I had asked my skipper on M.L. 154 if I could have a Transfer to an operation flotilla, be he refused because the coxswain had whispered in his ear that I was a good cook, the skipper used to say that the cook we had was responsible for his indigestion, so the cook got another posting and I got the job.

On the 10^th March 1944 I did get a transfer to Ltn Commander Bradford‘s 55^th Flotilla based at H.M.S. Midge Great Yarmouth a notorious one.

From there we used to sail to the Dutch Coast watching for convoys coming out of the ports , and also at other times protecting our convoys from E Boats attacks .

In April we were moved to Portsmouth for special assignment to with approaching D Day landings and were based at the submarine depot there.

I remember sailing through the Channel on April 13^th which was my 21^st Birthday. It was a lovely sunny day and we were sitting on the upper deck eating a cake which my mother had made, when I was home on leave.

On arrival at Gosport at the submarine base H.M.S. Dolphin instead of H.M.S. Hornet the coastal forces base due to special assignment we were on.

We had to do patrols off the beach heads where the intended landings for the invasion of Europe were due to take place , sussing out the shore batteries, by opening up with our guns before we left early in the morning , thus we were able to plot their position , we were a small target and fast.

On one occasion whilst we were on our patrol position near a buoy (this fact made it harder for the enemy to detect us) we received a signal from Portsmouth to return to base as three enemy destroyers were approaching our position, Lt Command Bradford was on our boat, which he always did when his boat was friendly with our skipper.

He decided he would try and torpedo one of them, our radar had a limited field of about two miles, but we also carried an Asdic system which was positioned down the side of the boat, a device for picking up the sound of approaching ships engines.

However unknown to Bradford they were Narvik class destroyers fitted out with radar.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, as a star shell burst directly above our position and from being shrouded in complete darkness we found ourselves brightly illuminated.

We immediately turn for home making smoke and dropping delayed depth charges.

We were the leading boat due to Lt Bradford being on board 617 was at rear, 671 was the middle boat and was sunk with all her hands.

This would have been our position if we had not had Bradford on board. We lost one hand, the rating who had been operating the Asdic, had his insides blown out.

One  night of June 5/6^th we set off across the channel for the invasion of Europe , our task was to lay smoke off the beach at Arromanches to protect incoming landing craft  M.T.B.’s  were ideal for this work, small fast craft with a minimum of crew.

Naval Commander Admiral Vian Signalled Coastal forces in the Easter task force area had been enjoining immunity from attack.

The 55^th Flotilla under Lt Bradford have particularly distinguished themselves ,later on we were operating a close blockade off the port of Le Havre along with Tony’s Law 29^th Canadian Flotilla of 71ft power boats (more of his Flotilla later). There were only two of our boats 650 and ourselves the flagship because once again we had Bradford on board; his boat was being repaired in England.

We had been give the inshore position and sneaked in from Cap D Antifer, we received a message that E Boats were coming towards us, and there they were five big R boats followed by four E Boats in close formation.

They were the perfect torpedo target.

We illuminated the first rocket I fired from the forward gun landed on the cliff top, we were so near to the shore, we opened fire ands away went the torpedo,  we sank two R boats and badly damaged two E Boats, the rest of the enemy craft retuned into harbour.

We then engaged two M class minesweepers and settled down to a gun action, by then the shore batteries had opened up we received a hit in the forward petrol compartment from a 40mm shell, as we carried  3, 000 gallons of high octane fuel . We immediately turned round to the west to get out of their range as they were coming fairly accurate , it seemed as if 632 was on her last legs.

The bridge and engine room, the motor mechanic was working wonders of engineering and fire fighting; we continued west at the best possible speed until we seemed we were on the point of blowing up, the engines were stopped and the engine house cleared and then we pulled the extinguisher plug.

The fire went out and we were safe. We struggled back to anchorage, 632 was a shambles and had to be sailed back to England and paid off a severe loss to the Flotilla. I picked up a new boat 771 at Holyhead and after running up trials we retuned to Yarmouth, travelling up the west coast through the Caledonian Canal and down the east coast and back to base. By this time the invasion forces had crossed the Rhine, and we proceeded to Ostend which facilitated our attacks on shipping off the German Mainland.

Tony’s Law Flotilla, with whom we had previously worked off the beach heads was also based there.

One day in May 1945 one of his boats was pumping out the bilges, and the boat next ignited the fuel and caused a massive explosion.

Many M.T.B.’s were severely damaged, one boat floated downstream and exploded, another was blown upside down and all the crew inside. Even our boat 771 across the river was severely damaged, there were 57 Seaman killed including one from our Flotilla who was visiting a friend on one of Tony’s Law boats. We returned to Brixham for a major re-fit, where we had a lovely time as we were in digs and also our skipper Lt Wilkinson gave us a fiver each.

We were there on V.E. Day dancing on the front with some of the local girls that we had met.

771 were paid off and I retuned to Chatham Barracks which was filled to over flowing, which meant I got a quick de mob.

There was a very interesting sequel to the Ostende episode, in 1994 we had a holiday at Ostende and stayed at the Westminster Hotel.

There were many pictures on the walls of war ships, so I asked the man at the reception (he turned out he was the owner) if he knew anything about an explosion which had occurred in the dock yard in 1945.

He said I just happen to know all about it.

As a young man he had heard a tremendous explosion , and went down to the dock yard where he saw local fisherman trying to break into the bottom of one of the M.T.B.’s with a pick axes (as they were wooden boats) it had been blow upside down.

After that he read all he could find in the local paper’s and was well acquainted with every aspect of the tragedy.

I said I seem to remember some masonry being blown off a Cathedral on the jetty.

He said if you go to the top of the road you will see that the top floor of the Hotel which was damaged has been removed, and it is now two storeys instead of three.

Relatives of the Canadians that had been killed had visited his hotel and given him a book “White Plumes” about the exploits of there relatives and pictures of the damage caused by the explosion , he also gave us a map of how to get to the graves of those killed including the lad from our Flotilla.

Also one of the graves was a Jew boy, which he himself visited twice a year, as no one ever visited it.

Two or three weeks later I was surprised to pick up the telephone and hear his voice saying this is Hermann from the Westminster Hotel telling me he had sent me some photo copies from the book “White Plumes”