One Sailor - Two Wars
By
Ron Kennerley
People in story:
Charles Edward Kennerley
Location of story:
Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic
I knew my father only for the first six years of my life before WW2
commenced and changed, along with so many other families ,the course
that our lives would take. I was the second youngest of four children (
my eldest brother Flying Officer Charles Geoffrey Kennerley was killed
in January 1943 )and as such I imagine I was protected from much of the
horror which was taking place at that time.
Early in 2004, at the age of 70, I decided to try and document my
father's naval career in order that there would be some record within
the family which might be of interest to my two daughters and three
grandchildren. Strangely enough, or perhaps not, once this project was
underway, I realised that there were numerous isolated facts locked away
in my memory which I did not think I knew until they were revealed and
confirmed by my research.
The following is not so much a story, but rather a list of facts and
dates with which someone reading it might make a connection. Perhaps a
particular ship, or action, details of which would help to flesh-out the
rather bare information which I already have. I suppose it is too much
to imagine that there is still someone out there who served alongside
him. His career went as follows:-
WW1
Probably in 1914, aged 14, he was employed as a Telegraph Boy at the
General Post Office in Altrincham,
Cheshire.
I have a photo showing the uniform worn at that time. Later, in the
1930's when he was on Reserve he was again working for the Royal Mail
and I have a newspaper cutting of a Staff photograph (circa 1936) taken
to celebrate the introduction of a new cut-rate Sixpenny Telegram
service where 9 words cost sixpence! Able Seaman J.44874 Charles Edward
Kennerley (known as Charlie) enlisted in the Royal Navy at Devonport on
the 1st September 1915, at the tender age of 15 years and 10 months.
Before he was 16 1/2 he was serving on HMS CONQUEROR (Orion class
battleship) at the Battle of Jutland which took place on 31st May 1916
and he remained with her until April 1920. In November 1917 he had
reached his 18th birthday and was then allowed to 'sign on' for 12
years.
The war had been over since 1918 and the period up to Nov.1926 was spent
on HMS COLUMBINE WOLVERINE) a modified W class destroyer, and HMS
REVENGE a Royal Sovereign class battleship. I have the details of these
ships but have not found out what they were doing at that time. Between
and after these two postings he was at "Defiance"
the
Torpedo
School at Devonport and "Osprey" an Anti Submarine Training School at
Portland.
In Nov.1926 he was assigned to HMS DURBAN (Light cruiser), setting off
on a world cruise (showing the Flag I presume), a trip which was to last
2 years and 4 months. I have an interesting copy of a world map of the
journey which shows the dates and all the ports which the ship visited.
On returning to the UK in March 1929 he was discharged, having done his
12 years (plus 2) and transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve.
WW2
In
August 1939, with WW2 imminent, he was recalled for service.
Approaching his 40th birthday, somewhat different timing might have
resulted in him not being recalled.
His first ship was HMS GRIFFIN (H31)from 25/8/1939 to 19/9/1941. She was
one of ten G class destroyers and, I believe, the only one of this class
to survive the war. In 1943 she was transferred to the Royal Canadian
Navy being renamed HMS Ottawa. Her skipper, greatly revered by his crew,
was Lieutenant Commander J. Lee-Barber later to become Rear Admiral who
died in 1995 aged 90. His obituary apparently records that he disregarded
every rule of good health, smoking 40 cigarettes a day into old age and
enjoying copious glasses of gin. The notable events in which this ship
was involved appear to be as follows:-
April 1940
Patrolling off
Norway
she boarded a German armed trawler posing as a Dutch fishing vessel.
This resulted in the capture of Enigma Code documents and cipher pads
and was the beginning of the quest to find a means of cracking the enemy
coded messages.
August 1940
Acting as escort to the troopship ss Mohamed Ali El Kabir, bound for
Gibraltar, she picked up several hundred survivors after this military
transport ship had been torpedoed by the German submarine U-38, 250
miles to the west of Co. Donegal, Ireland.
October 1940
Together with HMS Hotspur and HMS Gallant she sank the Italian submarine
Lafole off
Alboran
Island in the
Mediterranean.
November 1940
Took part in the Battle of Cape Teulada / Spartivento (Sardinia)
against the Italian Fleet.
March 1941
The
Battle
of Matapan (Tainaron)
Greece.
Another punch-up with the Italian Navy.
May 1941
The Battles for
Crete.
Following the withdrawal of allied troops from mainland Greece to Crete,
the island eventually fell and a further evacuation to Alexandria (Egypt)
was necessary.
September 1941
Although HMS
GRIFFIN
appears to have remained in the
Mediterranean, for
some reason there seems to have been a change of crew. My father was
transferred to HMS PHOEBE (29th Sept to 6th Dec.) and I think Griffin's
skipper went to HMS OPPORTUNE.
The PHOEBE was at this time in Alexandria (Egypt) undergoing temporary
repair having been hit by aerial torpedoes some 3 or 4 weeks earlier.
She subsequently sailed for New York and arrived in Brooklyn Dockyard on the
21st November, where more extensive repairs, taking several months, were
carried out.
My father must have quickly become bored with Broadway and
Madison Square, for on 7th December he
hitched a lift back to the
UK on HMS FORMIDABLE . The latter was an aircraft carrier which had also
been under repair and she arrived in the UK just in time for Christmas,
before moving on to the Indian Ocean. Having first thanked the captain roundly for
getting him home for Christmas, he was granted a few days leave after
first being booked into the HMS "Drake" hotel in Devonport.
This brief home leave would be the last time I would see my father.
February 1942
His next, and last ship was HMS BRAMBLE a minesweeper, which
operated on the Arctic Convoys to
Russia.
She was lost on the 31st December 1942 while accompanying Convoy JW51B. I
probably have much of the available information concerning the
Battle of the
Barents Sea and the Attack on
Convoy JW51B but would like to find out what Bramble was doing between
25th February 1942
and her fateful last voyage. Which other convoys "outward" and "inward"
did she operate with ? Was she part of the ill-fated convoy PQ17 ?
If I could fill in this ten month period with some detail, I could then
bring to a conclusion this history of
ONE
SAILOR and his TWO WARS.
My Dad and brother Geoff
(Flying Officer Charles Geoffrey Kennerley) who was killed over the
south of England two weeks after the demise of HMS Bramble and would be
taken the last time they saw each other. He was exercise flying a Hawker
Typhoon when the tail, followed by parts of the wings fell off (Air
Ministry Information). The Typhoon was subsequently modified after
realising the engine was too fast for the airframe.
