Strategies of naval combat

Heroes Remember

Strategies of naval combat

Transcript

What you try and do, is keep information beat so that you can tell friend from foe, but there again, it, it depends entirely on circumstances. We had one encounter with HMS Eskimo with us, Huron and Eskimo, and we ran into a bunch of German minesweepers, you know, fairly small ships. Set about sinking them. Well, the Germans had been around a bit, and Eskimo hadn't and the Germans, they'd lay a smokescreen, and we'd go around it, Eskimo went through it, and there was a ship waiting for him on the other side, with his and by the time she finished with Eskimo, she was down to 8 knots and listing badly, yeah. So we learned, you know, you, you've got to keep your distance with those, those guards, the big mistake is go too close. And we couldn't intervene because we couldn't tell friend from foe. German Destroyers were powerful enough, and they could have done a lot of damage but, if they got by us, I can tell you, but they didn't. You see, by then, you see, they had radar covering the whole Channel, from the shore, and the shore could hone you right on to these people, until your own radar picked up on it.

Description

Mr. Howe talks about naval combat in the English Channel.

William Howe

Mr. Howe was born in Port Arthur, now Thunder Bay, Ontario, on 26 August 1922. His father was a cabinet minister and was in London during bombing attacks. His father survived being torpedoed on the way to visit him overseas and was also involved in a sea wreck. Mr. Howe did his naval training in England where he also completed lieutenant's training. He served aboard HMCS Turbon, Dorchester, Sackville and Huron. At the end of the war, Mr. Howe was appointed as a Naval Aid to the Governor of Hong Kong and began a career in politics, on his return to England with the support of MacKenzie King.

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