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HMS Queen Elizabeth
HMS Queen Elizabeth was a Super-Dreadnought battleship, launched on 16 October 1913 at Portsmouth, Hampshire. She saw action during the Great War. She had a displacement of 27,500 tons , was 645 ft 9 in (197 m) long with a beam of90 ft 6 in (27.6 m) Her top speed was 24 knots (44 km/h) and she had a crew compliment of 950 during the Second World War.
At the outbreak of the Second World War she was in the middle of a refit at Portsmouth, because of enemy bombing she was moved to Rosyth to for the refit to be completed. In May 1941 she joined the Mediterranean Fleet. On the 18th of December 1941 She was mined, along with HMS Valiant by Italian frogmen whilst in the harbour at Alexandria, Egypt. None of her crew lost their lives. The ship sank low in the shallow water, but was able to maintain an illusion of being fully operational so concealing the weak British position in the Mediterranean. She was raised and some repairs were undertaken then sailed to the United States Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia arriving in September 1942. Repairs were completed in June 1943 and HMS Queen Elizabeth then joined the home fleet. In December 1943 she was sent to the Pacific, where she served from 1944, taking part in raids on Japanese bases in Indonesia. She returned to Britain in July 1945, and was sold for scrap in March 1948.
5th Jan 1944 On the Move
7th Jan 1944 On the Move
12th Jan 1944 On the Move
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Want to know more about HMS Queen Elizabeth? There are:3 items tagged HMS Queen Elizabeth available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Gnr. John Callan Maritime Regiment Royal Artillery After looking through some old family photos I came across some of my Grandad John Callan. In one of the photos HMS Queen Elizabeth is named as his posting.
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Bertie Leonard Francis Hallett HMS Queen Elizabeth I have found a photo of my Dad, Len Hallett who was a chef on the Queen Elizabeth during WWII.
I am unsure of his dates of service.
He met my Mum whilst he was in Rosyth on the Queen Elizabeth. They got married in October 1945. I have also found photos of him on HMS Zodiac in Kiel, Germany in May 1946 and I am also aware that he served on HMS Barham too (he used to attend Reunions for HMS Barham and HMS Queen Elizabeth).
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Capt. Raoul David "Ralph" Landry Canadian Army Medical Corps Dad, Ralph Landry went to enlist as a medical officer very soon after Canada declared war on Germany. As a family physician, he felt he should contribute to the Allies' War Effort, and besides, the war would be over by Christmas!
Surprisingly, he failed the Army enrolment medical test because his blood pressure reading was too high. He coaxed the medical examiner into falsifying the reading by inscribing a normal BP reading instead, and he was accepted into the Canadian Army.
He sailed from Halifax on the refitted troop ship Queen Elizabeth.
The crossing was very rough for a number of days with sea sickness severe.
Dad said it was so bad that after 3 days of sea sickness, he thought he would die, but on the 4th day, he was afraid he wasn't going to! He'd have to live through that misery.
He did survive the sea sickness and the balance of the crossing then spent 4 years in England, awaiting The Liberation Landing. During that time, he enhanced his practical medical training by studying radiology at London University. He did some further army training and also had time to travel into Scotland and Ireland. He spoke about eating out in England, and how unappetizing the food was. Dessert was always stewed rhubarb!
After the landing, he was very busy with the medical care of Allied and enemy soldiers brought to the field ambulance. Dad was in France somewhere in early to mid-Sep .1944 when he received a telegram from his wife announcing that his young brother-in-law Mark Corbett had been killed near Caen when his jeep ran over a landmine. It was a very sad shock. He had 2 brothers-in-law in the army, and Mark was the baby of his wife's family.
Dad said little about his medical experiences but spoke about his strong map reading skills which proved life-saving for the entire field ambulance unit, he twice confronted his CO to correct the direction being travelled which otherwise would have led them all straight to the Germans. They would have been captured or worse.
Once they reached Holland, he was horrified at the level of starvation of the populace. The Canadians shared the rations they had and gave candy to the children. He said they'd try teasingly to make the Dutch children say that the German were bad soldiers but the children insisted, "Nien, gut soldat!". The German soldiers had also shared treats with those children. Dad told us kids, "The Germans were homesick too, missing their own families and children, and showed kindness to the little ones."
In one town being liberated, shop keepers threw open their doors and insisted the Canadian help themselves to a souvenir. The Canadians at first refused, seeing how much these people had suffered. But the Canadians soon realized how important it was for the Dutch to show their thanks in this manner and that it would be insulting to continue to refuse, so each took a small item. I still have the small darling brass windmill bell with a turning windmill, which Dad took. It is always front and center on our mantle. Every Nov. 11th my children all know its story, and with time, my grandchildren will too.
As children, we never went camping on summer holidays. Dad said he had camped for 5 years, meaning during his 5 years of service, and that being in a tent was no holiday to him. So we stayed in motels til we reached family around Canada and New England.
Dad spoke of the horrors of war, strongly stating that there was nothing glorious about it. To demonstrate this, he refused to send for his medals so they are still in Ottawa, unclaimed. Dad was a very principled man.
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Bdmn. Joseph William "Ginge" Carruthers HMS Phoebe My Father joined as a bandboy in 1936 aged 14.
He served on HMS Phoebe, HMS Sussex, HMS Gosling and HMS Queen Elizabeth during the war.
After the war he served on HMS Indefatigable, Implacable, Ceylon, Newfoundland, Triumph, Vernon and Wolfe.
We lived in Singapore at HMS Terror between 1962 and 1967.
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L.Sea. Wilfred Charles Mildenhall Gunner HMS Victory,Excellent,Queen Elizabeth,Phoebe,Seabe  My father, Bill Mildenhall, always wanted to join the Royal Navy. As a school boy at the prestigous Grammar school Tiffins in Kingston, all boys were required to become either Naval or Army cadets, the Navy was his passion.
He left school in 1939 and enlisted as a boy in 1938 and then as an adult. He was one of those who didn't wait for National Service, the Navy was something he always wanted to join.
His service record shows some but not much of the details in service and conduct until 1947. I'm almost sure he was on HMS Kimberley, and HMS Hotspur, but there are pages missing. Not sure after the war but he stayed on a while.
He had a Gunner's manual for training, and someone told me he was actually a Gunnery trainer. The last sheet says enrolled PO RFR B23/96 Lg sea LR2 22 Dec 1947 -16 May 1951 RFR engagement expired. Paid RFR Jan 1948. So I am not certain for sure when he actually left the Royal Navy.
He rarely spoke about his service, but he was a member of the Royal Naval Club where we lived, and he had many friends in the organisation and at the Star & Garter Home in Richmond Surrey. When he died in 1977, his funeral was attended by the RNA, British Legion, Burma Star Association & Rats of Tobruk. I have never seen such a hugely attended funeral for an ordinary person since. He was such a humble man he would have been very proud.
Sadly, his medals went missing. They were on his coffin for his funeral, that was the last time we saw them and never really thought about them until some years later.
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CPO. Henry Chesney HMS Saker Fleet Air Arm Harry Chesney joined the Royal Navy as a shipwright apprentice in 1914. Around 1939 now a CPO he transferred to the Fleet Air Arm. In 1943 he sailed to the USA on an almost empty Queen Mary and did not know until he arrived that Winston Churchill had been aboard travelling for a meeting with Roosevelt.
Harry spent the next two years at Roosevelt Field, New York and travelled home on an almost empty Queen Elizabeth. He was demobbed in 1946 but carried on as a civilian writer at a base near Abingdon. When he finally returned home to Gillingham he returned "to his tools" as a shipwright in RN Dockyard Chatham where he worked on submarine conversions.
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Flt.Lt. Samuel Donald "Sandy" Sanders DFC. 424 Squadron Don Sanders enlisted in July 1942, and trained in Claresholm, Alberta. He travelled to Britain on the Queen Elizabeth in late 1943, and was eventually posted to Skipton-on-Swale for his Operational tour.
He flew Wellingtons and Halifaxes, but Lancasters were the best! He was awarded the DFC for a raid on Duisburg, when he continued to target after losing one engine, dropped the bomb load and returned to base. Falling behind the bomber stream, the aircraft was more exposed to enemy fighters and flak.
After the war, he settled in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, where he married, raised four children and was a successful businessman and community promoter. He died in Sioux Lookout at the age of 65.
Don mostly told amusing stories of his war years. He told of the time two members of his crew, after a night drinking in town, came back after curfew, and when stopped by military guards, tried to hold them up with home-made bows and arrows. He told stories of how the service men would go to the local pub, and after closing time, would often be invited into the private quarters of the publican's family for a feed of bacon and eggs. He talked about the easy camaraderie between the men. But he rarely mentioned the daily stress which took its toll on all of them. He formed friendships that lasted a lifetime, and when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in his early 60s, he said he felt lucky that he had been given all the years that followed the war. After seeing so many young men die during the war, the rest of his life was a bonus.
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AB. Thomas "Tucker" Rodaway HMS Queen Elizabeth Thomas Rodaway, Tucker, as he was known, was the 2nd son of William C Rodaway and served on the HMS Prince Albert, the most treasured photo was taken on HMS Queen Elizabeth and published in Destroyers By Antony Preston. Showing Tucker with the HMS Norseman aproaching the HHMS Queen Elizabeth. HMS Norseman bombed while building was renamed Nepal was the only one of her flotilla to be British manned during the war.
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CPO. Peter Barnard Lornie HMS Queen Elizabeth Peter Lornie joined the Royal Navy on August 20 1940. His initial rank was that of Assistant Steward. He was promoted to Leading Steward in February 1941. In January 1943 he was posted to Petty Officer Steward and in January 1945 to a/COG Steward. He was discharged on 26th December 1945.
Peter was posted to the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth in January 1941 and on 11 February was promoted to Leading Steward. Queen Elizabeth had been rebuilt twice between Wars. She re-joined the Fleet at Scapa Flow in February 1941 and served in the Atlantic and later in the Mediterranean. Peter was on board when HMS Queen Elizabeth was attacked and sunk at her moorings in Alexandria Harbour by Italian frogmen on 19 December 1941.
On 9 May 1942 he joined the cruiser HMS Sirius as a Petty Officer Steward. HMS Sirius was a Dido-class cruiser built in Portsmouth. Her keel was laid in April 1938 and she was launched on the 18 September 1940, and commissioned 6 May 1942. Peter served on HMS Sirius as Petty Officer (Steward) and one of his officers was Commander Richard Colville (later to become Press Secretary to the King and subsequently to Queen Elizabeth. (Peter would receive a Christmas Card from Colville postmarked Buckingham Palace well into the post war period). Peter served on board Sirius until she was bombed on 17th October 1943 and he was injured and hospitalised with multiple wounds to the right hip, thigh, shoulder and left ankle being closed up at his action station while the ship was engaging enemy aircraft. He was wounded as described consequent on the ship receiving a direct hit and several near misses. 14 men were killed and 30 wounded. Sirius returned to Alexandria and later sailed to Massama in Eritrea for repairs.
On 5 January 1945 he joined Force W as an acting Chief Petty Officer (Steward) and was part of Naval Party 2420 serving in the Far East. It has not been possible to determine which ship he served on at this time.
2420 Flag Officer Force W & Staff
(attached to Admiralty 10.44 - 11.44/left UK for Delhi 20.11.44/to Chittagong area 12.44/ to Burma (Akyab) 02.45/ Force W to Delhi 05.45/ in India to 08.45/embarked BULOLO*)
Chittagong 01.45/Akyab 02-03.45/Kyaukpyu, Ramree Is 04-05.45/Delhi 06-07.45/Bombay08-09.45/BULOLO 09-10.45/ Singapore 11.45 - 01.46/
title lapsed 02.46
Peter Lornie was discharged on 26 December 1945. Peter was awarded the Burma campaign medal along with 39 - 45 Star, Africa Star with North Africa Bar, France and Germany Star and War Medal.
Record of Service 1940 - 45
- Royal Arthur 20 August 1940 Assistant Steward
- Victory 2 27 September 1940 Assistant Steward
- Queen Elizabeth 14 January 1941 Assistant Steward
- Queen Elizabeth 11 February 1941 Leading Steward
- Victory 15 January 1942 Leading Steward
- Sirius 9 May 1942 Leading Steward
- Sirius 27 January 1943 Petty Officer Steward
17 October 1943 - Injured in bombing attack
- Victory 2 April 1944 Petty Officer Steward
- Argus 8 August 1944 Petty Officer Steward
- Victory 6 December 1944 Petty Officer Steward
- Odyssey (Force W) 1 January 1945 5 January 1945 a/COG Steward
- Braganza (NP.2420) 1 June 1945
- Victory 7 September 1945
- Victory 26 December 1945 Released Class A
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A/CPO Peter Barnard Lornie HMS Queen Elizabeth Peter Lornie joined up in August 1940 as an assistant steward. Prior to the war he had been in the catering industry working in Newcastle upon Tyne. He joined the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth in January 1941 and on 11th February was promoted to leading steward. He was on board when HMS Queen Elizabeth was attacked by Italian frogmen on 19th December 1941. On 9th May 1942 he joined the cruiser HMS Sirius as a petty officer steward.
On 17th October 1943 Sirius was bombed while serving in the Mediterranean and Peter Lornie was injured by shrapnel. He was hospitalised.
On 5th January 1945 he joined W Force as an acting chief petty officer steward and was part of naval party 2420 serving in the Far East. He was discharged on 26th December 1945.
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Seaman William Gregg HMS Birmingham I am trying to find my uncle, William Gregg. He is my mother's brother and served on the Queen Elizabeth when it was sunk in 1941 in Alexandria Harbor. My mother and William were raised in an orphanage in Lee Hill Cottages, Lanchester, County Durham. My mother has a memory of William visiting her wearing tropical whites at some point. She said that after the Queen Elizabeth had been mined, he also served on the HMS Birmingham, and possibly the Repulse. He told her that he worked on the dynamos on the Queen Elizabeth. My mother is almost 90 years old and in failing health. She would love to hear what became of her brother. They lost touch during the war because she had been moved in the Land Army. As a footnote to William's service, she regaled me of tales of Italian divers sinking the Elizabeth and the heroic efforts of British wartime seamen.
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Rear Admiral Claud Barrington Barry DSO HMS Queen ELizabeth My father joined the navy as a cadet in 1904.Becoming a Submariner in 1914 he commanded various submarines in the war including C14.D4 and R12 Between the wars he commanded two J boatslent to RANthen K22,K26 ,Thames and Medway,attended Staff college and was Chief of Staff to Flag Officer Submarines 1939 saw him as NA to 2nd Sea Lord and then commanding HMS Queen Elizabeth and Then Valiant As a Rear Admiral was Flag Officer Submarines 1943-44 and then Naval Secretary followed by Director of Dockyards He died on the 27th Dec 1951 4 days before Retirement. His final Rank was Admiral
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