Arthur Bacon's memories of two torpedo bombings in the Mediterrean
My father, Arthur Reginald Bacon, was born in 1902. When he lost two brothers in the First World War, he tried to enlist by lying about his age, but was found out and set home. In 1920 he joined the Navy and for the next six years he travelled the world, including the South China Seas and South Africa.
After leaving the navy he had several jobs including a butchers' delivery boy and a bus driver before settling for a career in the Post Office.
In 1940, at the age of 38, he was called up and because of his past history was enrolled in the Navy as a ship's telegraphist. After the initial training, he was given a position as telegraphist on HMS Barham and deployed to the Mediterranean.
On November 25th 1941, the Barham was targeted by a German U-boat U.331 Teisenham in the Central Mediterranean and blown up with a tragic loss of life. 862 men lost their lives, but 387 survived, my dad amongst them.
The news of the tragedy was censored and it was many weeks before the people of Britain found out. This came in the form of a Pathé news bulletin shown in the cinemas.
After a spell of rest and recovery, my dad was assigned to HMS Naiad, again as a telegraphist. On 11th March 1942 the ship was sunk under mysterious circumstances just south of Crete. There was a loss of 77 men and 582 survived. My father was one of the survivors and spent 12 hours in the water and in the dark. He heard his comrades calling out to one another to keep their spirits up and sadly some of them didn't make it.
Although it was a mystery, at first, a German U-boat U.565 claimed the hit.
After this tragedy, my father was given a safe billet in Beirut to man the telegraph station. He met my mother there and shortly after they married in March 1943, they went to Alexandria for another posting. I was born on July 27th 1945 in Beirut. Three weeks later I travelled to England on a large troop ship with my parents and 3,000 sailors.
