Chance, Peter: my Navy recollections (March 10, 2005)
An interview/narrative of Peter Chance's experiences during World War II. Commander Chance served with the Royal Canadian Navy. Interview took place on March 10, 2005.
ABSTRACT: Commander Peter Chance Royal Canadian Navy Chance_P_0136_01.mp3 (Cassette 1) Born in Ottawa; Fall 1938 joined Naval Reserve, RCNVR Division Ottawa as midshipman; life in RCNVR in Ottawa; Spring 1939 appointed to Stadacona in Halifax for training. placed on active list; description of Halifax: Admiralty House; Roommates with Doctor Best; courses including gunnery, signals, and parade, seen as rudimentary; trained in ciphers and codes at Staff Officers Intelligence; felt war was evident with increase in sailors: saw HMS Barrick in port; conducted survey of boom defence of Halifax Harbour; handful amount of officers to train influx of sailors; prepared for war before Canadian declaration; Sept 14th 1939 goes to sea aboard HMCS St. Laurent, under Harry DeWolfe; sailed on HX1 Sept. 15th; detailed description of difficulties of armaments and equipment of St. Laurent at start of war (weapons, communication, Asdic); reliance on Battleship, no fuelling at sea; Commodore of the convoy and zigzag book/clock; describes difficulty of keeping position in convoy; lack of working knowledge of torpedoes and depth charges, inappropriate clothes; life jackets; on convoy duty from Sept-Dec; concern was raiders and pocket battleships; "totally unprepared"; transferred to RCN: lack of sleep 4 hours on,4 hours off watch; entertainment mainly onshore; number of escorts at four; men vs. sea, not a feeling of being in a battle one; merchant/escort relations; Commodore convoy conference; duration and distance of convoys; The Great Circle Route; April '43 joins HMCS Skeena as Sub-Lieutenant; (back tracks to time with RN): June '40 in Quebec City as "special entry"; crosses to UK in late August; outfitted at Geeves: Chance_P_0136_02.mp3 Lancaster Gate Hotel during the Blitz; attempts to join fire brigade; arrive at college to a class of "special entries" of mixed nationalities; four month class Sept. to Dec. '40, starting from scratch; threat of invasion, senior cadets to dig trenches for college down to harbour; remarks about Royal Air Force; the Siege of Britain; '43 as turning point in Atlantic with industry, better equipment and training; reroute convoys through decrypting German signals; never encountered a submarine, did make contacts but not confirmed; December '44 passenger on Seacliff frigate on first operational cruise, crossing to Canada forced submarine to surface; sentry of German POW from U-Boat; censorship; (Back tracks to RN Training) HMS Mauritius Jan '41 AFTER Dartmouth training; brand new vessel; Flying on biplane; Convoy on East coast of Africa; Indian Ocean patrolling for raiders; dry-dock in Singapore in Fall of '41; assigned various duties to further education while ship in dry-dock; Invasion of Singapore by Japanese; Operation Peter against local Japanese merchants; escape Singapore; return to England; view first one thousand bomber raid; shot down friendly Polish aircraft; Seamanship's exam; Sept to December 1942, Sub-Lieutenant's courses: Jan '43 Jamaican Planter sank from collision with tanker; May '43 joins HMCS Skeena on Newfie-Derry run; friendly submarine training to prep for future D-Day invasion; D-Day Invasion with Escort Group 12 as a barrier force on English Channel; encounter with acoustic torpedo and CAT gear operations; August and Operation DREDGER off French Coast; navigation difficulties almost led to running into lighthouse. Chance_P_0136_03.mp3 (Cassette 2) Navigation difficulties; operations off French coast and collision with friendly vessel; Skeena faces opposition from Heinkel bomber, RCN better equipped; Skeena receives a piano from Londonderry for wardroom; party with famous jazz musician Eddie Duchane (spelling?!?!); joins Escort Group 11; Oct '44 onboard when Skeena is lost at anchor from storm in Iceland, fifteen men lost; returns to Londonderry; Survivor's Leave; joins Gatineau, then XO of the second Ottawa for troop convoying back to Halifax; Takes shore based position and ends role; British naval losses compared to Canada, training facilities; reflection on RCN commitment.
Interviewee: Chance, Peter
Rank: Commander.
Interviewer: Horne, Marshall
- In Collection:
- 3 sound recordings (MP3)
- 52.16045, -0.70312
- 35.68536, 139.75309
- Two original audio cassettes (ca. 180 min.) in Special Collections.
- Canadian Military Oral History Collection
- PC_136
- Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection
- May 18, 2010
- Digital sound recording in .wav format at 16 bits and 44 kHz. In .mp3 format at 56 kbps and 24 kHz. Digitized by JF, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview migrated to digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2010. Migration metadata by KD and MT.
- Rights
- This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca
- DOI
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