Account by John Cross

On November the 24th we left alexandria with a Fleet of H.M.S Warspite, H.M.S Valiant, H.M.S.Barham, all Battleships and four Cruisers and six Destroyers, to try and intercept a German Convoy crossing to North Africa to supply the German Army. We were at Cruising stations, "the diference (sic) between Cruising stations and Action stations, is that Action stations, all the crew are at their stations ready for action and all the watertight doors all over the ship are closed, also all the hatches, so that if one part of the ship gets flooded, it won't flood anymore parts of the ship. Whereas at Cruising stations, only part of the ships Company are at their stations and ready for action and not all of the doors and hatches are closes, therefor (sic) the ship is more prone to flooding". Well we were at Cruising stations and miles from the Convoy, in fact we didn't have a change to engage it, I was as usual up outside the Admirals’ sea Cabin on the bridge, when at about 1610 ie ten past four, there was a large explosion, the Admiral came out of his Cabin like a jack rabbit, looked up at the mast head and said to me there is black flag flying, "when a black flag is hoisted, it means that the ships guns are having a practise shoot", so he thought that was what it was, for when the fifteen inch guns opened fire, it was an explosion and the whole ship shuddered, but then another explosion, then another and the ship was heeling over very fast, the Admiral looked at me and said let's get off this thing Corporal" I don't think he liked Battleships for he was a Cruiser man, so off we went down some haliyards to two decks below and then the ladders to the upper desk where I was struggling to reach the ships side for now the ship was really listing, then there was an almighty explosion and the next thing I remember was being under water, I started swimming to the surface, but I couldn't see any daylight, so I decided not to swim anymore and let myself float to the surface, I was running out of air and swollowing (sic) oil fuel, but soon I got to the surface, I was in thick black fuel oil and the smell was awful, and it tasted no better, but more worrying was that I couldn't see anything, I could hear other men around me, I was blind! I dived under the oil fuel and washed my eyes out, but still couldn't see a thing, I swam into another man and told him I was blink and he said he couldn’t see either, then very very slowly the thick black cloud began to lift and I could see again and this unknown sailor who had met in the water shook hands and hugged each other, then swam on, I didn't meet him again, I could hear other men cheering I suppose they had had the same experience, the oil on the surface was so thick on the surface that it was very dificult (sic) to swim or sink, then we heard Aircraft and somebody was shouting that we should get out of the oil fuel in case it caught fire, but which way to swim, so I followed the crowd, in the meantime I was taking my boots off also my belt and bayonet and tunic, eventually I was in clear water, on looking around there wasn't a ship in sight, they had all left us, then I met the Admiral, he had also stripped himself of all his gear including his jacket which meant that nobody would know what rank he was only those who knew him, he asked me if I had his lifebelt, I said I had, I had copletely (sic) forgotten about lifebelts, so I blew his up and gave it too him, then blew mine up, now I felt a bit better, but kept being sick, it was all the oil fuel I had swallowed (sic), it was now all comming (sic) up, I also realized there was always a bit more blood around me in the water and it wass mine but the salt water seemed to stem it after a while, then at last after about four hours we spotted two Destroyers comming (sic) toward as, at speed and we all thought that if the Submarine which had sunk us, was under us or even near us, they would surely drop depth charges on her, "well as you will see later she was beneath us", anyway the two Destroyers circled us for about half an hour and then decided it was safe to stop and pick us up, what a welcome sight that was, they were H.M.A.S. Nizam an Australian Destroyer and H.M.S. Hotspur, the Hotspur was nearest to our group, who were with the Admiral, I had been next to Sergeant Ormandroid chatting away for all this time, he never said a word to me about what I was to discover, for when we got to the scrambling net which the crew of Hotspur had dropped over the Starboard side of the ship, I said to him, you go up first Sarge, so he started to climb and I saw that one of his legs was just hanging on my flesh alone and when it came out of the water...."