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    The Life and Death of HMS Bullen
    The Life and Death of HMS Bullen
    The Life and Death of HMS Bullen
    Ebook104 pages1 hour

    The Life and Death of HMS Bullen

    By Vic Ould

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    About this ebook

    A warship built in the U.S.A. under 'Lease Lend' for the Royal Navy she was classed as a 'Destroyer Escort' and re-classed in the Royal Navy as a 'Frigate'.

    As with many warships in WW2 she was 'manned' with Men and Boys many of whom together with the ship lasted less than 12 months.

    The 'Boys' became 'Men' in that short time and many were wounded and died for freedom and their country. As in the previous book by the author 'Last But Not Least' which was about a 'sister' ship these are personal memories of some survivors with illustrations and photographs from the author's collection.

    The author a Battle of the Atlantic veteran was 18 years old at that time, serving on HMS CARRON a destroyer protecting special convoys.

    He retains his connection with the Royal Navy by being a volunteer working on the historic warship HMS BELFAST at London Bridge and he has also volunteered on HMS CAVALIER at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLegend Press
    Release dateDec 14, 2015
    ISBN9781785074585
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      Book preview

      The Life and Death of HMS Bullen - Vic Ould

      FOREWORD

      The HMS Bullen story is not about that ship’s involvement in some great, one-off naval battle like Trafalgar, Jutland, or the River Plate. The destroyers, frigates and corvettes that escorted vital supplies to Britain from the start in 1939, and to Russia from 1941 onwards; that took equally vital reinforcements of men and equipment to the armies battling in Africa and Asia, and later saw our invading forces safely ashore, first in Italy and then in Normandy, were engaged in a single, long, drawn-out battle that lasted for the whole of the war. They fought not only against the submarines, surface ships and aircraft of our enemies, but also against the sometimes atrocious weather and, perhaps the most insidious enemy of all, boredom. But the ships’ companies of these (it must be said) not always perfectly-designed vessels saw it through to the end; they did their best, and their best was good enough, with something to spare.

      In that long journey from 1939 to 1945, casualties were inevitable – Royal Oak, Prince of Wales, and Hood are some of the more spectacular examples, but there were many others among smaller ships that had hardly had time to settle down and make their mark in that great family which is the Royal Navy before they were lost for ever. HMS Bullen, K469 was one of these. Her active life lasted for barely a year, but she and the men who sailed her did what was required of them, and no-one can do more. The strain on manpower resources that inevitably developed during the war meant that Bullen and other ships like her perforce included in their complements many who were little more than mere boys in age, but who, when push came to shove, were not found wanting. Many, too many, were lost, and for them, let these stories of those who survived be their epitaph.

      The reader will soon notice that these survivors’ recollections of such traumatic events do not always agree with one another exactly. As any policeman or lawyer can confirm, the statements of independent witnesses to, for example, a road accident, do not always agree either, even when made soon after the event, so no blame can be attached to these men now recalling some happenings of over fifty years ago. No attempt has been made, therefore, to alter anyone’s statement to agree with what somebody else has put down. These are personal, heart-felt memories, and as such must stand as written.

      It would not be possible to comment on all individual acts of bravery and self-sacrifice which are recorded here; few, if any of which seem to have received any official recognition. Suffice it to say that nothing happened off Cape Wrath on 6th December 1944 which was not in accordance with the best traditions of the Royal Navy, and that those who were there can echo Nelson’s dying words Thank God, I have done my duty.

      As WW2 progressed and Germany lost most of its U-boat bases in France they found more bases to use on the Norwegian Coast. These bases such as Stavanger, Bergen and the Fiords were very convenient to travel Westward to Scapa Flow (The Home Fleet Base) and onwards to the North Western Approaches.

      This was the Battle of the Atlantic crossroads from the beginning of 1944 where Germany began their Inshore U-boat campaign.

      Slow convoys of Merchant Ships from the U.S. would arrive here for LOCH EWE, Merchant Ships would also arrive from the Irish Sea, Liverpool and the Clyde.

      They would form up in LOCH EWE and then begin their perilous journey as an Arctic Convoy up North to Russia. The U-boat packs would gather at these cross-roads ready to attack. The Wolf packs would still be waiting when the convoys made their return journey from Russia.

      Battle Area of In-shore U-boat Campaign 1944-1945

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      First of all, my thanks must go out to all those shipmates who were pestered for information about the torpedoing itself, and whose generous response enabled this memorial to HMS Bullen to be compiled. In particular, Ted Rowson and Steve Keeler not only sent me a great deal of information themselves but passed my enquiry on to many, whom I might not otherwise have located. In my quest for information about the last resting place of those men of the ship’s company whose bodies were recovered at various places in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, I gratefully acknowledge the help given respectively by the editors and staff of The Orcadian and The Shetland Times. The archivist of the Shetland Council’s Museums and Archives Department was similarly helpful, as were the firm of Goudies Funeral Directors Ltd of Lerwick, who kindly supplied much information from their records.

      My thanks to my wife Pat for all her help and support in producing this book; her computer expertise was invaluable, and also the Navy Historical Branch.

      Steve Keeler provided the drawing of the ship which is on facing page 1 and is also on the front cover, the original of which hung in the captain’s cabin and was thus lost. Peter Erwood drew the maps of the Cape Wrath/Orkneys/Shetlands area, and to these my best thanks are also due. Last of all, I must thank the unknown photographer who captured Bullen on film sometime and somewhere during the ship’s brief life. It was found at a boot sale a few years ago, and now forms the frontispiece to this book.

      Vic Ould

      HMS BULLEN

      Service History

      Compiled from information supplied by International Maritime Research, Walnut Tree Cottage, Hinderclay, Norfolk IP22 1HT, England.

      Passed on to the author by V.C.Buffery, a survivor of the sinking.

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