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Welcome to Hostilities Only
Hostilities Only is the story of my father Robert Brooks’ time as a Hostilities Only rating in the Royal Navy during World War 2. Over one million people (923,000 men and 86,000 women) served in the Royal Navy during that War. Thousands of men and women enlisted after a recruitment campaign to help meet the…
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Eric Ravilious – Drawn to War
Eric Ravilious – Drawn to War is the first feature-length film about Eric Ravilious (1903-1942), the much loved but hugely underestimated British Official War artist, killed in a plane crash over Iceland in 1942. Written by Alan Bennett and Robert Macfarlane, ‘Eric Ravilious – Drawn to War’ recounts a life as compelling and enigmatic as…
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The Photographers of WW2
Two civilian pressmen were among the photographers called up to witness the British Expeditionary Force in 1939 and 1940. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, just one Army photographer, Geoffrey Keating, and one cameraman, Harry Rignold, accompanied the British Expeditionary Force to France. On 24 October 1941, the Army agreed to…
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The Last Post of Dunluce Castle
For Game of Thrones fans, Dunluce Castle is a highlight of any Northern Ireland location tour. Perching precariously on the basalt outcrops of the Antrim coast, its dramatic situation, plus a touch of CGI, turned Dunluce Castle into Castle Pike, Seat of the House Greyjoy, in fictional Westeros. For naval researchers, H.M.S. Dunluce Castle is a…
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Misery on the Jellicoe Express
Throughout 2 world wars, the Jellicoe Express ran between London Euston and Thurso, linking the South of England ports with the Royal Navy’s Orkney anchorage in Scapa Flow. The train was named after Admiral John Jellicoe, Commander of the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The first Jellicoe Trains ran from August 1914, carrying steam coal…
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Until End of Present Emergency
Over one million people (923,000 men and 86,000 women) served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Many volunteered after an urgent recruitment campaign to fill the demand in manpower required to meet the maritime threat of Nazi Germany. As in the 1914-18 war, the British Admiralty’s first challenge was to rebuild Britain’s naval…
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Winston is Back
Dawn, September 1939. German forces invaded Poland and hostilities began. ‘The Prime Minister asked me to visit him at Downing Street.’ Winston Churchill wrote in his memoirs. ‘I was invited to become a member of the War Cabinet.’ Two days later, 24 years after resigning as First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill returned to the Admiralty….
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HMS Collingwood
According to the landowner, it was ‘the finest bit of corn land in the south of England‘. Locals would call it the best snipe marsh in the country. It was certainly boggy and sea boots were compulsory wear for trainees who strayed from the paths. HMS Collingwood opened in January 1940. Built on 190 acres of marshy Hampshire land, it…
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Communications Branch
Neat handwriting, accurate spelling, good mnemonics and integrity. All were key attributes when it came to selection for The Communications Branch. Good handwriting meant messages were relaid accurately. Spelling went hand in hand with this. The ability to memorise lots of information was crucial and integrity was key due to the sensitive nature of the…
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HMT Southcoates
13 October 1941 – 20 January 1942 Hostilities Only Ordinary Signalman Brooks’ first draft after training was His Majesty’s Trawler (HMT) Southcoates. Built in 1918, she was christened Samuel Drake and launched from yard no.363 into the River Clyde by builders Bow McLachlan & Company of Paisley. Bow, McLachlan & Co. had entered the specialist shipbuilding market…