Gordon, Hugh: my naval experiences (March 12, 2005)
PublicInterviewer: White, Cameron
Rank: Lieutenant-Commander.
ABSTRACT: Lieutenant Commander Hugh Gordon Royal Navy Born in Oak Bay in 1919, Gordon chose the Navy because he had experience on the seas. Father was an agent for a Norwegian shipping company, so Gordon met a variety of merchant Captains as a boy. In 1932 Gordon sailed across the Pacific to Shanghai, sailing back in 1937. It was there that he had his first military experience, as part of a volunteer security force. In 1939 he sailed across the Pacific and back aboard a freighter. Basic training at HMCS Stadacona, Halifax. Discusses facilities, only class to go through the "mousetraps," a very basic housing setup on the grounds of Admiralty House. Trainers included a well qualified Navigation instructor with extensive sailing experience (taught in a church basement), strict gunnery trainers at dockyard and an RCN signalman at Camp Hill hospital. ASW training at dockyard Torpedo school, seamanship training did not include any ship time beyond a rowboat. Deployed to HMCS Fredericton, flower-class corvette, where he spent 6 months. Only three other officers, no engineer. Only RCN personnel were Coxswain and Bosun, possibly the Yeoman. Captain an experienced merchant sailor, 1st Lt. RCNVR, pleasure sailor, navigator RCNR with second mate's ticket. Towed an icebound Bangor to Quebec on first sailing. Discusses watchkeeping, alone and inexperienced but didn't know any better. Discusses living conditions, inadequate clothing for open bridge watch, his cabin as aft, had to go outside to reach the bridge. Never received operational training until 1945. Discusses service aboard an RN four-stacker, HMS Mansfield as group A/S officer, more later. Notes that he received his watchkeeping cert. in three months although he'd already been standing watch; didn't know what the cert was when he received it. Further discussion of watchkeeping; describes an incident in which his 151 Lt. (who he calls Bob) accidentally steered the ship into the middle of the convoy, Bob never went to sea again as a result. Also tells of an incident where they lost the convoy altogether. Discusses ASW weapons, pros and cons of each and how they were used. More on four-stackers: tells of a storm so bad that the ship was decommissioned because of damage. Describes a voyage which resulted in three boards of inquiry, incidents included a deadly case of friendly fire, which Gordon blames on the RN obsession with regulations, wouldn't have happened on a RCN ship. After Mansfield, Gordon was sent to Belfast to await the commissioning of a state of the art Castle class corvette, HMCS Arnprior. Equipped with two modern ASDIC sets and Squid, the latest ASW weapon, she was one of only 10 such ships in the RCN. Describes the advantages of Squid over depth charges. Speaks briefly of service aboard HMCS Lanark, a new frigate, he has some ships papers. Little turnover aboard his ships. Talks about his A/S team, which he assembled and trained personally. Further discusses the Castle class Arnprior, equipment included HF/DF and type 272 radar; many crewmates were old acquaintances, a happy ship. Notes that ASW ships were almost all RCNVR crewed. Speaks of mutiny aboard HMCS Chebogue, while this incident is on the record, Gordon provides details on the causes of the mutiny, and also the circumstances surrounding her torpedoing which differ starkly from the record, says Chebogue "did every wrong to get torpedoed." Some crew refused to be evacuated aboard the same vessel as the unpopular and apparently incompetent SOE. Discusses overall effectiveness of RCN vs. RN, training, equipment. Argues that the introduction of escort carriers was the deciding factor in the Battle of the Atlantic. Speaks of the importance of shore based HF/DF to ASW. Aside from Chebogue incident, never experienced a u-boat attack.
An interview/narrative of Hugh Gordon's experiences during World War II. Lieutenant-Commander Gordon served with the Royal Navy. Interview took place on March 12, 2005.
Interviewee: Gordon, Hugh
- In Collection:
- 2 sound recordings (MP3)
- 44.6464, -63.57291
- One original audio cassette in Special Collections.
- Canadian Military Oral History Collection
- GH_434
- Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection
- September 13, 2012
- 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 2012. 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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Gordon_H_0434_01.mp3 | Public |
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Gordon_H_0434_02.mp3 | Public |
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