Diary of Leonard Doolan Fitzgerald, 1940-1941 - Part 3

is a "buzz" that we meet the enemy

fleet, for the second, & I hope the last

time, tomorrow 31^st, & we were also

paid today instead of tomorrow.

Today. 31^st.  we are still patroling Greek

waters, & are heading in the general direction

of the Libyan. Border, to try & get a crack

at the enemy fleet, 8 a.m we are now

off the Isle of Zanze which is just

off the Morean main land. 1st. still

patroling but the Italian fleet have

made it a "make & mend" for their

men. Today we also got a "buzz" that

we will be back in Alex. on Sunday.

3^rd. we have obviously changed our

course. Arrived back in the early

hours of Sunday morning, but

was given to S'tard watch from

1200 to 2200.  I went ashore at

1600 & saw a good show,

20

4^th Nov. to 6^th. Nov.

Left Alex. again on 

the 4.^th. at 10.30am. for Port Said,

we arrived there at 7.30 to same

night, it was a very fast trip, we

did 31 knots all the way, the Ajax

accompanied us.  We were to pick

up troops, & take them too Suda Bay

in the Isle of Crete, they are to

come with us aboard the warships.

We stayed the night in Port

Said, & in the morning picked

up the troops, & a lot of stores,

Bren guns, Bover Guns, two army

trucks & 2 anti-tank guns, at

3.50 p.m. we put too sea, we

expected to get a warm time

all the way, but funny to say

we only had one air raid and

that was at 4.30, on the 6^th.

we berthed at Suda Bay, the same day

at 5.15 p.m. & worked like galley

slaves unloading the stores before dark

we did this, & everyone was pleased, their

were a few other English soldiers here

when we arrived & they were glad to

get the reinforcements, which numbered

about 900 men, they were a pretty seedy

mob compared to our Aussie soldiers.

Suda, Bay, is a very pretty little Greek

township with towering cliffs all around

they have a lovely little harbour, &

are surprisingly modern in their

building & vehicles, at 7pm. we shifted

berth to the middle of the harbour, in

case of air raids, & decided too drop

anchor & stay the night there, we were

all glad as we are very tired, and an

all night in bed is just what we wanted.

We did the trip across at 30 knots.

21

7^th to 14 Nov.

At 5 to 11 today, 7^th, we left

Suda Bay, with the Ajax to rejoin 

the Battle fleet, we joined them at

1700, & are proceeding to Malta, or

rather west of Malta, we will

shortly pick up reinforceme^nts from

England, Cruised around until

the Sunday 10^th. when we picked

up the reinforcements, 1 Battleship

the "Braham", one 8 inch cruiser

"Berwick" & a 6 inch the "Glasgow"

On the 11.^th we left fll fleet to

intercept, any troop or supply

ships crossing the Adriatic Sea,

to the Greek-Italian frontier,

this came as a bit of a shock

as the Adriatic, is the Itie

fleet's stamping ground, and

an unhealthy spot for Allied
warships.

we swung two sets of paravanes &

proceeded, we had too watch out

for torpedo boats, subs, mines & any

kind of aircraft or naval ships,

the "Orion” our old mate & the Ajax

& Glasgow, & two Lightening class destroyers

accompanied us, we steamed in and

proceeded to cross their trade routes,

but sighted nothing, this was between

9 & 11.30p.m. on the 12^th., at 11.30 some

dag said across the megaphone "It

is halftime, we will now recross."

All of a sudden at 12.30 p.m. we 

sighted 4 enemy transports & one

escorting destroyer, I was on watch

in the F.E. room, & the Telegraph

went mad, we were doing 31 knots

before, you could say, "boo". Our

4 inch, fired 37 star shells, so that

the night was just about as clear 

as day, our six inch began to hammer

& continued for 20 minutes, _^the 4 transports

were in a bad way, two had already

been sunk & we had also fired 2

torpedoes, one had sunk a transport

they were the first ones we had

fired since the war had started,

so the torpedo officer was satisfied

all the time during the "action"

he had been saying to the skipper

"Can I fire one now, sir?" Later

I heard we had, taken the destroyer

on a "target" after sinking our

transport, & had hit her once,

which the Admiral thought was

great gunnery, as she was just a

dim vision on the horizon by

the time we "opended up" on her.

we expected to be heavily bombed

get out of the Adraitic, but we

were lucky enough to get out unscathed 

although we were 3 times straddled", the

C & C was thrilled.  The only advantage 

we had over the enemy, was that any

craft we saw, we knew was enemy,

so that, we could "open up" without

chalanging, while they would think

on sighting us that we were friendly,

It was a pity that they were, not

loaded with troops, instead of being

"empty".  Expe^ct to arrive in port tomorrow 

the 14^th. after two weeks at sea. I

forgot to mention that on the 13^th

The "Illustrious" our giant aircraft

carrier sent her planes to raid

Toranto, which is an enemy naval

base, 9 planes left & 8 returned

they did wonderfull work, we

shadowed the carrier but nothing

happened.  At Toranto the planes,

left. 1 Battleship burning & several 

other naval craft hit. They were

aerial torpedo bombers, we were

pleased as the Ities wont come

out & fight, so this incident should

teach them that they have the same

chances outside as in. The

war during the last 3 weeks has

been all one sided, our side, we

the Navy have, been doing the

most work, striking the enemy,

in every vital spot, possible.

"Roll on the "Sydney" & Sydney.

14. Nov

Arrived in harbour last

night. were told that Alex. had

had two severe bombing raids

on 12^th. one destroyer was hit on

the stern. Today. the beautiful

motor ship "Ulster Star" (Irish)

left with "pommies" crow_^ded in like

sardines, for Greek frontier

15^th Nov to

Left Alex. at 6pm

with a cargo of soldiers for Athens, we

had 377 of them with two army tanks

one in the port waste & one in star'bd

we did 30 knots all the way & arrived

at 2.45 p.m. the following day,

the 16^th. The Berwick, Gloster, York

Orion & Ajax accompanied us, but

arrived later that us as they were

covering a convoy. We were hoping

for leave in Athens, but got none.

Athens is the only place I've seen

that I really liked since leaving

Australia, we were given a great

welcome & the Greek navy, sent

naval guards to guard us

against sabotage while alongside.

we saw Greek soldiers & Greek Fasists

who wear a very smart uniform &

hate Hit Musso, as they work under the belief

that Facism originated in the ancient town

of Sparta.  We stayed in harbour at Athens

till midday 17^th & proceeded back to

Alex, all the time covering convoys,

This part of the trip I spent in Sick

Bay with the Flue, we arrived on Thursday

morning 21^st. All the cruisers landed

troops so altogether I think we landed

1800 men & 14 trucks.

23rd Nov to

Well we left Alex. again on

23^rd. on patrol with fleet on 25^th.

arrived at Suda Bay our new

naval & army base, also their

were 4 new Sunderland short

bombers stationed there, this is

most likely why we are picking

up our own aircraft, which we

had left with the army, on our

last visit for reconnisons purpose

as there were no aircraft, stationed

their then at all, as we were steaming

out of the harbour we were bombed

but none of the ships were hit,

although two bombs landed off

our port & star'bd wastes respectivally

we continued with patrol all day,

nothing exciting happened, &

it was then piped the at dawn

the "Eagle's" aircraft were going too

attack Trippoli & we the 7^th cruiser

squadron were too cover for them

well nothing happened, as we

expected, what I mean by nothing

happened is that no surface or

below surface craft tried too

attack the Eagle during her opperation

so we had a quite time, the Italian

fleet was badly hit at Taranto

& I don't think we will see them

again until the was is over, the

old song is proved "Britannia rules

the waves".  I think that Italy will

call for quarter soon as the Greeks

are slaughtering them, we heard

last night over the wireless that

they had captured another

8,000 Libyans.  God knows what

the Australians, Turks, & Gurkers

would do to the "Ities" if they were

on a united front.

Today 27^th at 4pm.

we heard that the 'Renound", 'Ark Royal"

& a number of cruisers were chasing two

"Itie" Battleships & a number of destroyers

beyond Pandelleria,  It appears that

the "Ities" sighted the Rammellies

an old British battleship & steamed

too attack, the "Rammellies" had a 

rendevous with the "Renound" & "Ark Royal"

& when the Ities got wind of them

they turned to run. When this was

piped too us at 4 pm the "Renound"

& "Ark Royal" had already started 

the chase, with the "Ramillies"

chugging along 45 miles behind

They (the Renound & Co) were 35 mile from

enemy, when we sighted heard of them, the

Ark Royal had just sent out a striking 

force of planes, after that all we

heard was that one "Itie" cruiser had been

slightly damaged, & that the "Ities" had

been reinforced with six 8' cruisers, it appears

that the "famous" "Renound" lost the enemy

as nothing further was heard, the lads are

disgusted, as, if the Battleships had been

sunk, as they should have been we would

have had a chance of getting home.

The fleet action on the 27^th. came

off better than we expected at

first. it was officially announced 

today that our cruiser squadron

attacked. 4 enemy cruisers, & they

replied but almost instantly

under cover of a smoke screen 

the "Renound" was the only British

Battleship that ever had a "look in "

she got close enough too sight

them but could not get the

range, that was the end of the

ships action. But the "Ark Royal"

sent off a striking force of planes

to attack the enemy, but it

was thought that the ships

"action" had been in vain,

the first planes too sight

the enemy reported, one 10,000

cruiser was badly damaged

& burning aft, two destroyers

were damaged, the aircraft

attacked, & a torpedo was seen

too strike a 10,000 ton cruiser

they then attacked a battleship

with the same result. Although 

no enemy craft were actually

sunk, it will take a long 

time to repair them. The

planes used were, "Fairy

Son Swordfish torpedo bombers

two failed too return.

Friday 6^th December to 13^th Dec.

On 6^th we left

Alex. to cover a Greek convoy bound

for Greece, on 7^th (10 am) arrived at

Suda Bay, we were under way again

at 1.30 p.m, & arrived in Athens at 10 am.

8^th. The Glasgow had got in the way

of a torpedo on the 5^th. & arrived in

Alex at 10 knots. on the same day we

were at sea doing a sub-calibre

shoot, there was the Sydney, Ajax

& Orion, we did a beautiful

shoot & "licked" the other cruisers

the Ajax got second, it seemed

funny, us having a practice

shoot considering the actions

we have had. Well after arriving

at Athens on the 8^th., we & the Ajax

stayed & Orion put to sea, we had

leave & were greatly welcomed

by the Greek people. I didn't go

ashore first night in, even though

I was non-duty, the reason was

that I had had too wild a time

in Alex, & had no dollars.  But

on the 9^th. I went ashore with Blue

Hardy & had too much wine, we

visited the brothel, & got back in 

a hell of a state, Left on the 10^th.

for Suda Bay, covering a convoy

arrived in Suda Bay 11^th, & proceeded

back too Athens were we arrived on

the 12^th. Left again on the 14^th for

Suda Bay, arrived 8 am, 15^th. took

oil & picked up our aircraftsmen

who were ashore there, proceeded

back to port Pyrias, & arrived

on the 16^th. did not go into

harbour, as the Orion was waiting 

for us, & we were lucky enough

too collect some mail which she

had bought from Alex, I was in

the luck & got 4 letters, 2 from

Mum, & 2 from Pat.