Skipwith's view of Prince of Wales

Discussions about the history of the ship, technical details, etc.

Moderator: Bill Jurens

User avatar
paulcadogan
Senior Member
Posts: 1148
Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2006 4:03 am
Location: Kingston, Jamaica

Skipwith's view of Prince of Wales

Post by paulcadogan »

Hi all,

I found this letter - it was posted in another forum - from PoW's spotting officer Lt. Cdr. A.G. Skipwith. I thought I'd share it here for the sake of interest. It speaks to the view that PoW was an unhappy ship and some sort of "Jonah" - a harbinger of bad luck.

An interesting read........ Skipwith covers the ship's entire career.
Correspondence - H.M.S. PRINCE OF WALES

Sir,

If an author were commissioned to write a book about the death throes of a great man, how with hindsight he need never have died, and at the same time avoid
stressing the life achievements of this great man, then I would recommend that author to read the book Battleship by Martin Middlebrook and Patrick Mahoney (see
The Naval Review, January 1978, pp. 79-81). But I would also warn him not to take some of the personal anecdotes in the book too seriously, nor some of the conclusions
reached about the ship's company of H.M.S. Prince of Wales.

I was her First Lieutenant and the senior survivor as neither the Captain, Commander nor Fleet Navigating Officer survived and I strongly disagree with the
implication in the book that the Prince of Wales was an unhappy (or 'Jonah') ship. In fact the exact reverse was the case which is well borne out by the contribution
to the war effort of this great ship, made possible by the dedication of her officers and men.

Let me list some of the experiences and exploits of the Prince of Wales, of necessity in note form:

(a) While building at Cammell Lairds a bomb burst between the jetty and ship's side resulting in the ship taking on a 25" list with many compartments, which
were in a non-watertight condition, being flooded. The situation was rectified, including the prevention of damage to a 1,000 ton section of 'Y' turret, in process
of being assembled, not only by the activities of the shipyard but also by the efforts and inspiration of the officers and men standing by the ship; in fact no
delay in the ultimate completion of the ship was incurred. Incidentally, it was shortly after this incident that the skeleton ship's company was inspected
by Their Majesties the King and Queen during their wonderful tour of Birkenhead after the blitz.

(b) With turret workmen still on board and the ship barely 'worked up' we joined action with the Bismarck and Prince Eugen scoring three hits on the Bismarck, the sole reason for her changing plans and proceeding towards St. Nazaire and her destruction. As 14-inch Spotting Officer, I and the Gunnery officer were among the very few who knew for certain that Hood, deceived by the almost identical silhouettes of the Bismarck and Prince Eugen, did not fire at the Bismarck. The Prince of Wales has never really received the credit which was her due, nor has it ever been the wish of the officers of Prince of Wales in anyway to add to the tragedy of the Hood for which sentiment silence has never been voluntarily broken by any of our officers and men.

(c) After the morning action with the Bismarck, the Prince of Wales was in company with the Norfolk and Suffolk under the command of Rear Admiral Wake-Walker. Swordfish from the Victorious on their flight towards the Bismarck passed directly overhead and we dimly saw shell bursts in the sky during their attack. On the identical bearing of the Bismarck there then appeared a vessel which was only just visible in the murk and twice we were ordered by the Admiral to open fire. With our superior radar and binoculars, we did not do so and thus avoided the probable destruction of the American Coastguard cutter Modoc. Later, at Placentia Bay, when President
Roosevelt visited the wardroom we told him this story whereupon he remarked 'If you'd sunk that ship I would certainly have found it very difficult to explain the facts to the great American public'.

(d) On arrival in Iceland after the action we only had fifty tons of fuel left; the ship was listed and two shell holes beneath the waterline were exposed and patched before we proceeded to Rosyth where further rapid repairs were executed including the removal from the bilges of one live 15-inch Bismarck shell by ship's officers and men.

(e) On our return to Scapa we soon prepared for the 'Atlantic Charter' meeting and under strict secrecy the Prime Minister, Chiefs of Staff, Permanent
Secretary to the Foreign Office, with respective supporting staffs, plotting and cypher officers, also Harry Hopkins the U.S. President's aide, all sailed in the Prince of Wales for Newfoundland to meet the President. For nearly three weeks the war was run from our ship.This fascinating interlude, when the great men got to know the Prince of Wales intimately, was fully described in H.V. Morton's book, but suffice it to say that from the letters received from our guests they not only greatly appreciated
arrangements made for their accommodation, which were not easy at short notice in a fully operational ship, but were undoubtedly impressed by everything they saw on board. At luncheon in the wardroom of the Prince of Wales on Sunday, 10 August 1941, the Prime Minister and the President each gave an un-recorded speech. The one was pure sentiment and the other pure reason and I was told later on, off the cuff, that the issue was in the balance until then. Winston Churchill's inspired speech turned the scale.

(f) Then after a concentrated gunnery work up we sailed for the Mediterranean to play a successful part in operation Halberd (Malta Convoy) when several Italian torpedo bombers were shot down by Prince of Wales and it was encouraging, on our return to Gibraltar, for the Air Defence Officer of another capital ship to be sent onboard
to learn how and why we had been successful.

(g) Shortly after returning to Scapa we sailed for the Clyde and thence by way of Freetown, Capetown, Addu Atoll and Ceylon to our ultimate fate off Singapore. We had been a mere nine months in commission and it had been not only a short life and a gay one but one in which we had played a leading and dramatic part in three, at that time world-shaking, events: Bismarck, 'The Atlantic Charter' and the Singapore Disaster'.

As to Battleship I am not in a position to comment on the staff or tactical aspects of the book, which I thought well written and interesting. I repeat, however, that where criticism of the morale of the Prince of Wales is concerned, I am in complete disagreement and deeply resentful of the authors' remarks on this subject. They have paid overmuch attention to what a newly joined temporary sublieutenant thought of the wardroom and what an ordinary seaman, who joined the ship after commissioning thought of the ship in general.

On the lighter side of our wardroom, anyone who attended a guestnight and, after a singsong, was subjected to the deafening noise of our two bagpipers did
not easily forget the ship. The visitors book was also of interest and contained a whole spectrum of names including H.M. The King, H.R.H. The Princess Royal, The
Prime Minister, The President of the U.S.A., Harry Hopkins, the First Lord, the First Sea Lord and the other Chiefs of Staff and their various staff officers, Lord
Cherwell, Sir Alexander Cadogan, Noel Coward, Evelyn Laye, H.V. Morton, Howard Spring, to name some. However, name dropping may be vulgar but in this case it is a useful pointer to what the wardroom was really like. Another pointer is the quality of the officers which is surely proved by the high proportion who were later promoted. Without access to records, I can count four admirals (non exec), two post captains, three captains (non exec), four commanders and no doubt there are others; I don't think we were too bad a lot!

Where the men were concerned, while we were based at Scapa we had been consistently busy with practices, or away on operations or under repair, but it was
during one of our short spells at Scapa that Plymouth was heavily bombed which disturbed our West Country Ship's Company and could have affected morale.
The Captain therefore sent the First Lieutenant and Chaplain to Plymouth to report back and ensure that the local welfare authorities gave the ship's dependents prior attention and that the ship was given full information about damage, casualties and so forth. Such action with its resulting benefits was typical of Captain Leach's attention to the well being of his ship's company. They not only proved themselves efficient and steady in three major actions but the negligible leave breaking during our short time under repair at Rosyth and their excellent behaviour during the one afternoon's leave to each watch in Gibraltar had shown what a first rate crowd they were, and this was to be further demonstrated when one day's leave to each watch was given in Cape Town, which for many was to prove their last ever 'club run' ashore.

I think everyone's tail went down when we sailed for the Far East but that was a normal reaction and anyone who witnessed our splendid Crossing the Line ceremony
with the Master at Arms presiding and the Commander leading the queue of the 'uninitiated' would not have felt that there was much wrong with the ship and her company.
Her officers and men pulled well together and achieved much and it would be a pity if posterity relied on Messers. Middlebrook and Mahoney's book to assess the morale of H.M.S. Prince of Wales.

When we were sinking the engine room and damage control personnel did everything in their power between decks to save the ship and there were countless examples
of bravery with men sticking to their posts to the last and their devotion costing many of them their lives. It was the same above decks and the Gunnery Officer, in his report written immediately after the action, described the magnificent behaviour of the guns' crews and control personnel, who remained closed up until the last moment before the ship capsized. My own impressions, when I was sent from the bridge by the Captain to take charge of the quarter deck shortly before we sank were exactly the same. However, these examples of discipline and devotion were only to be expected in any fighting ship of the Royal Navy.

Finally, I believe that almost every officer and man who served in the Prince of Wales has not only happy memories of the ship tempered with sadness at her loss and the
deaths of so many shipmates, but also a real pride at having been a member of her Company; I know I have.

A. G. SKIPWITH

Excerpted from the Naval Review, July 1978
Qui invidet minor est - He who envies is the lesser man
Steve Crandell
Senior Member
Posts: 954
Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:05 pm

Re: Skipwith's view of Prince of Wales

Post by Steve Crandell »

Thank you for posting that, Paul. It's always nice to get different views of something like that. I would remark that he was an officer. Their lot is quite different from that of the rest of the crew, and we have a recording of an experienced seaman who differed somewhat in his opinion.

With respect to promotions in particular, I would add that any regular officer serving at the beginning of the war prior to the tremendous expansion of the services is going to see repeated promotions if he survives and he is at all competent.
User avatar
paulcadogan
Senior Member
Posts: 1148
Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2006 4:03 am
Location: Kingston, Jamaica

Re: Skipwith's view of Prince of Wales

Post by paulcadogan »

Your comment is much appreciated Steve!

And your point is well taken. I would also add that among a crew of over 1600 men you're not going to find that everyone feels the same way. You only need to compare Bradford's almost idyllic picture-perfect depiction in "The Mighty Hood" to Bruce Taylor's intense, no holds barred Hood "Biography" - you get the real picture... divergent feelings at all levels.
Qui invidet minor est - He who envies is the lesser man
Post Reply