|
|
John Addiscott (my Grandfather) left frustratingly few photographs of his service during WWII. He was an Engine Room Artificer (ERA or engineer) on HMS Nigeria shortly after the outbreak of WWII and a Chief ERA when Nigeria was torpedoed on August 12, 1942. My recollection from speaking with him is that more than 40 sailors were killed in the torpedo attack and that the crew had their hands full keeping Nigeria afloat as she sailed back to Britain. Shortly after HMS Nigeria's return to Britain, John Addiscott was promoted and became a commissioned officer (leaving HMS Nigeria). As the Normandy invasion loomed, I believe he was involved in a project to feed a fuel line across the channel during the invasion. I have no idea whether he was successful in this endeavor.
Immediately below are the only five photographs from his possessions relating
to WWII, followed by three other shots now identified as from his earlier
naval career. |
 |
| Photograph probably taken during RN convoys from Scapa Flow. It may therefore
have been taken during convoy duty to Murmansk or Archangel in Northern
Russia. Another possibility would be during operations in the vicinity
of Spitsbergen, an island group approximately 600 miles north of the northern
coast of Scandinavia. |
|
 |
| Photograph probably taken during RN convoys from Scapa Flow. It may therefore
have been taken during convoy duty to Murmansk or Archangel in Northern
Russia. Another possibility would be during operations in the vicinity
of Spitsbergen, an island group approximately 600 miles north of the northern
coast of Scandinavia. |
|
|
| Given the look of my Grandfather (seen sitting on the left beam), this
could conceivably be a photograph of the surviving Engine Room Artificers
from HMS Nigeria after being torpedoed in 1942. A number of the ERAs died
in the attack. |
|
|
| This photograph shows John Addiscott (bottom row, center) as a commissioned
officer so it must have been taken after the attack on HMS Nigeria. It
is unlikely that the sailors seen are from HMS Nigeria as they are probably
personnel from the fuel line project during the Normandy invasion. I include
this photograph here as I do not know how long John Addiscott stayed with
Nigeria following the torpedo attack and her return to Britain. |
|
|
Another photograph clearly taken at the same time as the one above. |
|
Originally, I had suggested that this image involved some sort of WWII convoy. I was contacted by Jon Summers who identified this photo as being taken during the Coronation Review at Spithead on May, 20 1937. This was a review of the fleet conducted by King George VI on the Royal Yacht, HMY Victoria and Albert. To the left is seen HMY Victoria and Albert, with HMS Revenge firing a salute behind. In front of HMS Revenge are HMS Iron Duke, HMS Hood, HMS Repulse and HMS Glorious (obscured by bunting). The shot was most likely taken from HMS Shropshire (foredeck appearing), a County Class cruiser (other more remote possibilities are HMS Devonshire or HMS London.)
Footnote: The ships can be identified with this level of certainty as they
were aligned in two parallel columns and their order is known. HMY Victoria
and Albert sailed up between the two columns during the review (which wound
around and involved over 160 ships). The immediate ships in the column
to the left of HMY Victoria and Albert in this shot consisted of HMS Queen
Elizabeth (rear of column), HMS Barham, HMS Revenge, HMS Iron Duke, HMS
Hood, HMS Repulse and HMS Glorious. The column to the right consisted of
HMS London (rear of column), HMS Shropshire, HMS Devonshire, HMS Leander,
HMS Frobisher, HMS Grenville and HMS Garland. These were just a tiny portion
of the ships that turned out for the review and for a complete map of the
path of HMY Victoria and Albert through the 160 ships click here. Many thanks to Jon Summers for this detailed information. |
|
|
| John Addiscott (right). He is quite young in this photograph and it was
clearly taken prior to WWII (included for identification purposes only). |
|
|
| John Addiscott (top left). This is obviously on HMS Encounter and involves
the rowing team. This is a pre-war shot and used purely for identification
purposes only. |
|
|
|
