HMS Sharpshooter 1939

HMS Sharpshooter (Wright & Logan 10647)

Sharpshooter spent the first half of 1939 on routine exercises with the rest of the 1^st Minesweeping Flotilla. This was followed by visits to Brixham, Dartmouth, Bristol and Falmouth where the ships were opened for visits from the public. After the crew had spent July on their summer leave the pace changed.  

Following the Reserve Fleet review by the King at Portland on 9^th August, Sharpshooter went on exercises and live firing practice. She then sailed to Scapa where she was kept busy transferring stores and new crew members to the other ships of the fleet. After war was declared on 3^rd September she carried out minesweeping duties and anti-submarine patrols around Scapa. Sharpshooter spent the last two weeks of September minesweeping at Loch Ewe before returning to Scapa, experiencing several air raids and claiming one aircraft shot down on 17^th October. Following the torpedoing of HMS Royal Oak within Scapa, Sharpshooter carried the Investigation Committee on its tour of inspection of the defences. 

She then spent the rest of October and November around Scapa, Loch Ewe and the Firth of Clyde sweeping for mines. At the end of November she went to the Clyde. It was necessary to remove British minefields to provide a safe anchorage for the Fleet while Scapa’s defences were strengthened.

The Ship's logs for Sharpshooter (and the other Halcyon Class ships) have only survived up to January 1940, the rest have presumably been destroyed. Extracts are shown below, click on the button to open.

HMS Sharpshooter  

Interview with Thomas Phillip Edward King of HMS Sharpshooter  Imperial War Museum, Accession No. 006973/02 IWM    When Chamberlain made that declaration that Britain was at war with Germany. Can you remember how you and the people that were around you reacted to that?  TK      Yes. We were at Scapa Flow on the Sunday and it was lunchtime when the speech was made. Of course, being at a young age these things never register so much as they do when you get older. I suppose, if it would be now, it would be a different kettle of fish. But I can truthfully say that myself and the men around me, we just thought "Well, it'll be another day". We didn't realise what we’d got to come. But you was always sort of prepared in the Navy, this is true, even though the Navy wasn't ‑ well it was brought up to its full strength. But you was always taught in the Navy that you was always ready and ready we were. But myself, there was never any fear as such.  IWM    Was there any enthusiasm for the declaration of war were people enthusiastic about it?  TK      I wouldn't say enthusiastic about it because again, you were always taught never to underestimate your opponent and we said “"Well, this is it".  IWM   What did people think about Germany at that time ‑ did they think that Germany was a. powerful opponent or not?  TK      Yes ‑ you're going on to public opinion as a whole. We didn't have a lot of time to see the public did we? Because we [were] tucked up in Scapa Flow with the main fleet, and it was only us leaving Scapa Flow for boiler cleaning at Aberdeen that we managed to get ashore. They did build a sort of canteen in Scapa but in the first part of the War at Scapa it was very hard and we never had a lot to do with the public so you couldn't honestly and truthfully say what their opinion was.  IWM    Did you ever come across anybody who was opposed to the War?  TK      No, honestly and truthful. IWM    They all thought that we should fight Germany?  TK      Certainly.  IWM    What did you personally at that time think about Germany and Hitler?  TK      Right from even a small boy the Germans were always dominant in the world, even after the First World War. but say from the end of the First War to the beginning of the next one there was always that at the back of your mind ‑ the Germans, it was just one of those things ‑ they were sort of feared shall we put it.  IWM    When war was declared how did that affect you personally? Did it affect your duties at all?  TK      Not really, because the ship that I was serving on was a minesweeper and you could only sweep mines during the daytime. You couldn't sweep mines at night, so at night we always came back to Scapa Flow in the evening. We went out in the morning to sweep the main channels for them at the Fleet going in and out of Scapa Flow, but the routine remained more or less the same. IWM    What was the name of the minesweeper?  TK      The name of the minesweeper was HMS SHARPSHOOTER  IWM    What kind of ship was she to serve in?  TK      It wasn't a bad ship. It was quite comfortable for a sloop because they were only 750 tons.  IWM   I n what ways was it quite good to serve in?  TK      Well, we'll say, a small ship in the Navy was always preferable to serve in to the big ship. There was more comrade­ship in a small ship, but on these minesweepers everybody done their job, and of course, there was a certain intake of the chappies that were called up for the War, hostilities only. And they were good.  IWM    Did they fit in with the regular seamen?  TK      They fitted in very very well. I was an active service rating as you know but all ‑ in all the time I served during the War I always found that the hostility ratings worked into the Navy very well ‑ how shall we put it ‑ came into the groove. IWM    Was H.M.S. SHARPSHOOTER a very seaworthy ship?  TK      Yes. It had to be because the north of' Scotland – when we first went to Scapa Flow they told us that the enemy up in Scapa Flow would be the weather.

 

HM Ships Sharpshooter (in front), Hazard (behind - alongside dock) and Speedy visited Bristol in June 1939