Leading Seaman K. Forrester. P\JX 295085 |
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Pioneer
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Posted: 21 December 2006 at 12:55pm |
Having had the privilege to read Chapter 3 of Ken Forrester’s privately published autobiography - I asked for, and was granted, permission to use certain ‘highlights’ of his war time experiences in the Forum. Here is a light-hearted story of a Gun Test - although extremely dangerous - it had a happy ending – ie nobody was killed or injured. Only with hindsight does it become ‘funny’ but here I am probably showing a warped sense of humour. To ‘set the scene’ it is well to consider that the ‘D’ boats, along with most other weaponry, were continually being up rated throughout the War. MGB 606 (later MTB) was an early build of the type and was to be lost in action off the Dutch coast during November the following year (1943) – luckily Ken was not onboard – having his Leading Rate confirmed and drafted to another boat. “…..My next incident also was with the Oerlikon gun, the hierarchy had decided that 606 should have another gun added to her armament and this would be a 6 pounder single shot hand operated gun with a large armour plate gun shield to protect the gun crew – this gun would be at the aft end of the ship and about 15 feet from my Orlikon guns that were in a more elevated position. Therefore my gun would have to have some safety device fitted to stop me hitting the crew of the new gun. This device was fitted which would automatically cut out my gun from hitting the new weapon, eventually both new gun and safety device were fitted. The gunnery officer came aboard to do the tests at sea. He ordered me to load my twin guns with live ammunition (not practice ammunition as one would have thought), he then cleared everybody away to a safe distance and ordered me to my turret and elevate my guns to an angle of thirty degrees – my next order was to open fire and keep the trigger pressed while depressing the gun over the newly added gun and the mechanism would cut out and stop me hitting it – this did not happen, the next thing I saw was a number of blinding flashes and around ten high explosive shells hit the new gun shield spinning the gun around before I could stop firing. I had completed wrecked all the new equipment. There was a lot of deliberations and red faces. I just can’t remember the details but I do know that a new gun and shield had to be fitted and I was lucky not to have been injured….” Edited by Pioneer |
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johnk
Senior Member Joined: 25 March 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1355 |
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Hello,
Just read the above and last post on 671, what an illustration of what these guys went through, if not the enemy trying to get them, then accidents with our own equipment nearly doing the job. Facinating reading, thanks to Pioneer for publishing these extracts, my respects and thanks to Mr Forrester for writing up his experiences and allowing them to be published on the forum.
John |
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Pioneer
Moderator Group Pioneer Joined: 07 December 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 675 |
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Continuing with excerpts from Ken Forrester’s autobiography – this reflects the strain of living under constant fear and tension. The continued flooding of the blood stream with adrenalin – when in action – the ‘un-talked of’ - ever present nagging fear when back at Base awaiting the next trip – led all new recruits to find their own ways of the ‘self preservation’ - of their minds as well as their physical bodies. One of the most unpleasant occurrences recalled by Ken is when called to go on ‘Bangers’ (Operational Sorties) as a ‘relief’ in another Crew – away from your own Crew and Skipper and Officer’s with whom you had ‘grown into’ “…From there [HMS Excellent] I got a “draft chit” (posting) to HMS St Christopher which was the Highland Hotel in Fort William, Scotland. It had been taken over by the Admiralty and being used as a training base for Coastal Forces. We went down the pier head every morning to be trained aboard Motor Launches (ML’s) or Motor Torpedo Boats (MTB’s) and Motor Gun Boats (MGB’s). We trained on came in view at a height that could just about be in range, so I fired the Lewis gun from the shoulder at the hostile plane, but alas nothing came down. Thus were my first shots of anger duly dispatched. I was not aware then of what was to follow in the next three years”… Edited by Pioneer |
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Pioneer
Moderator Group Pioneer Joined: 07 December 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 675 |
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We jump a little forward in Mr Forrester’s tale – he has now been ‘drafted’ to MGB 606 – having arrived before the boat was completed he was sent home on Leave and returned to meet the rest of ‘his’ Crew – “…The leave over and back to Burnham on Crouch by this time we had a complete crew and the engines started up and we were haring up and down the River Blackwater, this was a thrill in itself 8000 horse power thrashing under you but alas our honeymoon period was slowly drawing to a close. It was then out into the |
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johnk
Senior Member Joined: 25 March 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1355 |
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Hello Ted,
Just read the further posts of Mr Forrester's book, I hope all who visit the forum read it to, as I said before, it shows the reality of war and that is something we should remember, great though saving the vessels themselves is, it would be almost worthless if we don't remember the people and what they went through on board them. Many thanks, all the best,
John |
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dgray
Senior Member Joined: 24 November 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 580 |
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Hi Pioneer, Will the autobiography be published as a book, either commercially or privately? It would be terrific if it was as there is very little new material in print 'out there'. I'm sure it would be of great interest to many people. I'd certainly buy a copy. Please pass on my thanks to Mr Forrester for letting us read the excerpts above. Regards
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Don
Only a number, not even a name. How shall posterity hear of thy fame? |
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Pioneer
Moderator Group Pioneer Joined: 07 December 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 675 |
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Hello John and Don Ken Forrester has had his autobiography published privately I'm told - these excerpts are from Chapter 3 of his life story - written for his family and descendants. He will be pleased, I'm sure, that his effort is appreciated (as I am) and I shall certainly let him know of your kind remarks. Now in his eighties - Ken is not 'on line' - he will be unaware of what parts of his 'Chapter 3' I have posted until I print off the page and send it to him via land mail -but I have his full permission to use any or all of his 'Chapter 3' - Ted |
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Pioneer
Moderator Group Pioneer Joined: 07 December 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 675 |
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The World War is entering the ‘middle phase’. With hindsight we now can see that the writing was firmly on the wall for the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany but that ‘reality’ was not clearly seen then – for Ken Forrester and the majority of the British Servicemen (and public), the future was still very much uncertain. ‘….Someone was looking after me and many ways it carried on as my yarn continues to unfold. These missions - they were known to us as “Bangers” - continued until April 1944 it was difficult to cope with all the stresses. Even when in harbour one such catastrophe happened, on the 18 March 1943 an enemy aircraft made a direct hit on the Wren’s quarters in Queen’s Road with forty dead or injured, it wasn’t a nice sight to see”…. “Morale was at breaking point – the skipper would send me ashore to the Commanders office to collect the sailing orders and I wished I could get knocked down and a leg or arm broken, [or] anything to be saved from sailing into the unknown. Drink was our only comfort…” ‘….I remained on the ship until around early August when a memo came from the powers that be and I had to go on a course at HMS Ganges the shore base at Shotly near Harwich in Suffolk. The course lasted about three weeks during which time I qualified as a professional Leading Seaman. Posted back to barracks at HMS Hornet at Gosport, I was there around one week when my name came up for posting back into the 55th flotilla at Great Yarmouth, but this time as second Cox’n and forward gunner on MTB 632 on which boat all the real battles took place. Charles Ford the Skipper of 632 had been a rugby player, he was also the captain of the Minor Counties cricket team, he was a big, fit man and it was his aim to keep his crew fit also. On a regular basis he would have us all on the quayside putting us through our paces, often after a nasty experience to clear our heads. I have no knowledge of any other crew doing it. Having now returned to Great Yarmouth, it was back into the lion’s den to continue with the forays across the North Sea, my first trip on MTB 632 was to be with my old boat MGB 606 and I can’t just recollect the third boat, however 606 was the leader 632 was second in line and I can clearly remember that we were about half way over and closing up to Action Stations. Our boat was about twenty yards astern and in the wake of 606 when my friend Joe Thompson the PO Motor Mechanic of 606 waved his hand to me as he disappeared down the engine room hatch (which was at the rear of the boat), I waved back not knowing I would never see him again. He and my other friend Jimmy Totten were both killed later that week together with a few more of my ex colleagues and many wounded when 606 was sunk on a secret service mission. “…On another occasion I have recollections of my seamanship being called into action – we had been holed with an enemy shell in the bows of the boat just on the water line which was allowing water to enter the mess deck when we moved forward. The answer was to rig a collision mat over the hole (a collision mat is a rope and canvas patch about 5 foot square with ropes attached at each corner), one of these ropes has to be passed right under the boat from the bow and the other three ropes manoeuvred to get the patch over the offending damage and all ropes then secured tightly, plus the hole has got to be stuffed from the inside with rolled hammocks), it is then possible for the boat to move forward without filling with water. Rigging a collision mat at practice is not easy – but under battle conditions and choppy seas is another ball game and still 120 miles from your home port. If that did not work we would have had to travel astern (backwards) all the way home – I have known that to happen on one of the boats here at Amongst other sorties we escorted mine laying operations in enemy waters, another of our jobs was landing and picking up commando and raiding parties which did not always go to plan. Some poor souls never made it back. It was on one of these missions that my [old] boat, MGB 606, was lost. Of course there were lighter sides, serious at the time but amusing on reflection, “ I had graduated from the port twin .5’s (it was the port.5 gunner who seemed to be the ones to get killed nearly all actions seemed to have the enemy on the left hand side and the .5 turret was exposed there) to the twin Oerlikon on the coach deck abaft the bridge, these guns fired 20mm shells at a very fast rate and were of the graze fuse type, this meant that after two and a half turns in the barrel rifling, the shell would be activated to explode even touching the fabric of the older type of aircraft, each gun had 60 of these rounds in a spring operated dispenser that fitted on each gun and they weighed quite heavy when loaded. However on this particular day I was instructed to reload some of the pans from the ready use locker – the shells were stored in the magazines at the aft end of the boat. They were kept in what I would describe as a big cupboard that was accessed down a square hatch about 3 feet square, then down a vertical iron ladder which was approximately 7 or 8 foot in length and as I said these pans were heavy, so I had the bright idea of filling the pans up on the deck and transporting the ammunition up in a cardboard Heinz beans packing case about twenty at a time – this worked well for a time until I got bolder and began packing more shells in to save time – If I can explain that the deck of a boat is not level but cambered to allow water to run away, the shells are approximately 9 inches long and 1¼ inches in diameter. On my last load up I had just got onto the upper deck when the bottom of the box opened up and all the shells fell onto the deck and began rolling to the sides of the boat making sissing noises. I jumped behind a locker and waited for the explosion, which, thank goodness never came. The noise that I heard was rice like powder that was the charge that powered the shell forward - and as they rolled - this was the noise I heard.The third mishap whilst I was aboard 632 and a little later on, by this time I had been updated to Second Cox’n and I was to be the Forward Pom Pom Gunner, a gun I soon got used to and could handle quite well. It was frosty and midwinter which meant the guns had to be manually worked in recoil (the same action as being fired) twice daily to stop them freezing up whilst in harbour. Having been out at sea the day before I instructed my number two to dry the gun and disconnect the ammunition from the breech. I worked the gun in recoil by manually cranking it back and released the firing mechanism spring to take the tension off it, that was early morning – to release the spring a lanyard had to be pulled. Come |
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S R Wilson
Senior Member Joined: 08 December 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 170 |
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Pioneer I have just read the posts and extracts from Ken Forresters Book. Like Don, if I can find a copy I will gladly buy it. What a fantastic chap. How do you show your appreciation to him and his generation for what undoubtedly was deliverance from the tyrany of the "Jack Boot". We should as a Nation be so proud of what they achieved. |
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SRW
"Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy" WSC. |
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Pioneer
Moderator Group Pioneer Joined: 07 December 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 675 |
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We are approaching the end of Ken Forrester’s story with this penultimate extract from his Chapter 3. Here he also describes the devastation of the “…Another hair raising encounter I shall never forget during this period 6 June to We challenged the destroyer and got the correct reply it was one our ours, safety catches to safe, and we began to go alongside her, at this point Sub Lt Owen had noticed she was not showing I.F.F. (Indication Friend or Foe). The immediate order “Enemy, Open Fire” came, we were then only some 20 yards from the enemy destroyer. I could plainly see her flag fluttering in the breeze what’s more I was right opposite the engine room. I was the first to react and pumped four 6 PDR shells right into the engine room which at that point is as large as a barn door. Then all hell broke loose, there were bangs and flashes, tracer shells and machine gun bullets flying everywhere (why I am here to write this story, heaven knows). We, both boats made smoke and disappeared behind it with the destroyer’s wrath flying through it. I have often wondered what happened to that engine room but sadly that was war and I put it down to ‘It was us or them’…” “…Another one off was while on board MTB 632 and still operating in the North Sea we had instructions to test drop a depth charge – travelling at speed this operation was carried out. A few seconds after dropping it a large plume of water erupted astern of us. It was then hard to starboard and return to the dropping zone where we found lots of fish floating dead, mainly cod, with their white underside showing, so it was the time to place scrambling nets over the ship side and climb down to water level and fill buckets with these prime cod. Can you guess, we lived off the most wonderful fish and chips. The only price we had to pay was as usual a wet backside as the boat rolled in the swell. “…we did sea trials out of Holyhead and after a couple of weeks we sailed north to Fort William and through the Caledonian Canal to Inverness – Aberdeen and back to Gt Yarmouth and eventually joined the flotilla which was now operating out of the recently recaptured port of Ostend. It was whilst I was aboard MTB 771 based at Ostend that we did nightly patrols off the still occupied coast to the north which meant once in position we just sat wallowing in the swell and always talking in whispers. The nights were often brightly lit by stars and the water would be like magic brilliantly glowing with phosphorescence. I remember being on duty one night on the bridge with just a Lieutenant who was gaining experience of MTB’s, he was Danish and had the name of Dave Bredsdorff. His English was not very fluent and he was quietly pointing at the night sky and naming all the stars, when he came to a bright one low in the sky, it was “Sirius” and in his broken English I thought that he thought I was not taking much notice of him and got agitated when I said I know it was “serious”. Eventually the penny dropped and the quiet conversation continued. Whilst talking about these northerly patrols there are not many people who have had the experience of seeing the enemy V2 rockets being launched and going almost vertical into the night sky and then being back at Great Yarmouth on the receiving end ( not the same rocket) but seeing a launch and the end result. Fortunately while operating out of We had only done a couple of night patrols off the Schelde estuary when disaster struck. It was the 14 February (St Valentine’s Day), I had just had a telegram telling me my Grandmother Parkinson had died. The war was allowing big advances towards
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