HMS Nelson, Operation Husky.

9-Jun-43          Nelson arrived in Scapa Flow and Vice Admiral Willis again raised his flag. She then went on to exercise with battleships Rodney, Valiant and Warspite off Cape Wrath. The new radar system improved the accuracy of the big guns fire such that all the towed targets were destroyed in fifteen minutes and the shoot had to cease.

17-Jun-43        Exercises completed and crew back on full war readiness Nelson sailed from Scapa with carrier Indomitable, battleships Rodney Valiant and Warspite and destroyers Echo, Faulknor, Fury, Inglefield, Intrepid, Offa, Panther, Pathfinder, Quail, Queenborough, Quilliam and Polish vessel Piorun.

23-Jun-43        Group arrives in Gibraltar, after a very rough passage, ready to take part in Operation Husky.

Landings for Operation Husky, The Invasion of Sicily.

9-Jul-43           Nelson rendezvoused with 27 other naval vessels to protect the convoys assembling for the start of Operation Husky. The landings were to be in two main areas. The Western Force was to be all American and the Eastern force, landing in the South East of Sicily was to be British and Canadian. Nelson’s group were sent to the east to guide in the convoys for the eastern landings and protect them from interruption by the Italian Fleet. During the night of the 10^th landings by American and British paratroopers and glider forces took place. Strong winds meant that the forces were scattered and delivered to the wrong places. However they did disrupt the enemy arriving at the beaches and took some of their strategic targets.

10-Jul-43         The Amphibious landings took place and the strong winds caused delays and errors in navigation. Fortunately the enemy thought that it would be too rough for landings to take place and so there was very little opposition. At 0730 Nelson bombards Catania with her 16” guns then patrols the Ionian Sea

13-Jul-43         Escort destroyers Echo and Ilex sink an Italian Submarine.

14-Jul-43         Under air attack from Italian torpedo bombers.

15-Jul-43         Nelson runs to Malta to refuel.

16-Jul-43         Leaves Malta to continue with patrols. That evening the carrier Indomitable was torpedoed by a Ju-88 and Nelson escorted her back to the safety of Malta. Following this she returned to her patrols and later put inshore to bombard the port of Catania in support of ground operations.

17-Jul-43         Nelson returns to Malta

Refueling HMS Ilex from HMS Nelson.

20-Jul-43         Nelson was in Malta when a very heavy air raid by 30 bombers caused severe damage and loss of life ashore. Shore parties were sent out to assist. The evaporators aboard Nelson were playing up and there was a severe shortage of water aboard. I expect that it got pretty smelly aboard with the heat and 1756 crew in such a small space.

Most of August was spent supporting the ground forces in action in Sicily. The main forces of German and Italian troops evacuated the island by 17^th August. Between 27^th and 29^th Nelson was on exercise for Operation Hammer, the bombardment of the coastal batteries North East of Reggio di Calabria.

30-Aug-43       At 1900 Nelson left Malta in company with Rodney, cruiser Orion and ten destroyers.

31-Aug-43       Firing was commenced at 1000 from 30000yds. Rodney opened fire at 1030. At 1200 all fire was stopped and the targets were silenced permanently. By 2000 the force were all back in Malta.

HMS Nelson, waiting.

Through out December Nelson makes trip out to present a force of opposition to the Axis Naval power and occasional use her guns in support of the advance along the coast of North Africa into Tunisia.

26-Dec-42       Dad arrives in Gibraltar again for a late Christmas and New Year.

2-Jan-43          Nelson gets back to the war leaving Gibraltar to cover a troop convoy that was bound for Algiers.

3-Jan-43          Arrive Algiers.

4-Jan-43          Depart Algiers.

5-Jan-43          Dock back in Gibraltar.

8-Jan-43          In company with Rodney, carrier Formidable and twelve destroyers they moved to Mers-El-Kebir to offer close support to the continuing military operations on the coast of North Africa.

22-Jan-43        Whilst in Mers-El-Kebir with destroyer Eskimo alongside Eskimo had a fire in her boiler room. It was soon extinguished but caused electrical damage.

23-Jan-43        Vice Admiral Syfret was taken ill and was found to have appendicitis. The Doctor aboard performed an operation aboard. He tells the story that whilst waiting for him to come out of the anesthetic he tried on his Admirals cap. True to his grumpy nature he came out of his sleep and his first words were ‘take that off’. Despite not wanting to leave he was transferred to the hospital ship Oxfordshire and the link between Dad and Vice Admiral Syfret was broken.

Throughout February Nelson took part in sorties around the Western Mediterranean to protect large troop and supply convoys from the Italian Fleet. In fact the Italian fleet never took to sea as they were short of fuel and their morale was low and the Germans, thinking them useless, would not give them air cover.

1-Mar-43         Whilst the vessel was in Gibraltar Vice Admiral Algernon U. Willis hoists his pennant as Officer in charge of Force H.

7-Mar-43         Force H and Nelson held at Gibraltar to assist in cover of a possible breakout of the Scharnhorst from the Baltic. In the end she went north to Norway.

14-Mar-43       Scharnhorst is trapped in a Norwegian Fjord and so Force H is released to give further support of the ground war in North Africa.

April was spent in the Western Mediterranean support the ground forces and protecting convoys.

Dad HMS Nelson April 1943.

Dad Far Left) with some of the others on the Admirals Staff. Nelson 1942.

4-May-43        Nelson was in Algiers and was inspected by General Eisenhower and Admiral Cunningham. This was just a few days before the final victory in North Africa when Tunisia fell on 12^th May. Following the inspection HMS Nelson returned to Gibraltar.

Rear Admiral A.U. Willis (Commander Force H), General D.D. Eisenhower (Commander in Chief Operation Torch), Admiral A. Cunningham (Naval Commander Operation Torch).

Aboard HMS Nelson at anchor off Algiers 4^th May 1943.

Concert Party aboard HMS Nelson in Gibraltar on 24^th May 1943. Vivien Leigh was the main attraction.

24-May-43      A concert party was held aboard the Nelson and the ‘star turn’ was Vivien Leigh.

26-May-43      HMS Howe takes over as Flag ship of Force H and Nelson leaves Gibraltar with 3 destroyers.

30-May-43      Arrived in Devonport and dry docked for intensive work on improving her AA armaments by the addition of more pom poms Oerlikon and Bofors guns and fitting a new radar system.

7-Jun-43          Work was carried out very speedily and the vessel sailed in company with destroyers Meteor, Matchless and Panther for Scapa Flow.

HMS Nelson, Operation Torch.

HMS NELSON   28-Oct-42   to   8-Nov-43

30-Oct-42        Vice Admiral Syfret raised his flag and Nelson left Scapa in company with battleship Duke of York, battle cruiser Renown, cruiser Argonaut and destroyers Ashanti, Eskimo, Martin, Meteor, Milne and Tartar.

31-Oct-42        Off the NW coast of Ireland they rendezvoused with carriers Formidable and Victorious and destroyers Pathfinder, Partridge, Porcupine, Quality, Quentin and HMAS Quiberon. This force now became known as Force H.

5-Nov-42         Netherlands Navy destroyer Isaac Sweers joins the force. So many ships are in the area that there is a delay for vessels requiring bunkers.

6-Nov-42         When it was Nelson’s turn they appeared to make a mess of getting alongside in Gibralatar as they collided with ‘Empire Gawain and sweepers Brixham and Bude. Only minor damage was done to their stanchions and guard rails. However it must have been a little embarrassing as Admiral Andrew Cunningham was waiting to board and raise his flag as overall Naval Commander of the operation.

7-Nov-42         It would have taken a massive effort to marshal 350 warships and 500 merchant ships and have them all in the right positions for the landings that were to take place on the following day.

Operation Torch Landing Sites.

Operation Torch was undertaken to open up a second front but allow a further build up of arms and men before taking on Fortress Europe. North Africa of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia were mainly under the control of the Vichy French Forces and it was hoped that they would surrender to the Allies. Much political maneuvering was undertaken before the landings but it was still unknown what opposition would be faced on the day of the landings.

8-Nov-42         The landings took place in three places, Western at Casablanca, Central at Oran and Eastern to take Algiers. The Eastern landing was to be mainly British but Americans were to land first and all troops wore a ‘stars and stripes’ badge as it was felt that the Vichy French were less likely to shoot on American forces. The Eastern landings were also on three beaches, two West and one East of Algiers. The western ones were unopposed despite troops being landed on wrong beaches etc. The eastern landings were carried out in fog and confusion occurred. Here they were also landed unopposed except for a few shells from coastal batteries that were soon silenced. The only real fighting took place at the port of Algiers where HMS destroyers Malcolm and Broke tried to land 600 American troops directly in the port to prevent it being put out of action. Malcolm was severely damaged as she tried to breach the boom and was hit by shore fire. She retreated at 4kts. Broke managed to get through the boom and land her troops. She was soon forced to retire though and leave the troops to fend for themselves and they were forced to surrender seven hours later.

However Algiers itself fell to superior forces by the end of the day and the port was captured intact and workable. Nelson supported the landings on the eastern flank, and for the next few days provided cover in case the Italian fleet should intervene or land targets presented.

15-Nov-42       The Vichy French Forces surrender so Admiral Cunningham strikes his flag as commander of the operation and Admiral Syfret raises his as commander of force H. Their job was to continue to cover the threat of the Italian Fleet.

21-Nov-42       Nelson left Mers-El-Kebir, the port of Oran, to cruise south of the Balearic Islands.

22-Nov-42       She returns to Gibraltar.

Admiral Syfret Inspecting HMS Nelson Crew December 1942. He is talking to Dad, 2^nd man in the Front Row.

HMS Cochrane.

HMS COCHRANE   14-Oct-42   to   about 28-Oct-42

His record states that he was assigned to Cochrane on 14^th October. HMS Cochrane was the designation of Rosyth Naval Base from 1938 until 1947 when the name was discontinued for a short time. It was situated in the base itself. I can find no more details than this at the moment and as HMS Nelson sailed from Scapa for Gibraltar on 30^th October I would assume that Dad rejoined her before they left.

Rosyth Dockyard.

HMS Nelson again.

HMS NELSON   20-Sep-42   to 14-Oct-42

Nelson seems to have completed her own dry dock and modification on about 14^th/15^th October and following loading stores and ammunition also sailed to Scapa Flow for work up to war footing once again.

HMS Nelson X turret showing 3 16” shells being wheeled in their bogies. The canisters behind to the right hold two cordite charges. Six charges were required to fire the gun.

Dad must have though that he would get back into the old routine and settle down once again but it seems he was temporarily posted to HMS Cochrane. By this time both HMS Nelson and Rodney had been nominated for Operation Torch (North Africa Landings) and as Dad was still on Admiral Syfret’s staff I think that he would have been assigned to this shore base to learn the new signals, procedures and codes for the new operation.