. One merchant ship goes down and the Sheffield gets hit by a torpedo. Hells let loose now and we have a very near miss. The bombs just missing the ships head. Our guns crew get wet through with the spray from the near miss. The planes from the carriers are doing great work. Got 17 of the Wops. Our 3in guns get a torpedo bomber and blow it to Hell. We leave the convoy and turn back for Gib as it gets dark. I am sorry to turn as the convoy is still being attacked.
- June 15th Uneventful day, we are clear of the bombers now.
- June 16th Went back to look for the Liverpool who was limping back to Gib but we didn't find her.
- June 17th Arrived back in Gib at noon and went ashore and got the dressing gown.
- June 18th Left for good old England with the Argus and three destroyers uneventful.
- Arrived back in Scapa on the 24th
Second Malta Convoy 1942 - Operation Pedestal Naval
- 2 Battle ships. Nelson and Rodney
- 5 Aircraft Carriers. Eagle, Argus, Vic, Indom
- 7 Cruisers
- 32 Destroyers
- July 30th Fitted with 2 AA guns and loaded with extra ammo. We can guess where we are going.
- July31st Leave Scapa with 4 destroyers and the Vic. The skipper tells us are going right through to Malta. We know what to expect this time and the boys aren't too pleased.
- August 1st On the way to Gib. again the weathers pretty cold.
- August 2nd Sunday we have the usual prayers on the mess deck.
- August 3rd The weather getting a bit rough. We exercise action stations during the morning.
- August 4th The weather not to good but it's getting hotter.
- August 5th Skipper tells us we are going to pass the Straits on the night of the 9th and 10th. Today the Vic did a mock attack on us with her aircraft. It was a fine sight, but it made you think things.
- August 6th We met up with 2 more aircraft carriers Eagle and the Indom doing exercises with them. The force is now 10 Destroyers, 4 Carriers and 2 Cruisers.
- August 7th. Oiled at sea from the Brown Ranger. Pretty rough. Still doing manoeuvres.
- August 8th. Have now finished mucking about and very glad too. Let's get the job over with. Met the other ships the same night. All the force is here now with 14 Merchant ships. It's a great sight and I shall always remember it
- August 9th. Passed through the Straits, pitch dark night. It won't be long now.
- August 10th. Oiled at sea again. Got spotted by enemy aircraft. Same day the carrier Eagle got sunk by 4 torpedoes from sub.
- August 11th. Got attacked for the first time this night, by torpedo bombers and dive bombers. But no damage was done.
- August 12th. Went to action stations at dawn and attacked all day. No damage done until night came. That was when the big ships and carriers left us. We entered E boat alley.
HMS Foresight one of the boats doing a sweep with us. Then hell was let loose. Then the Manchester was hit by mine or torpedoes also the Kenya and the Cairo and two merchant men.
We received a signal from Ad Burrows congratulating us on breaking up a formation of 15 Torpedo Bombers. "Excellent gunnery of the ship", he said. Darkness fell and E boats were sighted. We got one in our searchlight and opened fire. Then the rest of the ships started and away went the E boat. That night seemed like a week,
I was never as glad to see day in all my like. As the torpedoes keep coming, we wondered if our turn would be next. We were awake all night.
- August 13th. Came the dawn and we gave a sigh of relief. The bombers start again when it got light. But it's much better to see what you are firing at. More merchantmen get hit. I don't know how many there is left, we haven't time to count them. At about 10 o'clock that morning we saw a very welcome sight, 5 Spitfires. It's hard to tell what they are at first so we open up.
- We still get bombed but the Spits are doing great work. We see a plane coming at us from the sun and open fire, but it's one of our fighters. The other ships open up on one and bring it down, that's one of our own planes. But they cannot be blamed we haven't got to take any chances.
- We turned the convoy over to the local escort at 5 o'clock and turned for Gib. we were very pleased to turn for home even if we did know we were going get the attacks. We did, it was continues until we got out of the danger area. There was only 2 Cruisers and 4 Destroyers, all the others had left us, getting survivors etc. they concentrated more on the damaged cruisers coming back but it was hell all the same. But we got through alright nothing could stop us. But I was very pleased to see Gib again; at times I never thought we should.
This is only a rough outline. There was more to it than this.
Finish
Thoughts and memories of George Swift written during the time of the action.
