HOME FLEET PROVIDES DISTANT COVER FOR CONVOYS PQ 12 AND QP 8 [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: HOME FLEET PROVIDES DISTANT COVER FOR CONVOYS PQ 12 AND QP 8 [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: ADM 545
  • Other titles: THE ROYAL NAVY IN NORTHERN AND ATLANTIC WATERS [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: Reel One. British Paramount News material. Battleships and the carrier HMS Victorious experience heavy weather while providing distant cover for Russian convoys. Cameraship is HMS Duke of York. Reel Two. Universal News material. Life onboard a V/W Class destroyer on Atlantic escort duties, and the return to Britain of elements of 151 Wing RAF after operating two squadrons of Hurricanes in the Murmansk area.
  • Description: I. "Back from Norway with 3 bags full!". Submarines Seal, Snapper (39S), and Sunfish (81S) return from operations in Norwegian waters. For fuller details see ADM 444. II. Sequence showing US factory production of P-38 Lightnings. A finished aircraft is taken for a test flight. III. "Navy on watch in Northern Waters". Cameraship HMS Duke of York steams through heavy seas in company with HMS King George V and HMS Victorious. In calmer weather men chip ice from the deck and main turrets - the boat deck is covered in thin ice. Swordfish circle King George V - possibly practising attacks. Seafire passes overhead. Practice shoot by Duke of York's 5.25-inch guns and 8x2-pounder. The rough weather resumes - HMS Renown, keeping station close on the port quarter, is hull down in the heavy seas, and the views of Victorious, especially when in line ahead, show vividly how the carrier's deck pitches in the storm. HA from the bridge shows that Duke of York, with little sheer to the bows, is very wet forward. "Good Scenes" include LS of Victorious silhouetted against a sunset sky, King George V in varying seas, Duke of York at anchor in Scapa. "Censored Scenes" include Duke of York at moorings with a Ranger Class oiler alongside to starboard, LSs of Renown steaming in company (seen variously over a wet quarterdeck and an ice-covered focsle) and exercising her secondary armament at sea, the cameraship's Walrus aircraft being run up ready for launching, Seafire flying past, and onboard shots of Duke of York refuelling from the oiler. IV. Reel Two. Life onboard a V/W Class destroyer. A crewman has his hair cut - his barber is a cigar smoking Stoker Petty Officer. Two men play on guitar and banjo. LA to lookout in crow's nest - the ship is heading out to sea. A man eats a segment of orange. Sequence showing carcasses being cut up on deck and the resulting joints being weighed up. CU of crew of 12-pounder AA sitting in the canvas shelter behind the shield - they are quite at ease, and some are reading. Crewmen check depth charges on launching rails. Starboard depth charge thrower is fired (the carrier is also discharged, so this is an early model). Depth charges from thrower and from stern rails explode in the sea. LS of another destroyer, steaming left to right. MS forward along the port side to show the ship's bow wave, and HA onto the focsle as water is shipped over the bows and forced up through the hawse holes. A crewman rolls a quid. An officer takes a sight. In one of the cabins bananas are laid out to ripen - light falling through a scuttle waxes and wanes as the ship rolls. Crew of 12-pounder AA practise rapid fire drill - but only in dumb show. HA of two men washing clothing in pales on deck. The 12-pounder is cleaned. Two officers - one a Sub-Lieutenant - discuss the mechanism of a 2-pounder QF. The ship's cat is stroked and plays with a ball of paper. Another shot of fruit ripening in one of the cabins - this time it is pineapples and grapefruits. HA aft through W/T aerials to ship's wake in low light conditions. Sequence showing smallarms practice with Webley revolvers - the target is an empty ham tin suspended by a length of string from the end of a makeshift boom. HMS Boadicea (H.65) passes close to the cameraship. The ship's orchestra performs - drums, banjo and harmonica section. Sequence showing PT on the focsle. A signal is flashed to another escort. V. The return of elements of 151 Wing from Russia. A Russian steamer approaches the cameraship (HMS Berwick ?) and transfers men. Three aircraft (presumably Hurricanes) pass high overhead. Sequence shot at sea in a heavy storm - a destroyer holding station on the cameraship's port quarter is having a rough time, rolling wildly - as the wind increases and the air fills with obscuring spray, the destroyer signals. Passing waves mount higher than the level of the deck, and as the sea mounts the escort is almost lost to view. View aft along the quarterdeck as the ship rides a wave, and pan right to the destroyer, still holding her station. In calmer conditions, the cameraship nears a Scottish port - on the quarterdeck Wing-Commander Ramsbotham-Isherwood poses with his two Squadron Leaders Rook and Miller. Pan from aft across the quarterdeck - the waist of the ship is crowded with men ready to disembark. MS of men fallen in ready for leaving the ship - one man holds a kit bag on which he has printed RAF/151 WING/BEF/RUSSIA, embellishing the inscription with a Soviet star and a hammer and sickle - another man wears a steel helmet with a painted star and the inscription USSR 1941. The men transfer onto a steamer alongside. The ship's Captain shakes hands with the Wing-Commander as he departs.
  • Alternative Title: THE ROYAL NAVY IN NORTHERN AND ATLANTIC WATERS [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: ADM 545
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Film: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1942-1942
  • Production Country:GB
  • Production Details:Admiralty (Production sponsor) British Paramount News (Production company) Universal (Production company) Wood, R Colwyn (Production individual) Oswald, G B (episode V) (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics:Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Title language: English
  • Technical Details:Footage: 1688 ft; Running time: 19 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    ADM 545

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