A Tribute to Alec William John Phillipsborn 24 September 1925 – died 19 April 2020

Alec and Nancy Phillips Wedding, 21 October 1949Precis

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Alec William John Phillips was born in Devonport Devon, United Kingdom on the 24 th of September 1925 and joined the Royal Navy (RN) at the Royal Navy Artificer Training Establishment (RNATE) – Torpoint (Later to be HMS Fisgard), which was then part of HMS Raleigh.

Alec joined as an apprentice Engine Room Artificer (ERA) at the age of 16 years in February 1941 and served for 12 years. At 16 years of age, Alec was considered at that time to be a “boy” entry in accordance with his Certificate of Service, his Certificate of Service also shows he reached the rank of CPO ERA 2. Alec’s Official Number was Mx73970.

Alec served in the RN on both surface ships and submarines throughout his naval career, discharging in Australia where he lived until his death in the ACT at age 94. Alec lived with his wife Nancy at the Fred Ward Gardens Nursing Home RSL residential aged care facility in Curtin, ACT. Nancy is aged 93 and at the time of his death, Alec and Nancy had been married for 70 years.

Alec met Nancy in 1946 at the local dance hall just after his return with the Pacific Fleet aboard HMS Tenacious. Alec and Nancy were married on the 21 st of October 1949 on a three-day pass after first becoming engaged on New Year’s day in 1948. Nancy was and remained Alec’s carer until his death even though they were residing in an aged care facility Nancy never ceased to provide most things he needed on a 24 hour basis and for this and other reasons they shared connecting rooms. Nancy’s love and devotion as well as her never tiring efforts in looking after Alec through those years of illness was nothing short of inspirational.

Their daughter Lesley was born in the UK on the 5th of December 1950 and to this day, has been a great support to both her Mother and Father until his death in April 2020. Nancy still resides at the nursing home in the ACT. Their son Jeffrey was born in the UK in 1968 and resides and works in London as an Internet Engineer.

Alec and Nancy also have 3 grandchildren Catherine, Andrew and Mark who reside in Australia.

CPO ERA 2 Alec Phillips on board a British T Class Submarine Circa 1952

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The StoryLike his father and brother, Alec was a navy man and all three served in various locations and types and classes of navy vessels. Alec’s Father Stanley completed 22 years in the RN and served on “Lord Roberts”, a Roberts Class Monitor Ship as well as the AMC Cilicia. Alec’s father was eventually hospitalised in Freetown, Sierra Leone and died there in 1944.

Alec’s brother also named Stanley, joined the RN in 1940, one year prior to Alec and completed his apprenticeship before serving on HMS Jamaica, a Light Cruiser where he saw service protecting convoys transiting to Russia and patrolling around the Spitzbergen area. Stanley was invalided out of the Navy in 1946.

Alec joined the Royal Navy in 1941 and signed up for a period of twelve years. On the 24 Feb 1941 he joined HMS Raleigh a shore establishment for basic recruit training located at Torpoint Cornwall where he completed his basic training as a “boy” on the 13 Dec 1944.

From the 14th of December 1944 to the 20th of Jan 1945 he served at the shore establishment HMS Drake, Plymouth, which it is presumed is where he was posted to await his first ship posting.

From the 21st Jan 1945 to the 1st of Dec 1945, Alec was posted to Tyne, were he joined HMS Tenacious (R45), a T Class Utility Destroyer. Tyne is in reference to the Tyne river at Jarrow (near Newcastle) in North England where many vessels including a considerable amount of Navy vessels including Cruisers, Battleships and Destroyers were built and repaired at the Palmer shipyards.

During the period Jan to Dec 1945, whilst serving on HMS Tenacious, Alec visited Australia where they berthed at Balmoral Naval Dockyard also known as Penguin, a then Navy Depot in support of Garden Island Dockyard. Later during this period, Alec’s ship came under the Command of the 3rd US Pacific Fleet. At the surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo Harbour, Tenacious was assembled with many other vessels to witness this event.

As Alec has written in great detail about his exploits on Tenacious during the second world war and In particular the period from 21st Jan 1945 to the 1st of Dec 1945. Noting its importance not only to Alec and Nancy and their family, but also many people who would be interested in his story and history, I have provided this most interesting piece of writing at the end of this tribute as it is important that Alec’s words are not lost or forgotten.

On the 11th of October 1946 Alec was posted to “Forth” where HMS Caledonia, a shore based Royal Navy training establishment located within the Naval Dockyard at Rosyth. HMAS Caledonia is where all Artificer training was at the time conducted and Alec completed his ERAs course on the 20th May 1947. He was probably doing his “post” sea time courses prior to being promoted.

From here, Alec was posted to his first vessel on the 21st of May 1947 to the 2nd Dec 1949, HMS Montclare. Montclare was a depot ship for destroyers providing maintenance at a level that could not be completed at sea. Along with Montclare, were two other Depot ships, Cyclops and Maidstone.

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May 1947, Alec and his class mates at their passing out parade photograph HMS Caledonia.

For reasons not clear, during the period 3rd December 1949 to the 25th Oct 1950 Alec spent additional time at HMS Drake, Tyne and then HMS Dolphin, (Dolphin was the home of diesel submarines) before being posted back to Montclare from the 26 th December 1950 to the 22nd

February 1951.

On the 23rd of February 1951 Alec was posted to HMS Aenaes, an A Class Submarine of the Amphion Class, possibly undergoing Submarine training until the 20th March 1952. During this period Alec also spent some time at HMS Dolphin which would match with submarine training, as HMS Dolphin was the training depot for Diesel Submarines and it is thought Alec may have completed his parts 1, 2 and possibly 3 submarine training components during this period.

HMS Aeneas with many of her class were modernised in the late 1950s to look more like the Porpoise and Oberon class submarines, an example of which is HMS Alliance which is preserved at the RN submarine museum Gosport Hampshire, at what was then HMS Dolphin. Below is a picture of Aeneas as built and how it looked when Alec was posted to her prior to modernisation.

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HMS Aenaes pre modernisation, circa 1951

From the 21st of March 1952 to the 21st of April 1952 Alec was posted to Singapore, HMS Terror. HMS Terror should not be confused with the T Class boats of which Alec served on two. As this was an overseas posting, Alec travelled via a P&O ship arriving at Sydney Balmoral Australia. The word Terror is in reference to the barracks, located adjacent to the British Naval Base and Dockyard at Sembawang in Singapore and where Alec would have stayed prior to joining his first T Class Submarine, HMS Thorough.

On the 22nd of April 1952 Alec was posted to HMS Thorough and remained there until 31 July 1952 when he was again posted back to HMS Terror in Singapore. During this period, whilst on-board HMS Thorough, the Submarine visited Australia and was berthed at HMAS Penguin Balmoral.

This was Alec’s second visit to Balmoral, the first time being in HMS Tenacious in 1945 (see Precis). It is during this period, (1952) that Nancy came to Australia arriving at Sydney in October on a beautiful sunny morning. Two years later, Alec and Nancy purchased land at Chester Hill in NSW and it is thought at this time, the seeds were sown to settle in Australia.

On the 1st of August 1952 until the 10th of November 1953 Alec was again posted to HMS Thorough and joined the British 4th Submarine Flotilla at Balmoral Naval Depot in Sydney in March. The Flotilla was used to provide RAN ships with anti-Submarine warfare training due to Australia not having its own Submarines at the time. Alec was then posted back to HMS Terror on the 11 November 1953 and remained at Terror until 23rd of February 1954.

On the 24th of February 1954 Alec was posted to HMS Telemachus until 31 May 1954. On the 1st of June 1954 Alec was again posted back to HMS Terror until the 23 rd of September 1955, at which point, Alec was transferred to the Royal Navy Emergency Reserve and given a gratuity of 100 pounds.

In 1955, Alec applied for and was granted permission to have his discharge from the Royal Navy whilst still living in Australia.

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CPO ERA 2 Alec Phillips on the rear Fin (Bridge) of a T Class Submarine Circa 1952

CPO ERA 2 Alec Phillis back row middle, Submarine not known Circa 1952/53

Alec, as a civilian once more and now residing in Australia with Nancy, daughter Lesley and Son Jeffrey where now in what could be described as a more stable relationship in terms of being a

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family and more importantly, together on a permanent basis, no more postings and long trips away from each other.

In 1973 Alec was transferred to Technical Teaching in Albury where they lived and in 1976 joined the welding department at the Albury Tafe/Technical College were they both lodged at the teacher Housing in Borella Road for 6 months until they bought a home in Lavington. Alec at some point after his Navy life, joined the Submarines Association of Australia (SAA) in Albury NSW and then moved to Canberra to be closer to their daughter at which point he transferred to the ACT branch of the SAA.

Alec retired from the workforce in 1985 and once more travelled around quite a bit, this time with Nancy where they travelled around Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America, Europe and the UK. They also participated in a tour of Scotland as Nancy had never seen much of it due to the war. Nancy described Australia as “being very good to us”

Nancy was and still remains a member of the Presbyterian Church and was the treasurer of their Women’s association for 19 years. Nancy also worked for a wax paper manufacturing firm where she made up wages, costings and working out production orders.

Both Alec and Nancy have led incredibly constructive and busy lives, sometimes lonely for each other but always remained strong for each other, in particular through those war years and the many years apart. Their love and devotion to each other and their children and grandchildren is a credit to them both and a lesson to others on what can be achieved through marriage and the trying times they have both been through.

Nancy still lives at the Nursing home in the ACT with her Daughter Lesley keeping an ever watchful eye on her Mum. At the time of writing this tribute, Nancy is in isolation from family and friends due to the Corona Virus pandemic. This has put Nancy and her family under enormous strain and stress and it is hoped that these restrictions can be eased soon. It is noted that Nancy still remains as strong as always and with support from her family will remain so for as long as it takes.

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HMS Tenacious, 21 Jan 1945 - 1 Dec 1945 In Alec’s own wordsHMS Tenacious was completed in 1943 and was number 7 of 8 “T” Class Utility destroyers to be built. They were simply repeats of the previous “R” and “S” Classes. She was 2350 tons with a top speed of 36 knots and fully laden, did 32 knots (60 km/hr), pushed along by 40,000 high pressure turbines. She carried a crew of 180 and her armaments were:Four 4.7 inch quick firing guns, Two 40mm Bofors Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns,Six 20mm Oerlikons AA guns,Eight torpedoes, andForty Six Anti-Submarine Depth charges.

HMAS Tenacious R-45 Whang-Poo river Shanghai China Dec 1945

Tenacious spent her first commission in the Mediterranean Sea and then returned to England where she was refitted for service in the Far East. Whilst in England being refitted, myself, along with many other new chums, joined her in the north of England, with snow everywhere.

We sailed from England during a snow storm and picked up the storm battered remnants of a convoy and escorted them to Gibraltar where the weather became perfect for us. We continued on past Malta, the Suez Canal and on to Aden. Then crossing the Arabian Sea to Colombo in Ceylon, now SriLanka, where an “R” Class destroyer was undergoing repairs to damage inflicted by a suicide bomber.

During this part of our voyage, we were constantly “working up” to regain fighting efficiency, with torpedo firings, gunnery practice and evolutions of every kind, whilst also learning the U.S. method of signalling which was very new to us, but vital, as we would be under American Command in the Pacific. I was personally involved in learning watch keeping duties, firstly, the boiler- rooms and then the engine-rooms which would enabled me to be in charge, after gaining the necessary experience.

Next, we sailed to Australia with HMS Troubridge, our Flotilla Leader and we were initiated as “Sons of Neptune” enroute. Very hard on us newcomers.

It was evident that we could make Fremantle without calling at Onslow for fuel. (Onslow is 1392 Km North of Fremantle). We only stayed there 4 hours but many boxes of comforts

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arrived on board for us. They were pleased to see us and they showed it with their generosity.

Sydney was great too, but soon we were off to Manus in the Admiralty Islands, our naval base, and from there to Leyte in the Philippine Islands which had just been recaptured, although there was still many Japanese yet to be rounded up in the hills.

We left Leyte to join the fleet which was then Task Force 57, operating off Okinawa. We had our aircraft aboard the aircraft carriers Indefatigable, Indomitable, Victorious and Formidable, all trying to make Sakishima airfields unusable to prevent reinforcements reaching Okinawa from the south.

Sakishima Gunto is a group of islands to the south west of Okinawa. During the invasion of Okinawa on the 1st April 1945 it was the task of the British Pacific Fleet to make and keep the airstrips on these islands inoperable.

The British and Commonwealth sailors and Fleet Air Arm aircrews had already experienced a busy war in the Arctic, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. Now the last battle was being fought alongside the Americans in the Pacific.

HMS Indefatigable was the first carrier that was hit by the kamikaze planes on the 1st of April

and the destroyer HMS Ulster was severely damaged by a plane that blew a hole in her side that was 25 feet long by 12 feet deep. Further hits were suffered by the carriers HMS

Formidable, which was hit on the 4th of May and then again on the 9th of

May.

HMS Victorious was also hit on the 9th of May. Each of the carriers were fitted with their armoured flight decks that were steel which was 3 inches thick.

Kamikaze means Divine Wind, and the pilots of these planes held to the philosophy: “To sacrifice one's self for one’s country”

A continual train of supply ships and tankers were running backwards and forwards from the operating area to the forward bases and this fleet train supplied the fleet with oil and stores and ammunition as well as mail and replacement aircrew for the carriers.

Part of our job on Tenacious was to distribute much of the above to the capitol ships, using a steel wire jackstay stretched between the ships along which ran a metal pulley supporting a small breeches buoy. Men were hauled over the gap between the ships and some did get wet.

Okinawa turned out to be the last great battle of W.W.2 although nobody knew this at the time. Okinawa is 300 miles from mainland Japan, and this engagement lasted for 83 days.

There were 1500 ships engaged in this battle, which was mainly between the Japanese pilots and the men manning the guns on the warships, after getting through the defending planes that flew from the carriers.

The Japanese pilots were called Kamikaze pilots who believed that to die for the Emperor enabled them to live forever. Their mission was to trade a plane for a warship.

From the first day when 350 planes took off on a one-way trip, the flights came in to target ships of the fleet both day and night, with the aircraft carriers the preferred target. During the campaign, over 3,500 planes were sacrificed.

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The Allies lost 30 ships sunk and 223 damaged. Many of the carriers were hit, but remained afloat. Of all the American naval casualties suffered in the war, there was 1 in 7 listed in the Okinawa campaign.

We escorted the battleship King George V to Guam, together with two other “T’s” (T Class Destroyers) so that Vice Admiral Rawlings could talk with Admiral Nimitz and make plans for future operations.

Much of the fleet returned to Sydney but a small task force sailed to strike at the Japanese base of Truk. Besides the destroyers of the 24th Flotilla and the aircraft carriers, there were four cruisers, Newfoundland, Swiftsure, Uganda from Canada, and Achilles from New Zealand.

Our particular target was coastal guns sited on an island about two miles away and into this we poured no fewer than 140 rounds of High Explosive (HE) shells. The cruisers fired more into their targets. Every day the carriers flew off planes and the destroyers took turns to stand by in case of accidents.

Then the fleet left Australia and soon after we left Manus and steered north in the company of one battleship, three carriers, six cruisers and eighteen destroyers. The British Pacific Fleet now joined the American 3rd Fleet in operations against the Japanese homeland and became the 4th Task Group under Admiral Halsey; the largest array of warships which had ever operated together.

From then on a continuous stream of aircraft flew overhead towards Japan. Over a thousand planes took part on that day alone and continued for the next two months. Japanese planes could not penetrate our air cover and every day “bogies” would be reported approaching the fleet, only to be “splashed” by one of our planes. Strike after strike was repeated with a short respite between as we retired to replenish from the Fleet Train.

One day we were detailed with Terpsicore, Termagant, Newfoundland and Gambia to take part in the first daylight naval bombardment of the Japanese homeland. Our target was the industrial centre of Kamaishi and included in the bombardment force were the U.S. battleships Missouri and Dakota.

Tenacious was the leading ship of the line and it was a tense moment as all ships turned together, forming a long line parallel to the coast at a distance of about two miles although it seemed like less.

The concussion from their big guns was terrific and the whine of projectiles passing overhead sounded like a thousand express trains. The target was screened by a range of hills but a reddish glow and smoke told the tale. Then we were ordered to open fire on a mountain road leading into the town. Much amusement was caused later when reading in the preliminary reports that “Tenacious shelled a road causing a cyclist to swerve and fall off his machine”.

By dusk we were back on station on the fleet screen and back into normal routine again. Every morning to Action Stations and again at night and an attack on the fleet resulted in 5 enemy planes being shot down.

The news that the Japanese were suing for peace came as a great surprise to us all. No one had expected such an early collapse and now plans had to be changed.

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At 1100 hours, the time of the official “Cease Fire”, Admiral Halsey broadcast to the Fleet from his flagship the Missouri. No sooner had he started, however, the “Flash Red” was ordered, and in the middle of his speech a Japanese aircraft was seen to fall vertically down onto the Indefatigable. It missed astern of the carrier. We stayed on guard against further treachery after that incident.

We had a long wait before proceeding to Tokyo and while waiting we ran into a typhoon. It was a bad one and we were steering by main engines and trying to keep clear of other ships. Later on it was learnt that three American destroyers had been sunk and there was considerable damage to the Flight Deck of the American Carrier USS Wasp.

The gag that went the rounds later on went something like this. From Wasp to Implacable:

“How did you weather the typhoon?” H.M.S. Implacable. “What typhoon?”

We finally entered Sagami Bay where the anchor went down after 57 days at sea. The signing of the surrender took place on the Missouri, which was about a mile from us, so it was difficult to see what went on there, but we listened to the broadcast of the ceremony.

Our next job was to go down the coast to Hammamatsu and bring back allied P.O.W’s from a large camp there. We picked up more than a hundred with close cropped hair and new american clothing and we were shocked at their pitiful condition. We took them back to Tokyo at full speed and delivered them to a hospital ship at Yokohama and so set them on their way home.

We were now off to Sydney, via Guam and Manus to take on oil and we all enjoyed 7 days leave.

The next port we visited was Hobart, where we went to show the flag and again the reception was magnificent.

Next call was to China. First to Hong Kong and then through the unfriendly China Sea and up the Yangtze and the Wang-Poo river to Shanghai, where we joined three of our own flotilla already there. We stayed there for two months; tidying up the ship and playing various sports with other ships teams. On Boxing Day we headed north with the minelayer Apollo and shortly after we got outside, we were sent racing to the rescue of the S.S. Prometheus, which had struck a mine and was badly damaged. Then north at 30 knots through a heavy sea which blew all the cobwebs away as we headed for Tsingtao which was very cold and desolate.

We took the internees that we had collected back to Shanghai to drop them off and away again to Hong Kong. Hardly had we secured when word came that an RAAF Dakota was missing, bound for Sydney. Soon after dark we reached the scene of the crash and with the aid of star- shells and searchlights found six survivors and a hopeless search for the other three was given up next day.

On the way home at last we stopped at Darwin, Sydney and Melbourne and then Columbo.

Then we headed for Bombay where we had heard of troubles there with rioting and a mutiny in the Royal Indian Navy, but we found the place very quiet. This was our last delay. A few hours at Aden oiling and then up through the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal and to Malta and Gibraltar and 14 months after leaving England we were back into Plymouth, our home Port.

H.M.S. Tenacious was only one small unit of the British Pacific Fleet, which has been called “The

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Forgotten Fleet, but in reality, there were so many ships gathered from so many theatres of war, to sail to the Pacific to become the British Pacific Fleet. I will quickly mention them for you:

Six Battleships, six Fleet Aircraft Carriers, two Light Fleet Carriers, eight Escort Carriers, eleven Light Cruisers, two RNZN and one RCN, Two Minesweepers, two Destroyer Depot Ships, forty two Fleet Destroyers, twenty nine Escort Frigates and Sloops, 2 RAN and 1 RCN, three Submarine Depot Ships, twenty nine Submarines, eighteen Minesweepers. All RAN and 90 Miscellaneous Ships, Repair Ships, Oilers, Water Carriers, Salvage Ships, Hospital Ships and Stores Ships.

So How could these be forgotten?

I was on-board HMS Tenacious, in Tokyo Bay, when Japan surrendered on the 2nd of September 1945.

We were a mile from USS Missouri where the ceremony took place, but we heard it on radio. HMS Tenacious had taken part in the Battle of Okinawa, which lasted 83 days; the war’s bloodiest battle. Thirty- four ships were sunk by kamikazes.

HMS Tenacious was part of the British Pacific Fleet of 245 ships, including Australian ships.

The BPF’s role, which was designated Task Force 57, was assigned to make the Sakishima group of Islands inoperable for the Japanese aircraft to defend Okinawa itself.

HMS Tenacious took part in the first daylight naval bombardment of mainland Japan at Kamaishi together with USS battleships Missouri and South Dakota and cruisers.

When the atomic bombs ended the war we headed for Tokyo Bay and a typhoon hit the fleet and as previously stated, it sank three American destroyers,

I was an Engineer Artificer and my father and brother were also in the navy. I stayed in the navy and served in 4 submarines and took my discharge in Australia.

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Decorations and Medals

1939 – 1945 Star, Operational Service between 3 September 1939 and 8 May 1945.

Pacific Star – China, Hong Kong, Sumatra, Malaya Singapore and Pacific Ocean, Operational Service between 8 December 1941 and 2 September 1945.between.

Defence Medal, 3 year’s service in the UK between 3 September 1939 and 8 May 1945.

War Medal, Full Time Service, 28 days between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945.

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Crossing the Bar

Sunset and evening star,And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deepTurns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,And after that the dark! 

And may there be no sadness of farewell,When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and PlaceThe flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have cross’d the bar.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

1809 - 1892

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