HMS Hazard - note ship's number scratched out by
censor
(Source: Tibbs Hallford)
|
Date of Arrival |
Place |
Date of Departure |
Orders, Remarks etc |
|
|
|
|
HAZARD spent most of 1940
in Scottish waters, including much time at Scapa where the Fleet
needed her protection when it sailed forth and returned to harbour. |
|
7.1.40 |
Rosyth |
9.1.40 |
9/1 From A S Rosyth:
HAZARD docked for refit by Grangemouth Dockyard Company at Grangemouth
middle dock today, Tuesday |
|
9.1.40 |
Grangemouth |
? |
1/2 From A S Rosyth:
HAZARD will complete 6/2 |
|
6.2.40 |
Rosyth |
7.2.40 |
|
|
9.2.40 |
Greenock |
6.3.40 |
|
|
8.3.40 |
Scapa |
? |
|
|
19.3.40 |
Invergordon |
20.3.40 |
|
|
? |
Scapa |
24.4.40 |
|
|
24.4.40 |
Aberdeen |
? |
|
|
|
|
|
You
see the Germans had only a couple of big ships and they would not
come out. So our ships were only in the way more or less. Wherever
they went they had to have a destroyer escort and we were short of
destroyers. We lost some at Norway and had to take some of the older
ones off the Atlantic convoys. We were sent out, four minesweepers.
We went out to the biggest convoy I have ever seen. Right in the
middle was the old
Aquitania
full of troops and some smaller liners with troops and on the
outside of them was oil tankers and store ships and on the decks was
packed with planes. And around them was 50 old American destroyers
which had been lent to us for escort duties in the Atlantic. We
brought them around the north of Ireland, some went up the Clyde and
the others to Liverpool. We returned to Scapa. That night I had a
feeling we were going to get a raid and while coming back to the
ship after a couple of hours leave in our motor boat the raid
started. We were nearer the shore than the ship and that’s where we
went for shelter. It was only an old barn but it sheltered us from
shrapnel that was dropping all around. One plane came down the
searchlight beam and put it out and the crew that was around. The
next day two of us went into the North Sea sweeping one of the
passages in the minefield. Four miles sweep and turned around and
four miles back just to see if the German subs had laid mines. We
had no trouble from aircraft. The next morning we swept along the
north coast to Cape Wrath and about tea time we were getting our
sweeps in, a German Dornier came around and around us but we still
kept getting the sweeps in. The rest of the crew closed up at Action
Stations. The captain signalled to Scapa and the fighter headed him
off and shot him down, And for that night we put into Loch Eribol, a
deep water Loch and of course we kept watch all night. The ones on
watch were fishing. I took over the fishing line of one of the chaps
in our mess and caught five lovely big flat fish and by the morning
had caught enough for all the mess.
Scragg |
|
3.5.40 |
Scapa |
28.5.40 |
|
|
? |
Aberdeen |
5.6.40 |
|
|
6.6.40 |
Scapa |
18.6.40 |
|
|
18.6.40 |
Scapa |
4.7.40 |
|
|
4.7.40 |
Aberdeen |
10.7.40 |
|
|
10.7.40 |
Scapa |
12.8.40 |
|
|
? |
Scapa |
13.9.40 |
In September HAZARD and
Hebe were searching for and dealing with mines together. |
|
14.9.40 |
Rosyth |
4.11.40 |
|
|
5.11.40 |
Scapa |
20.11.40 |
16/11 HAZARD reported
sighting hostile aircraft near Cape Wrath. |
|
20.11.40 |
Scapa |
26.11.40 |
|
|
27.11.40 |
Rosyth |
27.11.40 |
|
|
27.11.40 |
Leith |
25.3.41 |
28/11 Taken in hand –
refit and fitting of LL sweep. Completes Mid-Feb ‘41 |
Superstructure, Ship's Boat and Minesweeping Deck of HMS
Hazard 1940
'Up Spirits' including Charlie Wood and Gus Harris 1940
Photo's from HMS Hazard Association (Micky Pratt)
Ship's galley HMS Hazard
Source: HMS Hazard Association
