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White Ensign Flying

Page 5

by Roger Litwiller


  The fuelling complete, Trentonian slipped from the dock at 2000 on February 18 in company with Kitchener, a recently refitted corvette on its way to Bermuda for training. Kitchener was called “Hollywood” by the sailors of the RCN, as it had been featured in a full length Hollywood movie called Corvette K225. The movie starred Randolph Scott in the lead role, but Kitchener’s crew would tell you their ship was the star and Mr. Scott played a supporting role.

  Because Harrison was the most senior commanding officer between the two ships, Trentonian was designated senior officer (SO).[8] The two ships travelled at twelve knots and estimated their arrival time at the Royal Navy base in Bermuda, HMS Malabar, for February 21.[9]

  The weather was cold and the spray off the waves formed ice on the upper parts of the ship. As ice accumulates, ships can become top heavy and can lose stability unless it is cleared away. This is a constant battle in the North Atlantic winter, and Trentonian’s crew was turned out with hammers, picks, axes, and shovels to clear ice. As Trentonian sailed farther south to warmer climates, the ice stopped forming and began to melt. At one point, Harrison announced on the ship’s public address system (PA) that no one was allowed on deck without a helmet. Immediately the off-duty crew cleared the mess decks to see what was going on. When they got on deck, the men were greeted by massive blocks of ice falling from overhead wires and superstructure and quickly retreated back to safety.[10]

  The next day, they were far enough south that flying fish were landing on deck. The weather started to change. The sky grew dark and the waves and wind were getting stronger. Before long Trentonian was in a full hurricane, with waves estimated at seventy-five to ninety feet high.[11] It was no longer safe to be on deck. The crew felt the full effect of the storm as many became disabled with seasickness,[12] leaving only a few men to work the ship and battle the storm. Eventually, they lost contact with Kitchener and were left alone to face the hurricane.

  OS John Holden, AB Robert Powell, and AB Delmar Beaumont taking a break as the warm sun starts to melt the ice covering Trentonian.

  Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Tom Farrell.

  The force of the waves caused water to come into the ship. It filled the seamen’s mess, caused hammocks and personal effects of the crew to slosh about, and soaked everything. When Stoker Sid Coates came off duty from the boiler room at 0400, he found two feet of water in the stokers’ mess. His mess mates, asleep in their hammocks secured to the deck head, hadn’t noticed this. He opened the hatch to drain the water into the locker where the anchor chain was stored. Unfortunately, that space was already filled with sea water that had entered through the hawse pipes (the pipes that the chain runs through to meet the anchors). This water combined with the bilge water in the lower part of the ship and the sludge it produced created a very intense odour that infiltrated the entire ship.[13]

  Ice has formed over the outer surfaces of the ship, rendering the forward gun completely unusable.

  Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.

  Food was still important, even though most of the crew couldn’t eat. The cooks hadn’t gained their sea legs; one was too sick to move, the other couldn’t be found and was feared lost overboard.[14] With so many of the crew disabled, the sailors still able to work and eat would grab whatever food they could. Jim from Newfoundland was seen eating an entire tin of sardines, this was the final straw for some of the men watching him![15] A few of the off duty men would go into the galley and cook whatever they could for the rest — as untrained cooks they would produce a concoction of eggs, bacon, and grease[16] — while others were a little more resourceful and produced a hearty stew.[17] During one of the more greasy meals prepared by one of the amateur cooks, a young sailor who was struggling to keep his bacon and eggs down heard one of the old salts call his name. When he looked up he saw his mess mate had stuffed a large piece of bacon rind up his nostrils. With that image, the young sailor, after fighting a good fight against seasickness, lost it — literally![18]

  The sea is a powerful force, capable of destroying anything that man chooses to put upon it; Trentonian was not entirely spared its wrath. Early in the storm, Harrison ordered the ship’s course altered, turning its bow into the waves. The constant battering of the bow eventually caused the anchor winch to break from the deck, which allowed the anchor chains three to four feet of play. Every time the ship rose or fell with the waves, the anchors crashed against the steel hull. The ship’s twenty-seven foot whaler broke loose and was damaged. Several oil drums at the aft started to roll about and damage the ship before eventually going over the side.[19]

  As the storm subsided, the crew began to clean up. The cook feared lost overboard was found almost unconscious under a large pile of clothes, hammocks, and other debris, in the mess.[20] Kitchener was nowhere to be seen, and due to the storm, Lt. Parré could not take a navigational sun or star fix for two days — technically they were lost.[21] Eventually Trentonian met the RN frigate HMS Lawson and found that they were only one hundred miles east of Bermuda.[22] The two ships altered course and made it to Bermuda late on February 21.[23] Kitchener did not arrive until the next day.

  Trentonian shows signs of being battered by the North Atlantic winter storm.

  Photo credit: D. Trimingham, courtesy of the Naval Museum of Alberta.

  Trentonian’s trials were not quite over. As mentioned earlier, the professionalism of a ship’s company is often measured by the performance of their duty, and the first impression most have of a ship is when it secures to the dock. Trentonian entered St. Georges harbour already bashed from two days of battle with the hurricane. As the ship approached the dock at HMS Malabar, a line was passed from the fo’c’sle to shore and secured to the bollard. Harrison ordered the engines from slow ahead to slow astern. The telegraph in the wheelhouse was moved to the proper position; unfortunately the cable connecting the wheelhouse telegraph to the repeater in the engine room was broken and it stuck on “full ahead.” The engine room artificers immediately followed that incorrect order. On Trentonian’s deck the heavy berthing line started to grow taught and snapped, whipping back like a wild snake. Fortunately the crew on the fo’c’sle were able to jump clear and the only casualty was one of the forward ventilating hatches.[24]

  Chief Roberts (left) and AB Nick Tarasick on deck during cleaning stations.

  Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.

  Once properly secured to the dock, an inspection party came aboard from Malabar to assess the damage. The base medical officer also came aboard to check the welfare of the crew. He immediately ordered an unprecedented forty-eight hour stand down for the entire ship’s company to recover from the storm.[25]

  AB Sydney Hunter (right) and J. Taft, almost recovered from the storm.

  Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Jack Harold.

  The next two days were spent cleaning ship, washing clothes, and recovering from the ordeal. Trentonian itself needed care and attention; repairs were made to the winch, hull, ship’s boat, railings, radio antennae, and the ventilation hatch damaged by the broken line.[26] Signalman Jack MacIver from Winnipeg, Manitoba, recalls he was detailed to scrub the deck of the communications mess using caustic soda. The deck was filthy from sea water, spilled food, bilge water, and vomit. Wearing gloves, he started to his duty; by the time he was finished, the towel he had been using had all but disintegrated from the caustic soda. To his dismay he saw the linoleum floor on the deck had also started to dissolve. The entire deck in the communication mess had to be added to the list of repairs.[27]

  Training evolutions and work ups began under the watchful eyes of Acting Commander John Waterhouse, RN. The crew practised the various action stations, damage control, firefighting, man overboard drills, boarding drills, fleet manoeuvres, and gunnery drills, as well as mock battle drills. The weapons were fired and the crew given time to work on accuracy. They fired the primary four-inch gun at towed and shore targets and tested the depth c
harges. A training submarine was used to improve the skill of the asdic operators.[28]

  The anti-aircraft guns fired at test targets towed by aircraft. After one exercise, the gun crew were very confident they had “blown away” the target and congratulated each other heartily for a job well done. The inspecting officer ordered the aircraft to return and make a close pass to have the joyful gunners inspect the damage they had dealt to the target. Their collective celebration ended abruptly as the unscathed target flew by.[29]

  During a break from the evolutions, Trentonian was at anchor a quarter mile from the city of Hamilton, Bermuda. Some of the crew took advantage of the time off by going for a swim in the warm waters. Usual practice was if you had a bathing suit, you wore it, if not you stripped down and jumped in — with the ship so far from shore no one would be any wiser. The daughter of the admiral in charge of Malabar had a hobby of scanning the harbour with binoculars from the house, and she had an eyeful that particular day. After this, a new standing order was given for crews in Bermuda: no swimming without a suit.[30]

  The crew did receive time to go ashore and enjoy some of the delights Bermuda had to offer. Before the first shore leave the crew were warned that the primary source of transportation for the islanders was bicycles, and anyone “borrowing” a bike for a joy ride would get a minimum penalty of jail time.[31]

  The American Construction Battalion (Sea Bees) was building an airfield and docks in Bermuda and had a USO canteen. Stoker Sid Coates described the canteen as, “lots of cheap food, drinks, and good entertainment.” He purchased five bottles of rum at seventy-five cents a bottle and made almost a month’s wages reselling them in Halifax.[32]

  An Italian submarine used for training in Bermuda.

  Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.

  Another crew member of Trentonian, AB Frank Barron from Montreal, Quebec, ran into his brother-in-law, who was serving on one of the other Canadian ships. During their conversation, his brother-in-law told him of a sailor in his own ship who had his toes bitten off by a barracuda when they had abandon ship drills. Back on Trentonian, when the crew was called to abandon ship stations, Barron hid behind some lockers. He was found by one of the officers and ordered over the side. Reluctantly, he climbed down the ladder but held on, only going into the water as far as his knees.[33]

  One sailor tried to bring a monkey aboard the ship. Lt. Kinsman spotted the animal as it was brought into the ship, and the sailor, who had bought it from a street peddler, pled his case with the XO. He explained that the primate was very tame and well-behaved and would make a very unusual mascot for the ship — no other ship had a monkey. Kinsman took one look at the monkey and ordered the flea-infested animal off the ship immediately.[34]

  Harrison received orders to return to Halifax and the ship left the island paradise at 2030 on February 29, 1943.[35] Training is never complete, however, and the crew continued to practise all the stations while travelling north. They complained that any time of the day or night, the old man would roust them out to “play games.”

  The crew hoped the trip home would be better than the one south had been. However, shortly out of Bermuda they ran into another North Atlantic winter storm, albeit not as severe. Once again the men were turned out to clear ice.[36] As they travelled north, it became thicker and several of the crew suffered severe frostbite, keeping the tiffy busy in his sickbay.[37]

  Trentonian’s water tanks developed a leak, possibly due to damage from the previous storm, that was now affecting the water supply for the men and for cooking. To deal with the shortage, water use was issued in the order of importance, always going to the engines and boilers first, cooking second, and hygiene and washrooms last. While off the coast of New York, some of the crew on duty tried to convince the skipper to put into New York City for repairs, hoping to spend the some time on shore leave in the Big Apple. Harrison understood their intent and continued on course for Halifax.[38]

  Trentonian entering Halifax harbour on March 3, 1944. This picture is looking aft from the break of the fo’c’sle; the ship is completely covered in ice.

  Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of the Family of Maurice Campbell.

  When Trentonian arrived at Halifax on the afternoon of March 3,[39] it was completely encased in ice. The upper decks were covered; the guns, hedgehog, and depth charges were inoperable. Wires normally the size of a pencil were encased in ice as thick as a man’s leg.

  Trentonian received orders to escort the RN submarine HMSubmarine P554 from Halifax to Head Harbour in St. Margaret’s Bay on March 4.[40] P554 was the ex-American S-class submarine USS S-22, built in 1920. The sub had been transferred to the RN on July 19, 1942. It was stationed in Halifax as an operational submarine used for training escorts in asdic searches and anti-submarine attacks.

  At 0700 on March 4, Trentonian and P544 departed Halifax Harbour, travelling at a speed of ten knots for the short cruise to St. Margaret’s Bay.[41] Trentonian spent the next seven days continuing to work up the crew and practise evolutions. This final stretch of training was done under the close scrutiny of Captain James Douglas Prentice, RCN.[42] Prentice was the man who had developed the training program for Canadian escorts and who was instrumental in improving the overall fighting efficiency of the RCN.

  On March 5, Harrison signalled Halifax requesting to have a relief for one of the engine room artificers in Trentonian, citing he was “unfit for sea duty owing to constant seasickness.”[43]

  On March 6, the RCN announced the destruction of U-744 in the Atlantic. For over thirty-two hours, the sub was hunted by the ships of Support Group C-2.[44] The group dropped 291 depth charges and the U-boat was forced to the surface. Two corvettes attacked, and when the U-boat failed to return fire, the two ships sent a boarding party over. They found the submarine abandoned and flooded. While returning to the boats with signal equipment and codes, the boarding parties’ boats capsized as the waves sent them crashing against the U-boat’s hull. Thirty-nine survivors from the U-boat were rescued and the submarine was finished off with a torpedo. Operations such as this served as a prime example of what Trentonian and its crew were training for.

  Signalman Jack Harold was temporarily transferred to Kitchener with instructions to assist their communications division. Harrison had noticed some exceptional qualities in the young signalman and had sent him over to be assessed for possible promotion to an officer. Harold returned to Trentonian a few days later, unaware of the purpose of his transfer.

  On March 10, Trentonian was placed on emergency ship duties for twenty-four hours.[45] These orders meant that the ship needed to be fully manned and ready, capable of sailing for any emergency at a moment’s notice. Once again the navy demonstrated its communication skills by ordering Trentonian to sail for Halifax at the same time it was acting as emergency ship. The order to sail was later rescinded.[46]

  On March 11, Trentonian was ordered back to Halifax with corvettes Buctouche, Drumheller, and Kitchener. Harrison was designated senior officer and the fleet departed St. Margaret’s Bay at 1900. They proceeded at twelve knots, arriving in Halifax at just after midnight on the twelfth.[47]

  The crew replenished the ship as Harrison had received orders to be ready to sail at noon the next day.[48] Trentonian, along with Drumheller and the corvette Port Arthur, had been scheduled for a full calibre shoot of their guns.[49] The gunnery exercise was completed on March 14 and Trentonian finished its period of working up. But, as all sailors know, training is never complete; when the skipper decides he wants to exercise the crew, action stations will be sounded again and again.

  Captain Prentice and Commander Waterhouse submitted their respective reports to the RCN on Trentonian’s performance. The fifteen page report goes into great detail on the operation of the ship, the quality of the leading hands for each department, the professionalism of the officers, and the performance of the crew in the various evolutions and procedures.[50]

  Evaluation reports are
not designed to be a “pat on the back,” but to help the officers and crew improve the efficiency of their ship. To that end, they point out all areas where performance can be improved and it provides recommendations on how the operation and effectiveness of a ship can be made better. They also list any deficiencies with the ship itself.

  Some of the more serious problems with Trentonian were that it did not have the newest type of radar, the wireless transmitters (radio sets) required extensive repairs (only one worked), all the guns required repairs or modifications, and the recognition lights had yet to be installed.[51]

  In his final assessment of Trentonian, Commander Waterhouse states, “Fighting Efficiency is low and this fact may be largely attributed to the unfinished or badly finished state of the ship.”[52] Waterhouse went on to summarize his report, remarking on his general impression of the ship, “Ships are always a little worse than their officers. If the officers do not know what various articles are for or in what condition various fittings are in, the crew will take even less interest and deterioration will be rapid. The officers of this ship must get to work and learn their ship and having learned it must inspect it frequently until it is up to standard.”[53]

  Leading Seaman Kenneth McDonald during gunnery practise on the oerlikon.

  Photo credit: A. Singleton, courtesy of Bruce Keir.

  4: Trentonian Goes to War

  The catalogue of comforts which have been sent to HMCS Trentonian is an impressive one, and it is desired to take the opportunity to convey the appreciative thanks of the Department for the generosity of the good people of Trenton, Ontario, and for the interest they are taking in the comfort and welfare of the crew of HMCS Trentonian.

 

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